Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (
German:
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) is a
Bundesland (federal state) in
northern Germany.
It has an area of 23,170 km² but has only 1.7 million inhabitants, making it the most sparsely populated
German state. The
Baltic Sea's beaches and islands, as well as the many lakes in the interior, attract many tourists every year. There are two universities and a number of universities of applied sciences (
Fachhochschule).
The largest cities are
Rostock,
Schwerin,
Neubrandenburg,
Stralsund,
Wismar and
Greifswald. All have a population of less than 200,000.
The old
Pomerania proper (
Pommern), consisting of
Szczecin (Stettin) and the land east of the
Oder river (
Hinterpommern), is now a part of
Poland. Western Pomerania (
Vorpommern) was under
Swedish control from the
Peace of Westphalia in
1648 until its annexation to
Prussia in
1720 and
1815.
Mecklenburg, to the west of Vorpommern, became a duchy in
1348 but was divided from the
17th century until
1934. The states of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin and
Mecklenburg-Strelitz became grand duchies in
1815 but republican government was established in
1918. They were briefly combined with Vorpommern in
1947–
1952 and have been part of the present state since
German reunification in 1990. Between 1952 and 1990 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was split in three
Bezirke (districts) (
Bezirk Rostock, Bezirk Schwerin and
Bezirk Neubrandenburg, named after the district capitals) under the highly-centralised government of the
GDR.
In
2006, US President
George W. Bush visited Stralsund, home county of German Chancellor
Angela Merkel. Bush is the first US President who touched Eastern German soil after the
Cold War.
Sixth largest in area but only fourteenth in population among Germany's sixteen states, it is bounded on the north by the
Baltic Sea, in the west by
Schleswig-Holstein, in the south-west by
Lower Saxony, to the south by
Brandenburg and to the east by
Poland. Its administrative seat is
Schwerin but the Baltic port of
Rostock is nearly twice as populous. The other major cities are
Neubrandenburg,
Stralsund,
Greifswald and
Wismar. The coast of the Baltic Sea contains several islands, most notably Germany's biggest island
Rügen,
Hiddensee,
Usedom and
Poel.
See also
List of places in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is currently divided into twelve
Kreise (districts):
 |
Map of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with the district boundaries |
Furthermore there are six independent towns, which don't belong to any district:
#
Greifswald#
Neubrandenburg#
Rostock#
Schwerin#
Stralsund#
WismarIn December 2003 a second administrative reform was started which will reorganize the Bundesland into five districts until 2008. Additionally to the larger territory the districts will also gain some responsibilities from the central government. The outline of the new districts isn't finalized yet.
See:
*
University of Rostock,
*
Ernst Moritz Arndt University of GreifswaldList of Minister-presidents of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
(1945-1952: Minister-presidents of Mecklenburg)
#
1945 -
1951:
Willi Hocker (
SED)#
1951:
Kurt Bürger (
SED)#
1951 -
1952:
Bernhard Quandt#
1990 -
1992:
Alfred Gomolka (
CDU)#
1992 -
1998:
Berndt Seite (
CDU)# since
1998:
Harald Ringstorff (
SPD)
September 22, 2002 state elections
See also: Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state election, 2002 |
Seat results -- SPD in red, PDS in purple, CDU in black |
*
Official website (in German)
*
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg (in German)
*
Regional Tourist Board Vorpommern (D) (English, Finnish, French, German, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish)
*
Ost|See|Land - Tourism site (D) (English, German, Swedish, Polish)
