Ueckermünde

Ueckermünde is a seaport town in northeast Germany, located in the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald, Western Pomerania, near Germany's border with Poland (Police County).

Ueckermünde has a long and varied history, going back to its founding by Slavs, known as the Uchri and mentioned in 934 by Widukind of Corvey. Other sources describe them as the Vucrani or Ucrani, a Slavic tribe that lived in the area of Uecker before 1200. The name Ucramund appears in documents from 1178. Since May 1, 2013, Ueckermünde is an officially recognized Seaside resort.

Name
The name Ueckermünde translates "mouth of the Uecker". The Uecker River flows from Brandenburg, where it is called Ucker, into the Oder Lagoon. The river's name corresponds with the name of the adjacent region (Uckermark) and the name of the medieval Wendish tribe of the Ukr(an)i who inhabited the area prior to the German Ostsiedlung. The first known reference to Ucramund is in an 1178 document. Later spellings included Ukeremund, Ukeremunde and Ukermunde (1284).

Middle Age
In the old Slavonic era Ueckermünde was due to its location, a settlement of fishermen. 1178 (other sources 1223) Ucramund was first mentioned'' and 1243 the Monastery Grobe on Usedom assumed. At 1260 founded Herzog Barnim I. a monastery and the original trade center was awarded the Town Charter to Lübeck Law. 1276 the place was named as civitas and 1284, the castrum ukermunde, the first as a fortress built castle of the Dukes of Pomerania.

In the 13th century, Ueckermünde was a city with walls and two gates, to withstand the siege by troops of Brandenburg. In the great fire of 1473 many of the medieval houses and the church went up in flames. Then came the late-Gothic City Church St. Marien, 1753 was then set down completely for a new building.

In 1540 the construction of the four wings of the castle were started by Pomeranian Duke Philipp I.

16th to 19th centuries
Many sieges and mutual conquests of the city marked the following centuries. In the Thirty Years' War the city was almost completely destroyed; of 1600 inhabitants, only 15 survived the war. The city was then repeatedly in alternating possession. In 1631 a great fire destroyed about 40 houses, including the Town Hall. In 1639 there were only ten habitable houses in the city. 1648 it is according to the Peace of Westphalia Swedish. Christina, Queen Christina of Sweden decided to settle in the towns of the area with Fins and Livonian.

In the course of the Great Northern War after Russian and Saxon troops had occupied Szczecin and Pomerania, took Prussia for a payment of over four hundred thousand thalers the provisional administration of the territory. With the Peace of Stockholm, on 21 January (or February 1) 1720 to purchase Western Pomerania with Stettin, Usedom and Wollin for a payment of two million crowns decided. Ueckermünde had thus become Prussian. That same year, the ruined castle to the south wing and the rest of the keep was demolished.

Early 18th century will be known always been princes of the time in Ueckermünde. The soldier king Friedrich Wilhelm I, August III., King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, King of Poland, Stanislaus I. Leszczynski, and the Russian monarch Peter the Great.

The Swedish army conquered the city in 1761 and set up their commander in the castle district. In 1766 the Gothic church was replaced by a new building. 1806 Ueckermünde is occupied by French troops. As early as in the time of the Slavs, the inhabitants still lived mainly on fishing.

Only at the end of the 18th, beginning 19th century began to flourish the city. As in Torgelow were after the discovery of bog iron built several iron foundries. The industry with around 50 brickworks was built in the 19th century Ueckermünde was developed into an important trading center and also the ship itself. From 1781 to 1795 in Ueckermünde 102 ships were launched. After Prussian administrative reform in 1818 created the circle Ueckermünde (832 square kilometers and 24,000 inhabitants).

1819 (to 1994) Ueckermünde eventually became county seat. By the middle of the 19th century there were represented in Ueckermünde owners over 27 merchant ships.

In the Gründerzeit in the second half of the 19th century, many new buildings, the shape is still the old town to the market and St. Mary's Church. End of the 19th century, the then current advanced medical facilities, today the "Ameos Clinic" (then St. Christopher's Hospital), approved.

At the time of national socialism, the ten to twelve more followed in the towns Jewish families driven into exile or murdered. An existing Jewish cemetery survived the Nazi terror, but later fell into disrepair, was desecrated, but came in 1961 by setting up a memorial under state protection.

In 1945 the city surre4ndered without a fight, and thus passed without major war damage to Soviet troops.

1950, was today in the Castle housed Haffmuseum opened and extended several times. In 1962, the construction of 18 hectares Animal Park Ueckermünde started. About 400 animals of nearly 120 species can see the year over 150 000 visitors. End of the sixties was a new development area in the west of the city lived a completely new district in which up to 6,000 people.

Largest operation of the East time was in Ueckermünde a foundry with 1,100 employees. In 1997, the last brick factory was closed down by the once-50 in Ueckermünde.

The old town has remained intact in GDR times, when encountered at many buildings because of decades of maintenance backlog major structural damage. 1991 was the redevelopment of the historic center, beginning with a preserved southern wing of the palace (museum, Government) under the Urban Development. The Old bulwark, an essential part of the old port has been rehabilitated. The district Ueckermünde East (Garden City), was renovated as part of the basic urban renewal East. The area has been characterized by prefabricated buildings with a high housing vacancy, leading to partial restoration measures and restructuring processes.

The early 1990s were also many hotels, guest houses and apartments, shops have been restored in the city center and built a marina with 400 berths and 200 apartments in the vicinity of the Szczecin Lagoon.

2001 Ueckermünde received the title of "state-approved resort". For its exemplary city planning with the cities Eggesin and Torgelow, Ueckermünde was given a national award in 2002.

