Dreschvitz is a

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 ...

in southwest

Vorpommern-Rügen Vorpommern-Rügen is a district in the north of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the Baltic Sea and the districts Vorpommern-Greifswald, Mecklenburgische Seenplatte and Rostock. The district seat is ...

, a district on the island of

Rügen Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...

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 ...

. It is managed from the '' Amt'' of West-Rügen with its head offices in the village of Samtens.

Geography

The village lies on the lagoon of

Kubitzer Bodden The Kubitzer Bodden is a type of lagoon known as a ''bodden'' on the Baltic Sea coast in the southwestern area of the island of Rügen in Germany. In the north the ''bodden'' is bounded by the ''Lieschow'' peninsula on Rügen. In the east and sout ...

. The villages of Bußvitz, Dußvitz, Güttin, Landow, Mölln, Ralow and Rugenhof all belong to the municipality of Dreschvitz. The island of

Liebitz The German island of Liebitz lies in the lagoon of Kubitzer Bodden about 700 metres west of Germany's largest island, Rügen, in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It belongs to the municipality of Dreschvitz. The island is about 1,000 × 700 ...

also lies within its territory.

History

The village was first mentioned in the records in 1314 on an entry in an old deed of ownership. Originally a dead-end village (''Gassendorf'') with four large estates, Dreschvitz is only 3 kilometres from the old so-called Salt Road (''Salzstraße''). Until 1326, the settlement was part of the

Principality of Rügen The Principality of Rügen; da, Fyrstendømmet Rygien; pl, Księstwo rugijskie; la, Rugia was a Danish principality, formerly a duchy, consisting of the island of Rügen and the adjacent mainland from 1168 until 1325. It was governed by a loc ...

and, thereafter, of the

Duchy of Pomerania The Duchy of Pomerania (german: Herzogtum Pommern; pl, Księstwo Pomorskie; Latin: ''Ducatus Pomeraniae'') was a duchy in Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, ruled by dukes of the House of Pomerania (''Griffins''). The country ha ...

. Under the

Treaty of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (german: Westfälischer Friede, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought pea ...

in 1648, Rügen, and therefore Dreschvitz, ended up under

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

rule, partitioned from the

. In 1815, the parish along with the rest of West Pomerania went into the Prussian Province of Pomerania. In 1818, Dreschvitz became part of the shire county of Rügen. From 1952 to 1955 it was part of the County of Putbus. From 1955 to 1990, the village was part of the County of Rügen in the district of Rostock and the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. In 1990, it was renamed the shire county (''Landkreis'') of Rügen, but this was finally merged in 2011 into the new county of

. By closing the gaps between buildings and development of building land, Dreschvitz has recorded an increase in population since 1990, bucking the trend. Many events of all types are held today in and next to the "House of Generations" (''Haus der Generationen''), a community centre.

Politics

Municipal council

In the last local elections on 7 June 2009, Olaf Braumann (FDP) was re-elected as mayor with 62% of the vote. There are nine councillors on the municipal council in addition to the chairman. The council is composed as follows: * FDP with the chairman – five seats * CDU – two seats * Der Bürgerwille ("Citizens Voice") – two seats

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was adopted on 30 March 2010 by the Home Office and registered under as No. 331 in the state coat of arms register. In 1989, the occasion of Dreschvitz's 675th anniversary, a coat of arms was designed and flags and postcards circulated. However, they failed to properly register the coat of arms. It was then forgotten again. With the rediscovery of the documents, it was found that the coat of arms was now identical to that of a municipality in Schleswig-Holstein. After amending it and applying for approval, the coat of arms was authorised on 24 April 2010 and presented to the village in a ceremony by the interior minister of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The two green oak branches represent the forestry industry and long hunting tradition in the community. Separated by a so-called blue wavy bar, which represents the location of the village on the bodden coast of Priebowsche Wedde, is a plough in the lower section. This symbolizes the intensive agricultural use of the fields belonging to the parish.service.mvnet.de
accessed on 19 May 2010 The coat of arms was designed by Jürgen Frenkel from Dreschvitz.

Flag

The flag is divided longitudinally white - blue - yellow, and the wavy blue stripes making up one seventh of the height, the white and yellow stripes each making up three sevenths of the height of the flag. In the centre of the white stripes are two diagonal green oak branches with three leaves and a green acorn next to one other. In the middle of the yellow stripe is a wheel-less black plough. The height to length ratio of the flag is 3:5. The flag was designed by Jürgen Frenkel from Dreschvitz.

Economy and infrastructure

The municipality is largely agricultural. In the parish of Güttin is the only

airfield An aerodrome ( Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for pub ...

on the island of

. At Rügen Airport, in addition to timetabled flights by light aircraft in the peak season round trips over the island may be booked. Every second weekend in July the local flying club holds flying days.

Sights

File:Landow, Dorfkirche 1.jpg File:Landow, Dorfkirche 2.jpg The village church of Landow is designed as a ''Wegekirche'', a church which is laid out so that the priest and congregation are positioned as if they were on their way to the Lord, usually facing a returning Christ or a symbol such as a crucifix or painting. It is probably the oldest timber-framed church in the entire southeastern Baltic Sea region. The oak wood of the timber-frames comes from tree-felling that took place in 1312 or 1313. The original church was surrounded by a wall in 1546. The church is supported by a preservation society. It is home to numerous events, including concerts of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival.

Personalities

The following personalities were born in Dreschvitz: 1939: Dieter Freese, murderer and robber