Bardowiek () is an

abandoned village An abandoned village is a village that has, for some reason, been deserted. In many countries, and throughout history, thousands of villages have been deserted for a variety of causes. Abandonment of villages is often related to epidemic, f ...

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in po ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It lies in the territory of the municipality

Selmsdorf Selmsdorf is a municipality in the Nordwestmecklenburg district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany located east of Lübeck. It is also close to the cities of Wismar and Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgian Low German: ''Swerin''; Latin: ''Su ...

History

The earliest surviving record of Bardowiek is in the

Ratzeburg Ratzeburg (; Low German: ''Ratzborg'') is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is surrounded by four lakes—the resulting isthmuses between the lakes form the access lanes to the town. Ratzeburg is the capital of the district Herzogtum Lau ...

er Hufenregister and dates from 1292. The town was virtually destroyed during the

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an es ...

, but was rebuilt after the war’s end in 1648. Bardowiek transformatorenhaus

During the early years of the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

there were still approximately forty residents. However, Bardowiek found itself in the five kilometre wide closed zone, a strip of land cleared by the government directly to the east of the

Inner German border The inner German border (german: Innerdeutsche Grenze or ; initially also ) was the border between the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) from 1949 to 1990. Not including the ...

. In 1960, all the farmsteads were incorporated into the farming collective of Palingen. Destruction of the former farms began in 1977 and was completed only in 1989. After the

reunification A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller polities, or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal governm ...

, surviving former residents sought to rebuild the village. However, their aspirations have been thwarted by a succession of legal disputes.Ortsteilportal Bardowiek. Geschleift, doch unvergessen
selmsdorf-live.de, accessed 9 November 2021.

Context of Bardowiek's destruction

In the district of North-west Mecklenburg alone, no fewer than thirteen separate villages were destroyed during the later decades of the East German state in order to clear a strip of land beside the

. This was done to create a larger territory of a "no-go area" closest to the border to

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

after the east became concerned about the extent of emigration to the western state. Other nearby destroyed villages included Lenschow, Wahlstorf ( Lüdersdorf), Lankow ( Mustin) and Neuhof (

Gadebusch Gadebusch () is a town in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in the district of Nordwestmecklenburg. Halfway between Lübeck, Schwerin and Wismar, it is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. The town is known for two notable monuments: the ''Stad ...

References

Former populated places in Germany Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz {{coord, 53, 52, N, 10, 50, E, format=dms, display=title