Geography
The town, lying on the Oder Lagoon (Oderhaff, Stettiner Haff) is Germany's northeasternmost port city. It is recognized by the state as a resort town, and it is home to the last palace of the Dukes of Pomerania still in existence on German soil. Emptying into the lagoon is the town's namesake, the river Uecker; Ueckermünde means "mouth of the Uecker".

The surrounding area, even when seen from the odd spot that reaches 20 m above sea level, is almost flat. The city also gave the Ueckermünder Heide (heath and woodland) its name. It is Western Pomerania's biggest wooded area, and stretches from the northwest to the southeast over 50 km to the Polish town of Police (Pölitz in German).

History of Oder Lagoon
In 1889 a River Bathhouse opened on the Uecker. In 1924 the lido opened in Ueckermünde, and in 1927 the Beach Hall opened at the Ueckermünde Oder Lagoon. 1935, founded the Urban Spa and Tourist Association. From this period, the first postcards of Ueckermünde reading "Haffbad Ueckermünde, the cheap resort for guests looking for work people". After the war, large parts of the beach were very rough trenches, and the pier, used for mooring passenger ships and seaplanes, was destroyed.

In the 1950s, there was a steamboat pier at the head Uecker (1959); beach park was designed and prepared the beach hall again. In the 1960s the city was built around a ten-kilometer-long belt declared a conservation area. In 1969 came the formation of the municipal association for recreation Haffküste Ueckermünde the responsibility of the city Ueckermünde. In the following year was created under the name Hafftourist an economic project of the local communities Ueckermünde, Mönkebude, Grambin and Vogelsang to promote joint tourism interests. After the reunification of the whole beach was basically reorganized and expanded accessible.

History of Sanatorium Ueckermünde
Ueckermünde has for many years a large psychiatric hospital. The hospital, now the "Christopher's Hospital, was in the late 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century highly progressive, employing innovative treatments and therapies. Patients with spiritual as well as physical disabilities were not only preserved, but by that time scales - as far as possible - employed and promoted.

The takeover by the Nazis, the political environment changed for dealing with the mentally ill and disabled. The Ueckermünder hospital gained notoriety in the wake of the so-called Action T4, a large-scale murders of tens of thousands of helpless patients, many of them as "unworthy" declared children.

Ueckermünde it was obviously an important center of this action in Pomerania. Was resolved during a large part of medical institutions in Western Pomerania and partly in converted SS-barracks, remained the local institution. The number of newly fed patients rose from dissolved hospitals, exploded at the same rate of mortality. The murders of hundreds were covered up and found a "normal" disease-related deaths in the catchment of the hospital statistics.

Parts of town
The following communities belong to Ueckermünde:
 * Bellin
 * Berndshof
 * Rosenmühl
 * Neuhof

Neighbouring communities
Clockwise from the east, these are Vogelsang-Warsin, Eggesin, Liepgarten, Lübs, Mönkebude and Grambin.

City partnerships

 * 🇵🇱 Nowe Warpno, Poland
 * 🇩🇪 Pattensen, Lower Saxony
 * 🇩🇪 Sande, Lower Saxony

Towns near Ueckermünde

 * Szczecin City (Poland)
 * Torgelow (Germany)
 * Eggesin (Germany)
 * Pasewalk (Germany)
 * Nowe Warpno (Poland)
 * Police, Poland
 * Świnoujście (Poland)



Infrastructure
Ueckermünde can be reached from the Pasewalk-West or Pasewalk-Süd interchange on Autobahn A 20. Bundesstraße (Federal Highway) B 109 running between Anklam and Prenzlau passes 13 km to the town's west. Ueckermünde is the last stop on the railway line from Pasewalk. Passenger ships sail regularly to Szczecin, Świnoujście and Kamminke on the island of Usedom. Also, the Berlin-Usedom cycling highway passes through the town.



Sightseeing

 * Stadtschloss (castle with museum)
 * Stadthafen (harbour)
 * Historical market square
 * Ueckermünder Zoo
 * Strandhalle ("Beach Hall")

Honorary citizen

 * 1836 Johann Gottfried Ravenstein, Preacher and deacon
 * 1849 Friedrich Wilhelm Wenzel, Jurist
 * 1875 Otto Friedrich Weber, Jurist
 * 1888 Earl of Rittberg, District Administrator
 * 1917 Ludwig von Schröder, Admiral
 * 1918 Max Münter, Industrial
 * 1924 Ernst Albrecht, Politician
 * 1929 Karl Leitz, Businessman
 * 1939 August Bartelt, Teacher and organist
 * 1975 Machmud Gafarow, City commander
 * 1985 Ernst Decker, Resistance fighters
 * 1999 Marianne Buggenhagen, Disabled athlete, 6-time Olympic medallist, 7-time world champion and 125-time East German champion in disabled sports

Persons born in Ueckermünde

 * Friedrich VII. Magnus of Zahringen (1647–1709), Margrave of Baden-Durlach
 * Giulio Perotti, real name Julius Prott (1841–1901), German Opera singer
 * Max Matern (1902–1935), Communist Party of Germany (KPD) member, born in nearby Berndshof. Convicted of the 1931 assassinations of Berlin police Captains Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck and executed. Subsequently glorified as a martyr by KPD and East German propaganda.
 * Gregor Laschen (* 1941), German writer and editor
 * Uwe Saeger (* 1948), German writer
 * Michael Droese (* 1952), German track and field athlete
 * Marianne Buggenhagen (* 1953), 6-time Olympic medallist, 7-time world champion in disabled sports (track and field athlete)
 * Peter Thiede (* 1968), rower, former helmsman of the Deutschlandachter
 * Kerstin Fiedler-Wilhelm (* 1968), German politician and former member of the Parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
 * Louis H. F. Wagner (d. June 25, 1875), convicted murderer of Anethe and Karen Christianson on Smuttynose Island, Maine, United States. Convicted and executed.