The Serrahn Hills (german: Serrahner Berge) are a forested ridge in the municipality of Carpin in the

Mecklenburg Lake District The Mecklenburg Lake Plateau or Mecklenburg Lakeland
- Federal Ministry of Economics ...

in the east German state

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 village of Serrahn, which gives the hills their name, is located just north of the ridge. To the east is the lake of Schweingartensee, a little to the southwest is the Großer Fürstenseer See. The hills, which are up to , are located in the eastern part of the

Müritz National Park The Müritz National Park (german: Müritz-Nationalpark) is a national park situated roughly in the middle between Berlin and Rostock, in the south of the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It extends over large portions of the Müritz lake ...

. The hills were first mentioned in an official document dated 1569. This states that ''der Schweingahrdische See zwischen Zerrahnschen undt Goldbowischen Holtz belegen'' ("the Schweingarten lake is located between the Serrahn and the Goldbow Woods"). During the period 1614 to 1623, documents record the sale of building timber and firewood from the ''Zerrahnschen Bergen''. After that, the forest must have been thinned so much before the mid-16th century that by the end of that century large flocks of sheep grazed the Serrahn Hills from time to time. At the end of the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

much of the surrounding area was devastated and the forest spread again. Thus in 1688 we hear that the ''Zerrahnschen Berge stet reich von Eychen Mast undt dannen Holtz, undt können darin feist gemacht werden 465 Schweine'' (the "Serrahn Hills are rich in oak mast and their trees and 465 pigs can be kept there"). At the beginning of the 18th century at the instigation of the Duke of Strelitz, Adolphus Frederick II, numerous glassworks and potash distilleries were founded in the region, but the Serrahn Hills remained unaffected due to poor road communications and its forests remained largely intact. This made it a popular hunting area as well as a botanical forestry research site for the dukes of

Mecklenburg-Strelitz The Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a duchy in northern Germany consisting of the eastern fifth of the historic Mecklenburg region, roughly corresponding with the present-day Mecklenburg-Strelitz district (the former Lordship of Stargard), ...

. In

GDR 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 ...

times, the hills were designated as a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

and became well known as the centre of the great state hunting grounds called the Wilhelminenhof Wildlife Research Area (''Wildforschungsgebiet Wilhelminenhof''). Since June 2011, the beech forests of the Serrahn Hills, along with four other German beech forests, have been recognised as a

UNESCO World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

. They are the last remaining semi-natural beech forests in Germany.Spiegel-Online dated 25 June 2011
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References

External links

{{Coord, 53.34010, N, 13.19754, E, type:mountain_region:DE-MV, display=title, format=dms Hills of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Forests and woodlands of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz