Greifswald (German pronunciation:[ˈɡʁaɪfsvalt]ⓘ), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (German: Universitäts- und Hansestadt Greifswald, Low German: Griepswoold, Kashubian: Grifiô) is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. In 2021 it surpassed Stralsund for the first time, and became the largest city in the Pomeranian part of the state. It sits on the River Ryck, at its mouth into the Danish Wiek (Dänische Wiek), a sub-bay of the Bay of Greifswald (Greifswalder Bodden), which is itself a sub-bay of the Bay of Pomerania (Pommersche Bucht) of the Baltic Sea.
It is the seat of the district of Western Pomerania-Greifswald, and is located roughly in the middle between the two largest Pomeranian islands of Rugia (Rügen) and Usedom. The closest larger cities are Stralsund, Rostock, Szczecin and Schwerin. It lies west of the River Zarow, the historical cultural and linguistic boundary between West (west of the river) and Central Pomerania (east of the river). The city derives its name from the dukes of Pomerania, the House of Griffin (Greifenherzöge), and thus ultimately from the Pomeranian Griffin (Pommerscher Greif), and its name hence translates as "Griffin's Forest".
The University of Greifswald, which was founded in 1456, is the second-oldest university in the Baltic Region after the University of Rostock. The city is well-known for the ruins of Eldena Abbey (formerly Hilda Abbey), a frequent subject of the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich, who was born in the city when it was part of Swedish Pomerania. Greifswald is the seat of the Pomeranian State Museum (Pommersches Landesmuseum). The recently built Ryck Barrier (Rycksperrwerk) protects the city from exceptionally high tides and storm surges moving up from the Baltic.
The city's population was listed at 59,332 in 2021, including many of the 12,500 students and 5,000 employees of the University of Greifswald. Greifswald draws international attention due to the university, its surrounding BioCon Valley, the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline which ends at nearby Lubmin, and the Wendelstein 7-X nuclear fusion projects.
Geography
Greifswald is located in the northeast of Germany, approximately equidistant from Germany's two largest islands, Rügen and Usedom. The city is situated at the south end of the Bay of Greifswald, the historic centre being about five kilometres (three miles) up the river Ryck that crosses the city. The area around Greifswald is mainly flat, and hardly reaches more than 20 m above sea level. Two islands, Koos and Riems, are also part of Greifswald. Three of Germany's fourteen national parks can be reached by car in one hour or less from Greifswald.
Greifswald is also roughly equidistant from Germany's two largest cities, Berlin (240 km or 150 mi) and Hamburg (260 km or 160 mi). The nearest larger cities are Stralsund and Rostock.
The coastal part of Greifswald at the mouth of the Ryck, named Greifswald-Wieck, evolved from a fishing village. Today it provides a small beach, a marina and the main port for Greifswald.
Climate
Greifswald features an oceanic climate with some humid continental influence. Summers are pleasantly warm, although chilly at night. Due to its coastal location, heatwaves in Greifswald tend to be less extreme than other nearby locations inland. Winters are mild to cold, with occasional cold fronts coming in from Scandinavia or Siberia. Precipitation is spread throughout the year and comparatively low by German standards, while sunshine hours are above the German average.
Climate data for Greifswald (1991–2020 normals, extremes since 1975)
Medieval Fangenturm (Prisoners' Tower), GreifswaldEldena Abbey was founded in 1199. Today only its ruins remain.The eastern side of the historic city centre (seen from the cathedral tower)
In medieval times, the site of Greifswald was an unsettled woodland which marked the border between the DanishPrincipality of Rügen and the PomeranianCounty of Gützkow, which at that time was also under Danish control. In 1199, the Rugian Prince Jaromar I allowed Danish Cistercian monks to build Hilda Abbey, now Eldena Abbey, at the mouth of the River Ryck. Among the lands granted the monks was a natural salt evaporation pond a short way up the river, a site also crossed by an important south–north via regia trade route. This site was named Gryp(he)swold(e), which is the Low German precursor of the city's modern name – which means "Griffin's Forest." Legend says the monks were shown the best site for settlement by a mighty griffin living in a tree that supposedly grew on what became Greifswald's oldest street, the Schuhagen. The town's construction followed a scheme of rectangular streets, with church and market sites reserved in central positions. It was settled primarily by Germans in the course of the Ostsiedlung, but settlers from other nations and Wends from nearby were attracted, too.
The salt trade helped Eldena Abbey to become an influential religious center, and Greifswald became a widely known market. When the Danes had to surrender their Pomeranian lands south of the Ryck, after losing the Battle of Bornhöved in 1227, the town succeeded to the Pomeranian dukes. In 1241, the Rugian prince Wizlaw I and the Pomeranian duke Wartislaw III both granted Greifswald market rights. In 1250, the latter granted the town a charter under Lübeck law, after he had been permitted to acquire the town site as a fief from Eldena Abbey in 1248.
