Prignitz () is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the northwestern part of
Brandenburg
Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 sq ...
,
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 ...
. Neighboring are (from the north clockwise) the district
Ludwigslust-Parchim
Ludwigslust-Parchim is a district in the west of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is bordered by (clockwise starting from the west) the state Schleswig-Holstein, the district Nordwestmecklenburg, the district-free city Schwerin, the districts R ...
in
Mecklenburg-Western 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 po ...
, the district
Ostprignitz-Ruppin
Ostprignitz-Ruppin is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the northwestern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring are (from north clockwise) the districts Müritz and Mecklenburg-Strelitz in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the districts
Oberhavel and Ha ...
in Brandenburg, the district
Stendal
The Hanseatic City of Stendal () is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the capital of the Stendal District and the unofficial capital of the Altmark region.
Geography
Situated west of the Elbe valley, the Stendal town centre is located s ...
in
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it th ...
and the district
Lüchow-Dannenberg
Lüchow-Dannenberg is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany, which is usually referred to as Hanoverian Wendland (''Hannoversches Wendland'') or Wendland. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts of Uelzen and Lüneburg and the s ...
in
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...
.
Geography
The term Prignitz originally meant the region north of the confluence of the
Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...
and
Havel rivers. This region is larger than the district. It also includes the town of
Havelberg
Havelberg () is a town in the district of Stendal, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the Havel, and part of the town is built on an island in the centre of the river. The two parts were incorporated as a town in 1875. It has a populati ...
in Saxony-Anhalt and large portions of the neighbouring district of
Ostprignitz-Ruppin
Ostprignitz-Ruppin is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the northwestern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring are (from north clockwise) the districts Müritz and Mecklenburg-Strelitz in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the districts
Oberhavel and Ha ...
.
The Elbe river forms the southwestern border of the district.
History
The historical region Prignitz consisted of the following eleven districts, established in the 13th century:
Wittenberge
Wittenberge () is a town of eighteen thousand people on the middle Elbe in the district of Prignitz, Brandenburg, Germany.
Geography
Wittenberge is situated at the right (north-eastern) bank of the middle Elbe at its confluence with the Stepe ...
,
Lenzen
Lenzen (Elbe) is a small town in the district of Prignitz, in Brandenburg, Germany. The town lies to the north of the Löcknitz River, not far from where the Löcknitz flows into the Elbe. It is part of the ''Amt'' Lenzen-Elbtalaue.
Overview
Len ...
,
Perleberg
Perleberg (; North Margravian: ''Perlberg'') is the capital of the district of Prignitz, located in the northwest of the German state of Brandenburg. The town received city rights in 1239 and today has about 12,000 inhabitants. Located in a mostly ...
,
Putlitz
Putlitz () is a town in the district of Prignitz, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 15 km northwest of Pritzwalk, and 35 km northeast of Wittenberge.
Demography
Gallery
File:Putlitz_Burghofer_Herrenhaus.jpg, Burghof manor ...
,
Kyritz
Kyritz () is a town in the Ostprignitz-Ruppin district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 28 km west of Neuruppin and 28 km southeast of Pritzwalk. The town has 9,260 inhabitants (2019).
Overview
The town is situated near the Ky ...
,
Nitzow,
Wittstock
Wittstock/Dosse is a town in the Ostprignitz-Ruppin district, in north-western Brandenburg, Germany.
Geography
It is located in the eastern Prignitz region on the Dosse River near the confluence with its Glinze tributary, about east of Pritzwal ...
,
Pritzwalk
Pritzwalk () is a town in the district of Prignitz, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 20 km west of Wittstock, and 33 km northeast of Wittenberge. The river Dömnitz flows through Pritzwalk.
History
Pritzwalk obtained municip ...
,
Havelberg
Havelberg () is a town in the district of Stendal, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the Havel, and part of the town is built on an island in the centre of the river. The two parts were incorporated as a town in 1875. It has a populati ...
,
Wusterhausen
Wusterhausen (official name Wusterhausen/Dosse) is a municipality in the Ostprignitz-Ruppin district, in northwestern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the river Dosse, 7 km southeast of Kyritz, and 75 km northwest of Berlin.
De ...
and
Grabow
Grabow () is a town in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated on the river Elde, 7 km (4.35 mi) southeast of Ludwigslust, and 34 km (21.12 mi) northwest of Wittenberge. It ...
.
The present district of Prignitz was created in 1993 by merging the previous districts of Pritzwalk and Perleberg and a few municipalities from the district Kyritz. The westernmost part of the district was previously part of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and became part of Brandenburg on August 1, 1992.
