Mecklenburg-West Pomerania

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 population; it covers an area of , making it the sixth largest German state in area; and it is 16th in population density. Schwerin is the state capital and Rostock is the largest city. Other major cities include Neubrandenburg, Stralsund, Greifswald, Wismar, and Güstrow. It was named after the 2 regions of Mecklenburg and Vorpommern (which means West Pomerania).

The state was established in 1945 after World War II through the merger of the historic regions of Mecklenburg and the Prussian Western Pomerania by the Soviet military administration in Allied-occupied Germany. It became part of the German Democratic Republic in 1949, but was dissolved in 1952 during administrative reforms and its territory divided into the districts of Rostock, Schwerin, and Neubrandenburg. A state called in German ''Mecklenburg-Vorpommern'' was re-established in 1990 following German reunification and became one of the new states of the Federal Republic of Germany.

On the state's coastline on the Baltic Sea are many holiday resorts and much unspoilt nature, including the islands of Rügen, Usedom, and others, as well as the Mecklenburg Lake District, making the state one of Germany's leading tourist destinations. Three of Germany's fourteen national parks, as well as several hundred nature conservation areas, are in the state. The University of Rostock, founded in 1419, and the University of Greifswald, established in 1456, are among the oldest universities in Europe. In 2007, the 33rd G8 summit took place at the Grand Hotel Heiligendamm on the Mecklenburg Baltic coast during the chancellorship of Angela Merkel, a native of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Name

Due to its lengthy name, the state is often abbreviated as ''MV'' or (colloquially) shortened to ''MeckPomm''. In English, it is usually named as "Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania". Inhabitants are called either ''Mecklenburger'' or '' Pomeranians'', the combined form is never used.

The full name in German is pronounced . Sometimes, ''Mecklenburg'' is pronounced , because the digraph marks a preceding short vowel in High German. However, Mecklenburg is within the historical Low German language area, and the appeared in its name during the period of transition to Standard, High German usage (Low German authors wrote the name ''Meklenborg'' or ''Męklenborg'', depicting proper Low German pronunciation, which itself was a syncope of Middle Low German ''Mekelenborg''). The introduction of the is explained as follows: Either the signals the stretched pronunciation of the preceding (''Dehnungs-c''), or it signals the pronunciation of the subsequent as an occlusive to prevent it from falsely being rendered as a fricative following a Low German trend. Another explanation is that the comes from a mannerism in High German officialese of writing unnecessary letters, a so-called ''Letternhäufelung'' (, as was done sometimes in English with words such as "doubt"). The place name ''Vorpommern'', at its base derives from West Slavic languages, with the prefix "po-" meaning ''along'' or ''at'', and the base word "more" meaning ''sea'' — together "po more" means ''Land at the Sea'' — while the German prefix "vor-" denoted a closer location, and is the equivalent of the word "hither" in English.

History

In the aftermath of the Second World War and German reunification in 1990, the state was constituted from the historic region of Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania, both of which had long and rich independent histories.

Prehistory

Human settlement in the area of modern Mecklenburg and Vorpommern began after the Ice Age, about 10,000 BC. About two thousand years ago, Germanic peoples were recorded in the area. Most of them left during the Migration Period, heading towards Spain, Italy, and France, leaving the area relatively deserted. In the sixth century Polabian Slavs populated the area. While Mecklenburg was settled by the Obotrites, Pomerania was settled by the Veleti (later ''Liuticians'') and the Rani.Michael North, ''The Baltic: A History'' (2015), pp. 187–189

Along the coast, Vikings and Slavs established trade posts like Reric, Ralswiek and Menzlin. In the 12th century, Mecklenburg and Vorpommern were conquered by Henry the Lion and incorporated into the Duchy of Saxony, joining the Holy Roman Empire in the 1180s. Parts of Mecklenburg and Pomerania were settled with Germans in the ''Ostsiedlung'' process, starting in the 12th century.

Mecklenburg

In the late 12th century, Henry the Lion, Duke of the Saxons, conquered the Obotrites, subjugated its Nikloting dynasty, and Christianized its people. In the course of time, German monks, nobility, peasants and traders arrived to settle here. After the 12th century, the territory remained stable and relatively independent of its neighbours; one of the few German territories for which this is true. Mecklenburg first became a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire in 1348. Though later partitioned and re-partitioned within the same dynasty, Mecklenburg always shared a common history and identity. The states of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz became Grand Duchies in 1815, and in 1870 they voluntarily joined the new German Empire, while retaining their own internal autonomy. After the First World War and the abdication of the German Kaiser, the monarchies of the duchies were abolished and republican governments of both Mecklenburg states were established, until the Nazi government merged the two states into a unified , a virtually meaningless administrative decision under the centralised regime.

Western Pomerania

Vorpommern, literally Fore-Pomerania, is the smaller, western part of the former Prussian Province of Pomerania; the eastern part became part of Poland after the end of World War II.