When Jazco of Salzwedel from Gützkow founded a Franciscan friary within the walls of Greifswald, the Cistercians at Eldena lost much of their influence on the city's further development. Just beyond Greifswald's western limits, a town-like suburb (Neustadt) arose, separated from Greifswald by a ditch. In 1264, Neustadt was incorporated and the ditch was filled in.
Eldena Abbey and the major buildings of Greifswald were erected in the North German Brick Gothic (Backsteingotik) style, found along the entire southern coast of the Baltic.
Due to a steady population increase, Greifswald became at the end of the 13th century one of the earliest members of the Hanseatic League, which further increased its trade and wealth. After 1296, Greifswald's citizens no longer needed to serve in the Pomeranian army, and Pomeranian dukes did not reside in the city.
In 1456, Greifswald's mayor Heinrich Rubenow laid the foundations of one of the oldest universities in the world, the University of Greifswald, which was one of the first in Germany, and was, successively, the single oldest in Sweden and Prussia.
In the course of Reformation, Eldena Abbey ceased to function as a monastery. Its possessions fell to the Pomeranian dukes; the bricks of its Gothic buildings were used by the locals for other construction. Eldena lost its separate status and was later absorbed into the town of Greifswald. The religious houses within the town walls, the priories of the Blackfriars (Dominicans) in the northwest and the Greyfriars (Franciscans) in the southeast, were secularized. The buildings of the Dominicans (the "black monastery") were turned over to the university; the site is still used as part of the medical campus. The Franciscan friary ("the "grey monastery") and its succeeding buildings are now the Pomeranian State Museum.
During the Thirty Years' War, Greifswald was occupied by (Catholic) Imperial forces from 1627 to 1631,[6] and thereafter, under the Treaty of Stettin (1630), by (Protestant) Swedish forces.[7]
Bay of GreifswaldGreifswald's lively market square (Marktplatz)
During the Thirty Years' War, Swedish forces entered the Duchy of Pomerania in 1630.[6] Greifswald was besieged by Swedish troops on 12 June 1631[6] and surrendered on 16 June.[6]Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden had returned from Brandenburg to supervise the siege, and upon his arrival received the university's homage for the liberation from Catholic forces.[6] After the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), Greifswald and the region surrounding it became part of the Kingdom of Sweden. Swedish Pomerania, as it was then called, remained part of the Swedish kingdom until 1815, when it became part of the Kingdom of Prussia as the Province of Pomerania. In 1871, it devolved to Germany.
The Thirty Years' War had caused starvation throughout Germany, and by 1630 Greifswald's population had shrunk by two-thirds. Many buildings were left vacant and fell into decay. Soon, other wars followed: the Swedish-Polish War and the Swedish-Brandenburg War both involved the nominally Swedish town of Greifswald. In 1659 and 1678, Brandenburgian troops bombarded the town. The first bombardment hit mainly the northeast part of town, wrecking 16 houses. The second bombardment leveled 30 houses and damaged hundreds more all over the city. Cannonballs of this second bombardment can still be seen in the walls of St Mary's Church.
During the Great Northern War (1700–1721, Greifswald was compelled to house soldiers. While besieging neighboring Stralsund, Russian tsarPeter the Great allied with George I of Great Britain in the Treaty of Greifswald. Large fires in 1713 and 1736 destroyed houses and other buildings, including City Hall. The Swedish government had issued decrees in 1669 and 1689 absolving anyone of taxes who built or rebuilt a house. These decrees remained essentially in force, under Prussian administration, until 1824.[8]
Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840) depicted his hometown in several paintings; this is Wiesen bei Greifswald (Meadows near Greifswald), 1820.Woman at the 'fishers well', by Jo Jastram in the 20th century
During the 19th century, Greifswald attracted many Polish students.[9] After Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) and Berlin, Greifswald hosted the third-largest group of Polish students in Germany.[10]
About 1900, the town – for the first time since the Middle Ages – expanded significantly beyond the old town walls. Also, a major railway connected Greifswald to Stralsund and Berlin; a local railway line further connected Greifswald to Wolgast.
The city survived World War II without much destruction, even though it housed a large German Army (Wehrmacht) garrison. During the war it was a site of a camp for prisoners of war held by Nazi Germany called Stalag II-C.[11] In April 1945, German Army Colonel (Oberst) Rudolf Petershagen defied orders and surrendered the city to the Red Army without a fight.
From 1949 to 1990, Greifswald was part of the German Democratic Republic (DDR). During this time, most historical buildings in the medieval parts of the city were neglected and a number of old buildings were pulled down. The population increased significantly, because of the construction of a nominal 1760 MW Soviet-made nuclear power plant in Lubmin, which was closed in the early 1990s. New suburbs were erected in the monolithic industrial socialist style (see Plattenbau). They still house most of the city's population.[citation needed] These new suburbs were placed east and southeast of central Greifswald, shifting the former town center to the northwestern edge of the modern town.
