The village of Zarchlin is located in the Federal State of

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 ...

in the north of

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 is part of the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

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 ...

and belongs to the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Barkhagen Barkhagen is a municipality in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Euro ...

. About 100 people live in Zarchlin on an area of about 17.5 ha.

History

Zarchlin was first documented in 1253 and at that time still bore the name "Zochelin". Until 1552 the village belonged to

Dobbertin Abbey Dobbertin Abbey (''Kloster Dobbertin'') is a former Benedictine monastery of monks, afterwards housed a community of nuns, and later still a women's collegiate foundation, located in the municipality of Dobbertin near Goldberg in the district of L ...

, a

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

monastery. In 1591 it was mentioned in writing that there was a chapel in Zarchlin. It was a

half-timbered Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

building and a pastor came every three weeks. 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 ...

(1618 - 1648) reached the village in 1625/26 and brought looting, hunger and

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

, so that 80% of the then population died. Zarchlin was completely burnt and reduced to ruins. The chapel was also devastated: the roof was missing and the bells lay smashed on the ground. Because it could no longer be preserved, Zarchlin then became part of the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

of Plauerhagen. From the middle of the 18th century the farming village developed into an estate; the farmers were resettled to the village of Plauerhagen, 3.3 km away. In the second half of the 19th century the estate developed further. It had an area of 480 ha large and developed quite well under the tenants Schumacher and Steinkopf. In 1945 the estate was expropriated, used by a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

military administration Military administration identifies both the techniques and systems used by military departments, agencies, and armed services involved in managing the armed forces. It describes the processes that take place within military organisations outsid ...

and then looted. One year later the Zarchlin estate was divided among 45 new settlers. Later Zarchlin was merged with the villages of Karow and Plauerhagen to form a large

agricultural enterprise A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used ...

, and an

agricultural cooperative An agricultural cooperative, also known as a farmers' co-op, is a cooperative in which farmers pool their resources in certain areas of activity. A broad typology of agricultural cooperatives distinguishes between agricultural service cooperati ...

(LPG) was established. Today the farmland is privately operated and the

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

is also privately owned. Some buildings from the later development stages of the village are still preserved.

Climate and geography

The average temperature in Zarchlin is about 8° to 9 °C, with average values of about 2 °C in winter and 18 °C in summer. There is about 550 to 600 mm of

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

per year and the duration of daylight varies between 7 and 17 hours. The village is located in the

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

and lies south of the river Mildenitz. In the northeast, south and northwest there are small forest areas, otherwise there are arable land and pastures around the village. Zarchlin is 68 meters above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. The surroundings of Zarchlin are formed by a ground moraine of the

Vistula The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...

Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

(ca. 75000 - 10000 B.C.) and the ground is flat to even.

Infrastructure

Zarchlin obtains water from the

waterworks Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Thes ...

of the city

Plau am See Plau am See () is a town in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated 28 km east of Parchim, and 29 km west of Waren. Around 1235 the city was called Plawe, that being the Polabian fi ...

. There is no central village drainage system: mechanically treated wastewater seeps away or reaches a receiving watercourse via

ditches A ditch is a small to moderate divot created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ar ...

, from where the water is discharged into the Lake in Daschow. The village has

wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...

plants located south of Zarchlin. The electric current from these is transmitted to Plau am See and comes back to Zarchlin from the transformer station there. Zarchlin is connected to the natural gas supply of Hansegas.

Manor house

Around 1935, the manor house in the west of the village included a complex of several buildings and other objects. Of these, only the manor house and the foal stable are preserved today as renovated private homes. The complex also included a horse stable, two barns, a

sheepfold A pen is an enclosure for holding livestock. It may also perhaps be used as a term for an enclosure for other animals such as pets that are unwanted inside the house. The term describes types of enclosures that may confine one or many animal ...

, a cattle shed, a

pigsty A sty or pigsty is a small-scale outdoor enclosure for raising domestic pigs as livestock. It is sometimes referred to as a hog pen, hog parlor, pigpen, pig parlor, or pig-cote, although pig pen may refer to pens confining pigs that are kep ...

, a granary, a

farmhouse FarmHouse (FH) is a social Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity founded at the University of Missouri on April 15, 1905. It became a national organization in 1921. Today FarmHouse has 33 active chapters and four associate ch ...

, a

henhouse Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese to produce meat or eggs for food. Poultry – mostly chickens – are farmed in great numbers. More than 60 billion ch ...

, a well and two ponds. In 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 ...

(GDR), the manor house served as the town hall, the office of the LPG of Zarchlin, a kindergarten and a consumer shop (Konsum). Today the restored manor house is a listed building and is privately owned. It includes a small park, which is located south of the house. On the green area in front of the manor house there is a monument built of

boundary stones A boundary marker, border marker, boundary stone, or border stone is a robust physical marker that identifies the start of a land boundary or the change in a boundary, especially a change in direction of a boundary. There are several other ty ...

, with the inscription "" ("Alone we are nothing, united we are everything"). The monument refers to the collectivisation of agriculture in the middle of the 20th century.

Railway station

Zarchlin has a single-track

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

about 1.5 km north of the village. It has been out of service for about 20 years. It gives its name to "" (Station Street), which is one of the two streets of the village. The more

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

part of the village, however, is located along the .

References

Works cited

* * * {{Coord, 53, 31, 08, N, 12, 13, 23, E, display=title, region:DE_type:city Villages in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania