Harkenbäk (or Harkenbeck, Harkenbeek) is a creek in

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 ...

that empties into the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

. The Harkenbäk rises west of the ''Schippmannsberges'' between the city of

Dassow Dassow () is a town in the Nordwestmecklenburg district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated on a bay of the Baltic Sea, 20 km east of Lübeck and 2 km south of Lübeck-Travemünde. It is also close to the cities o ...

and the district of Pötenitz in northwest

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...

. It flows northwest to the

Bay of Lübeck The Bay of Lübeck (, ) is a basin in the southwestern Baltic Sea, off the shores of German states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein. It forms the southwestern part of the Bay of Mecklenburg. The main port is Travemünde, a b ...

in the Baltic Sea. In 1188 Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, defined the mouth of the creek as the seaward boundary of the harbor of

Travemünde Travemünde () is a borough of Lübeck, Germany, located at the mouth of the river Trave in Lübeck Bay. It began life as a fortress built by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, in the 12th century to guard the mouth of the Trave, and the Danes ...

See also