Reconstruction of the old town began in the late 1980s. Nearly all of it has been restored. Before that almost all of the old northern town adjacent to the port was demolished and subsequently rebuilt. The historic marketplace is considered one of the most beautiful in northern Germany. The town attracts many tourists, due in part to its proximity to the Baltic Sea.
Greifswald's greatest population was reached in 1988, with about 68,000 inhabitants, but it decreased afterward to 55,000, where it has now stabilized. Reasons for this included migration to western German cities as well as suburbanisation. However, the number of students quadrupled from 3,000 in 1990 to more than 11,000 in 2007 and the university employs 5,000 people; nearly one in three people in Greifswald are linked in some way to higher education.
Despite its relatively small population, Greifswald retains a supra-regional relevance linked to its intellectual role as a university town and to the taking of the central functions of the former Prussian Province of Pomerania after World War II, such as the seat of the bishop of the Pomeranian Lutheran Church, the state archives (Landesarchiv) and the Pomeranian Museum (Pommersches Landesmuseum). Three courts of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern are also based at Greifswald:
the Supreme Administrative Court (Oberverwaltungsgericht);
the Supreme Constitutional Court (Landesverfassungsgericht); and
the Fiscal Court Mecklenburg-Vorpommern [de] (Finanzgericht)
The energy sector is important to the city's economy. Even the church in the Wieck district of Greifswald has solar panels on its roof.Shops on the High Street (or Main Street): Greifswald is a shopping destination for the entire region.
Greifswald and Stralsund are the largest cities in the Vorpommern part of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Of great importance to the city's economy is the local university with its 12,000 students and nearly 5,000 employees in addition to many people employed at independent research facilities such as the Friedrich Loeffler Institute and spin-off firms.
Greifswald is also the seat of the diocese of the Pomeranian Evangelical Church as well as the seat of the state's chief constitutional court, and chief financial court.
Tourism plays a vital role as Greifswald is situated between the islands of Rügen and Usedom on the popular German Baltic coast, which brings in many tourists.
One of Europe's largest producers of photovoltaic modules, Berlin-based Solon SE, has a production site in Greifswald. The world's third-largest producer of yachts worldwide, HanseYachts, is based in Greifswald. In the energy sector, an offshore natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, Nord Stream 1, stops in Lubmin (near Greifswald). Riemser Arzneimittel is a pharmaceutical company based on the island of Riems, which is part of the city of Greifswald. Siemens Communications F & E produces goods here as well.
In a 2008 study,[12] Greifswald was declared Germany's most dynamic city. According to another 2008 study, Greifswald is the "youngest city" in Germany having the highest percentage of heads of household under 30 years of age.[13]
Politics
City Council
Flag of Greifswald
Politics in Greifswald, as in most of Western Pomerania, is traditionally dominated by the centre-right CDU. The city council is elected for five year terms. Since the last election on 25 May 2014, the 43 city council seats are allocated as follows:
Theater Vorpommern (Theater of Hither Pomerania)Pommersches Landesmuseum (Pomeranian State Museum)
Greifswald has a number of museums and exhibitions, most notably the Pomeranian State Museum (German: Pommersches Landesmuseum): history of Pomerania and arts, including works by Caspar David Friedrich, a native of Greifswald. The University of Greifswald also has a large number of collections, some of which are on display for the public.
Events and attractions hosted in Greifswald include:
Theater Vorpommern: theatre, orchestra and opera
Stadthalle Greifswald: medium-sized convention centre
Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: Greifswald is one of several sites of the state's classical music festival
Greifswald Night of Music (Greifswalder Musiknacht)
Greifswald long-ship festival (Greifswalder Drachenbootfest)
Cinemas
Art house is shown regularly at the film club "Casablanca",[16] which has existed since 1992. It puts its focus on the heritage of 35mm films. The Koeppenhaus shows art house cinema as part of its special programmes. The cinema initiative "KinoAufSegeln"[17] screening art house open air on the site of the Greifswalder Museumswerft, Greifswald's shipyard museum. It exists since 2015. All three are active members of the Verband für Filmkommunikation (Association for Film Communication) of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the umbrella organisation of art house cinemas and film clubs.
Among Greifswald's brick gothic churches is the Dom St. Nikolai (St. Nicholas collegiate church) in the city center, which, with its 100 meters (330 ft) tall tower, is the symbol of the city. The exact date of its founding is unknown, but the original church dates from the late 13th century. The tower was built, and an organ installed in the church, in the late 14th century. In the mid-17th century, when Greifswald was part of Swedish Pomerania, severe storm damage was repaired with support from the Swedish Crown. Neglect during the early DDR period necessitated extensive refurbishment, completed in 1989, the last full year of the DDR.
