Mecklenburg

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Image:Coat of arms of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (great).svg

Mecklenburg is a geographical area located in Northern Germany. Its borders are the Baltic Sea to the north, the rivers of Recknitz and Trebel to the east, the Elbe river to the southwest, and Lower Saxony and Holstein to the west.

The name "Mecklenburg" derives from a castle named "Mikilenburg" (Old German: "big castle"), located between the cities of Schwerin and Wismar. It was the ancestral seat of the House of Mecklenburg.

1 History
2 Coat of arms of the duchies of Mecklenburg
3 People from Mecklenburg
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

Mecklenburg is the site of many prehistoric dolmen tombs.

From the seventh through the 12th centuries, the area was ruled by the Obotrites and other tribes that Frankish sources referred to as "Wends". The 11th century founder of the Mecklenburgian dynasty of Dukes and later Grand Dukes, which lasted until 1918, was Niklot of the Obotrites.

In the late 12th century, Henry the Lion, Duke of the Saxons, conquered the region, subjugated its local lords, and Christianized its people, in a precursor to the Northern Crusades.

Since the 12th century, the territory has remained stable and relatively independent of its neighbors; one of the few German territories for which this is true.

[edit] History, 1621-1933

Like many German territories, Mecklenburg was sometimes partitioned and re-partitioned among different members of the ruling dynasty. In 1621 it was divided into the two duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Güstrow. With the extinction of the Güstrow line in 1701, the Güstrow lands were redivided, part going to the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and part going to the new line of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

In 1815, the two Mecklenburgian duchies were raised to Grand Duchies, and subsequently existed separately as such in Germany under enlightened but absolute feudal rule (constitutions being granted on the eve of World War I) until the revolution of 1918. From 1918 to 1933, the duchies were free states in the Weimar Republic.

[edit] History since 1934

After three centuries of partition, Mecklenburg was united in 1934 by the Nazi government. The Wehrmacht assigned Mecklenburg and Pomerania to Wehrkreis II, with the headquarters at Stettin. Mecklenburg was assigned to an Area headquartered at Schwerin, which was responsible for military units in Schwerin; Rostock; Parchim; and Neustrelitz.

Image:Flag of Mecklenburg (1992 proposal).svg

After World War II, the Soviet government occupying eastern Germany merged Mecklenburg with the smaller neighboring region of Western Pomerania (German Vorpommern) to form the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (German Mecklenburg-Vorpommern). Mecklenburg contributed about two-thirds of the geographical size of the new state and the majority of its population. (The Soviets changed the name from "Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania" back to "Mecklenburg" in 1947.)

In 1952, the East German government ended the independent existence of Mecklenburg, creating 3 districts ("Bezirke") out of its territory: Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg.

During German reunification in 1990, the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was revived, and is now one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany.

[edit] Coat of arms of the duchies of Mecklenburg

Image:MecklbgSchw.jpg

The House of Mecklenburg was founded by Niklot, prince of the Obotrites, Chizzini and Circipani on the Baltic See, who died in 1160. His Christian progeny was recognized as prince of the Holy Roman Empire 1170 and Duke of Mecklenburg 8 July 1348. On 27 February 1658 the ducal house divided in two branches: Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

The flag of both Mecklenburg duchies is traditionally made of the colours blue, yellow and red. The sequence however changed more then once in the past 300 years. In 1813 the duchies used yellow-red-blue. 23 December 1863 for Schwerin and 4 January 1864 for Strelitz blue-yellow-red was ordered.<ref>(Ströhl, Deutsche Wappenrolle, Stuttgart, 1897, p. 89)</ref> Mecklenburg-Schwerin however used white instead of yellow for flags on sea by law of 24 March 1855.<ref>(Ströhl, 86)</ref>

Siebmachers Wappenbuch gives therefore (?) blue-white-red for Schwerin and blue-yellow-red for Strelitz.<ref>Siebmachers Wappenbuch (Nurenberg, 1878)</ref> According to this source, the grand ducal house of Schwerin used a flag of 3.75 to 5.625 M with the middle arms on a white quadrant (1.75 M) in the middle.

The middle arms show the shield of Mecklenburg as arranged in the seventeenth century. The county of Schwerin in the middle and in the quartering Mecklenburg (bull's head with hide), Rostock (griffin), principality of Schwerin (griffin and green rectangle), Ratzeburg (crown over gross), Stargard (hand holding ring) and Wenden (bull's head). The shield is held by a bull and a griffin and bears a royal crown.

The dukes of Strelitz used according to Siebmachers the blue-yellow-red flag with just the (oval) shield of Mecklenburg in the yellow band.

Ströhl in 1897 and Bulgaria, <ref>Berühmte Fahnen Deutscher Geschichte (Dresden, 1922)</ref> show another arrangement: The grand-duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin flows a flag (4:5) with the arms of the figures from the shield of arms.

The former Schwerin standard with the white quadrant is now ascribed to the grand dukes of Strelitz. Ströhl mentions a flag for the grand ducal house by law of 23 December 1863 with the middle arms in the yellow band. And he mentions a special sea flag, the same but with a white middle band. 'Berühmte Fahnen' shows furthermore a standard for grand duchess Alexandra of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, princess of Hannover (1882-1963), showing her shield and that of Mecklenburg joined by the order of the Wendic Crown in a white oval. On sea the yellow band in her flag was of cause white. The princes (dukes) of Mecklenburg-Schwerin had according to this source their own standard, showing the griffin of Rostock.

[edit] People from Mecklenburg

Ethnically, people from Mecklenburg are a mix of early settlers from Westphalia, the Rhineland and Saxony on the one hand and West Slavic people on the other. A considerable number of Scandinavians have settled over the centuries, particularly in the Hanseatic towns like Wismar and Rostock.

Famous people from Mecklenburg include:

Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Prussian army leader
Jan Ullrich, cyclist
Gottlob Frege, logician
Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Müller, Australian botanist
Siegfried Marcus, automobile pioneer
Heinrich Schliemann, classical archaeologist
Daniel Eggers, nationalist folk-singer
Ludwig Jacoby, (1913-1874), born in Altstrelitz, a Moravian clergyman, missionary to St. Louis, Missouri, and author.<ref name="Marquis 1607-1896"> (1963) Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who.</ref>