Greifswald

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Greifswald

Location in Germany and Europe
Image:Lage der kreisfreien Stadt Greifswald in Deutschland.png	Image:LocationGermanyInEurope.png
Coordinates : 54° 05' N, 13° 23' O	Time zone : UTC+1/SummerUTC+2
Flag	Coat of arms
?	Image:Wappen Greifswald.svg
Basic information
Area :	50,33 km²
Population :	53,281 (12/2005)
Density :	1,059/km²
Elevation :	6 m
Postal Code :	17489-17493
licence plate code :	HGW
Government
Country :	Germany Image:Flag of Germany.svg
Federal State :	Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Lord Mayor :	Dr. Arthur König, CDU
Governing Party :	CDU
Website :	www.greifswald.de

Greifswald (from German Greif, "griffin", and Wald, "forest") is a town in northeastern Germany. Located in the Pomeranian part of the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, it borders the Baltic Sea, and is crossed by a small river. The population is roughly 55,000, including about 11,000 students of the traditional Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald.

The city is officially known as Universitäts- und Hansestadt Greifswald, which means University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Politics
- 3.1 City Council
- 3.2 City twinning
4 Education & science
5 People from Greifswald
6 See also
7 External links
8 Tourism links

[edit] Geography

Greifswald is situated at the southern end of the Baltic Sea between the islands of Rügen and Usedom, in the Northeast of Germany. It is part of the state Mecklenburg-Western_Pomerania, and lies in the smaller Pomeranian part of it.

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The small river Ryck passes through the old town which is about 3km away from the Baltic Sea, and then flows into the Bay of Greifswald. The small nearby islands of Koos and Riems are politically also part of the City of Greifswald. The area around Greifswald is relatively low and flat, the highest point reaching only as high as 36 metres.

At the mouth of the river Ryck rests the is the seaside part of Greifswald, Greifswald-Wieck which features a small beach, many restaurants, and hotels.

[edit] History

The first settlers were Danish Cistercian monks, who founded the Brick Gothic Eldena monastery in 1199. The salt trade helped the monastery grow to a monumental religious centre. The earliest known document that refers to Greifswald was written in 1248. Enjoying a steady increase in population, Greifswald also became one of the earliest members of the Hanseatic League at the end of the 13th century, which further increased trade and wealth.

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In 1456, Greifswald's mayor Heinrich Rubenow laid the foundations of the second oldest university in Northern Europe, which is one of the oldest in Germany, and was, periodically, the oldest in Sweden and Prussia respectively.

As a result of the Thirty Years' War Greifswald became part of the Kingdom of Sweden in 1631 and remained Swedish until 1815, when it became part of Prussia.

After Adolph Hitler came to power, Greifswald, as all of Germany, came under the control of the Nazi Party. During World War II, Soviet prisoners of war POWs at Peenemünde were from a branch camp of Stalag II C in Greifswald where the German SS supervised slave laborers in the maintainenance of a crematoria to burn bodies of prisoners of war, who had died after being used as slave laborers to further the German Axis war effort. After the war ended in 1945, the Eastern section of the former Nazi Germany was controlled by the Soviets, and parts of the historic city of Greifswald saw little renovation efforts.

Since the German reunification in 1989/1990 most parts of Greifswald have been renovated though, attracting many tourists, also due to its proximity to the Baltic Sea.

The largest nuclear powerplant in the former East Germany was located near Greifswald. It had four reactors which were successively brought online starting in 1974. The plant was promptly shut down after the reunification of Germany due to safety concerns, particularly in regard to the near-meltdown on November 24, 1989.

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Greifswald

[edit] Politics

Politcs is traditionally, as in most of Pomerania, dominated by the conservative CDU. However, in recent state elections, the nationalist NPD has also gotten enough votes to enter the state parlamient.