The earlier district of Prignitz was the buffer between Brandenburg and Mecklenburg. It was resettled by Germans, especially from the Bremen area, following the First
Wendish Crusade
The Wendish Crusade (german: Wendenkreuzzug) was a military campaign in 1147, one of the Northern Crusades and a part of the Second Crusade, led primarily by the Kingdom of Germany within the Holy Roman Empire and directed against the Polabian Sl ...
of 1147. The rate of German settlement increased over the following decades. The eastern half was dominated by the pro-German counts
von Plotho
The von Plotho family is a German noble family traditionally believed to be of Wendish origin, particularly associated with the Prignitz region in Brandenburg.
History
The family is documented as early as 946 in a writ of Otto the Great as alre ...
who brought their own vassals such as the
von Blumenthal
The von Blumenthal family are Lutheran and Roman Catholic German nobility, originally from Brandenburg-Prussia. Other (unrelated) families of this name exist in Switzerland and formerly in Russia, and many unrelated families (quite a few of them Je ...
and
von Grabow families with them. The western half was dominated by robber barons, especially the
Gans zu Putlitz
The Gans Edle Herren zu Putlitz (Edle Herren = noble lords, until 1919 a title, it became a part of the official surname with the transformation of most noble titles into surname elements to be ignored at alphanumerical sorting) is a German Germa ...
family and their vassals, the
von Quitzows. When Frederick, Count of Zollern was appointed Margrave in 1411, he faced an uprising of the
Wendish nobility, supported by the Wendish Duke of Mecklenburg. However, he was able to put down the revolt at the battle of the
Cremmer Dam, with the support of the German nobility. Families who had stayed loyal were rewarded. Otto
von Blumenthal
The von Blumenthal family are Lutheran and Roman Catholic German nobility, originally from Brandenburg-Prussia. Other (unrelated) families of this name exist in Switzerland and formerly in Russia, and many unrelated families (quite a few of them Je ...
, for example, was made Captain of the Prignitz from 1415 to 1422 and of
Lenzen
Lenzen (Elbe) is a small town in the district of Prignitz, in Brandenburg, Germany. The town lies to the north of the Löcknitz River, not far from where the Löcknitz flows into the Elbe. It is part of the ''Amt'' Lenzen-Elbtalaue.
Overview
Len ...
from 1420.
Demography
File:Bevölkerungsentwicklung Landkreis Prignitz.pdf, Development of population since 1875 within the current Boundaries (Blue Line: Population; Dotted Line: Comparison to Population development in Brandenburg state; Grey Background: Time of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
; Red Background: Time of communist East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
)
File:Bevölkerungsprognosen Landkreis Prignitz.pdf, Recent Population Development and Projections (Population Development before Census 2011 (blue line); Recent Population Development according to the Census in Germany
A national census in Germany (german: Volkszählung) was held every five years from 1875 to 1910. After the World Wars, only a few full population censuses have been held, the last in 1987. The most recent census, though not a national census, wa ...
in 2011 (blue bordered line); Official projections for 2005-2030 (yellow line); for 2014-2030 (red line); for 2017-2030 (scarlet line)
Coat of arms
The coat of arms shows a goose preparing for flight, the symbol of the
Gans zu Putlitz
The Gans Edle Herren zu Putlitz (Edle Herren = noble lords, until 1919 a title, it became a part of the official surname with the transformation of most noble titles into surname elements to be ignored at alphanumerical sorting) is a German Germa ...
family (''Gans'' is
German
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
**Ge ...
for goose), who in the 12th century were one of a number of families (such as the
von Plotho
The von Plotho family is a German noble family traditionally believed to be of Wendish origin, particularly associated with the Prignitz region in Brandenburg.
History
The family is documented as early as 946 in a writ of Otto the Great as alre ...
,
von Blumenthal
The von Blumenthal family are Lutheran and Roman Catholic German nobility, originally from Brandenburg-Prussia. Other (unrelated) families of this name exist in Switzerland and formerly in Russia, and many unrelated families (quite a few of them Je ...
and
von Arnim Arnim is a German surname, often preceded by the nobiliary particle "von", meaning "of". Notable people with the surname include:
* Adolf Heinrich von Arnim-Boitzenburg (1803–1868), German statesman
* Arnulf von Arnim (born 1947), German classic ...
families) who introduced Christianity and German culture to Prignitz. The pearls around the goose symbolize Perleberg (which translates to ''Pearl Mountain''). The wolf at bottom stands for the former administrative seat, Pritzwalk, as ''walk'' derives from the
Slavonic ''wolk'' meaning wolf. The wavy separation between the top and bottom symbolizes the river Elbe; the colors red and white are those of Brandenburg.
Towns and municipalities
References
External links
Official websitePortal site for Prignitz
{{Authority control
Regions of Brandenburg
Historical regions in Germany
1993 establishments in Germany