The St.-Marien-Kirche (St. Mary's Church), built adjacent to the Old Town marketplace in the mid-13th century, contains ground-level brick walls four and one-half meters (14 ft) thick. Medieval murals depicting scenes from the Passion of Christ were restored in 1977–84. The church organ, known as the Marienorgel (St. Mary's Organ), was installed by the Stralsund organ builder Friedrich Mehmel in 1866, replacing an earlier instrument. It features 37 registers.
St.-Jacobi-Kirche
On the west side of the Old Town stands the St.-Jacobi-Kirche (St. James's Church), dating from the early 13th century. In 1400 it was rebuilt to contain a nave and two transepts, requiring the addition of four buttresses. The original half-timbered tower, heavily damaged in a 1955 fire, was rebuilt in brick.
Stolpersteine
Synagogue memorial plaque
Stolpersteine, part of the European Stolperstein (literally "stumbling stone") memorial project, are scattered around Greifswald. The brass plaques, engraved with the names of Jewish residents who were murdered in the Holocaust, are embedded in the sidewalk in front of houses where they once lived. Some of the Stolpersteine in Greifswald mark the nationwide November 9, 1938, Kristallnacht pogroms in which members of the Nazi SA and SS murdered many German Jews, vandalized Jewish property and burned down synagogues – including the Greifswald Synagogue, dating from 1787. In 2012 all the 13 Stolpersteine were stolen, presumably by pro-Nazi extremists. The following year (2013) they were replaced.[18][19]
A memorial plaque was installed on the site of the synagogue in 2008 in a ceremony attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
According to a 2009 study, 44% of all people in Greifswald use their bicycle for daily transport within the city, which, at the time, was the highest rate in Germany.[24] There are also public local and regional bus operators.
Local buses are run by SWG (Stadtwerke Greifswald).
Greifswald is situated at an equal distance of about 250 km (160 mi) to Germany's two largest cities, Berlin and Hamburg, which can be reached via the Autobahn 20 by car in about two hours. There are also train connections to and from Hamburg (via Stralsund and Rostock), and Berlin. The popular summer tourist destinations Usedom and Rügen can be reached both by car and train.
Greifswald has a port on the Baltic Sea as well as several marinas. The historic city centre is about 3 kilometres (2 miles) off the shore, and can be reached by yachts and small boats on the river Ryck. The Bay of Greifswald is a popular place for sailing and surfing, with Germany's two largest islands, Rügen and Usedom, just off the coast.
^ ab"No Name". Greifswald. Archived from the original on 17 May 2011. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
^ abcdeLanger, Herbert (2003). "Die Anfänge des Garnisionswesens in Pommern". In Asmus, Ivo; Droste, Heiko; Olesen, Jens E. (eds.). Gemeinsame Bekannte: Schweden und Deutschland in der Frühen Neuzeit (in German). Berlin-Hamburg-Münster: LIT Verlag. p. 403. ISBN3-8258-7150-9.
^Langer, Herbert (2003). "Die Anfänge des Garnisionswesens in Pommern". In Asmus, Ivo; Droste, Heiko; Olesen, Jens E. (eds.). Gemeinsame Bekannte: Schweden und Deutschland in der Frühen Neuzeit (in German). Berlin-Hamburg-Münster: LIT Verlag. p. 397. ISBN3-8258-7150-9.
^Felix Schönrock's studies in: Frank Braun, Stefan Kroll, Städtesystem und Urbanisierung im Ostseeraum in der frühen Neuzeit: Wirtschaft, Baukultur und historische Informationssysteme: Beiträge des wissenschaftlichen Kolloquiums in Wismar vom 4. Und 5. September 2003, 2004, pp.184ff, ISBN3-8258-7396-X, 9783825873967, [1]
^S. Wierzchosławski, Polskie organizacje studenckie na uniwersytecie w Gryfii w drugiej połowie XIX i początkach XX wieku, Studia Historica Slavo- Germanica T. X — 1981, s. 127 – 140
^Die Universität Greifswald in der Bildungslandschaft des Ostseeraums, page 372 Dirk Alvermann, Nils Jörn, Jens E. Olesen
^Gerhard Baader, Susan E. Lederer, Morris Low, Florian Schmaltz and Alexander V. Schwerin. 2005. Pathways to Human Experimentation, 1933-1945: Germany, Japan, and the United States (pp 205-231). In: Carola Sachse and Mark Walker, eds. Politics and Science in Wartime: Comparative International Perspectives on the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute (Ser: Osiris, 2nd Series, Vol. 20). Washington DC: Georgetown University. BMW Center for German & European Studies, p 216.
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