In the Middle Ages, the area was ruled by the Pomeranian dukes as part of the Duchy of Pomerania. Pomerania was under Swedish rule after the Peace of Westphalia from 1648 until 1815 as Swedish Pomerania. Pomerania became a province of Prussia in 1815 and remained so until 1945.

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Wartime

In May 1945, the armies of the Soviet Union and the Western allies met east of Schwerin. Following the Potsdam Agreement, the Western allies handed over Mecklenburg to the Soviets. Mecklenburg-West Pomerania was established on 9 July 1945, by order No. 5 of Red Army Marshal Georgy Zhukov, head of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD), as the ''Province of Mecklenburg and West Pomerania (zapadnoi Pomeranii)''.

During the war, the make-up of Mecklenburg and Vorpommern's population changed, due to wartime losses and the influx of evacuees (mainly from the Berlin and Hamburg metropolitan areas that were subject to air raids). After the war, people who fled and were expelled from the former eastern territories of Germany east of the Oder-Neisse line settled in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (and elsewhere in Germany), increasing the population by 40%. Before the war, Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania had a population of 1,278,700, of whom many perished during the war and others moved west in the course of the Red Army's advance. In 1947, some 1,426,000 refugees from the former eastern parts of Germany were counted. Most of them settled in rural communities, but the urban population also increased, most notably in Schwerin from 65,000 (1939) to 99,518 (January 1947), in Wismar from 29,463 to 44,173, and in Greifswald from 29,488 to 43,897. Western Pomerania was additionally stripped of the area around the Pomeranian regional capital Stettin/Szczecin as well as the city itself, despite its location to the west of the river Oder.

German Democratic Republic

On 5 June 1946, a law enacted by the Soviets constituted a provisional German administration (''Beratende Versammlung'', en, "Consulting assembly") under Soviet supervision on 29 June 1946. After elections on 20 October 1946, a ''Landtag'' replaced the ''Beratende Versammlung'' and created the constitution of 16 January 1947, for the ''Land Mecklenburg-Vorpommern''. On 18 April 1947, the state's name was shortened to ''Land Mecklenburg''. Mecklenburg became a constituent state ("''Land''") of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) upon its formation in 1949. In 1952, the East German government abandoned the term ''Land'' in this context and redesignated its administrative territorial divisions as "districts" (German: ''Bezirke''). The territory of Mecklenburg and Vorpommern was divided into three districts that covered roughly the same area: ''Bezirk Rostock'', ''Bezirk Schwerin'' and ''Bezirk Neubrandenburg''. These were commonly known as the ''Nordbezirke'' (northern districts) under the highly centralised GDR government. The East German government developed the shipyards in the old Hanseatic ports (the largest being in Rostock and Stralsund), and also established the Greifswald Nuclear Power Plant in Lubmin near Greifswald.

Reunification

At the time of German reunification in 1990, the eastern states were reconstituted along their postwar boundaries (with minor adjustments) as they had existed until 1952, and the historic name Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was restored. Since 1990, the state has undergone dramatic changes. What had been largely an industrial and agricultural economy is increasingly driven by the service, tourism, and high-tech sectors. The old towns, hundreds of castles and manors, resort buildings, windmills, churches, and various other cultural monuments of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern have been renovated in recent years. Since 2013, net migration into the state has been positive again.

Geography

Location and urban areas

Sixth-largest in area and fourteenth in overall population among Germany's sixteen Bundesländer (federal states), Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is bounded to the north by the Baltic Sea, to the west by Schleswig-Holstein, to the southwest by Lower Saxony, to the south by Brandenburg, and to the east by the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland.

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's state capital is Schwerin. The largest city is Rostock with approximately 205,000 people, followed by Schwerin. Other major cities include Neubrandenburg, Stralsund, Greifswald, Wismar and Güstrow.

Districts

Since 4 September 2011, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is divided into six ''Kreise'' (districts):

# Landkreis Rostock
# Ludwigslust-Parchim
# Mecklenburgische Seenplatte
# Nordwestmecklenburg
# Vorpommern-Greifswald
# Vorpommern-Rügen
Also counting two independent urban districts:
# Rostock (HRO)
# Schwerin (SN)

Landscape

The state's Baltic Sea coast is about long and features several islands, most notably Germany's two biggest islands Rügen and Usedom, but also a number of smaller islands such as Hiddensee and Poel. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's varied coastline also has many peninsulas such as Fischland-Darß-Zingst and various lagoons (also known as ''Bodden'' or ''Haff'').

A total of 283 nature reserves, 110 landscape reserves and three of Germany's fourteen national parks are scattered all over the state.

Lakes

The southern part of the state is characterized by a multitude of lakes within the Mecklenburg Lakeland, the largest of which is Lake Müritz (also the largest German lake), followed by Lake Schwerin

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