Due to its lengthy name, the state is often abbreviated asMV or (colloquially) shortened toMeckPomm.[9] In English, it is usually called "Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania" or less frequently "Mecklenburg–Cispomerania." Inhabitants are called eitherMecklenburger orPomeranians; the combined form is never used.[citation needed]
The place nameVorpommern derives fromWest Slavic languages. The prefix "po-" meansalong orat, and the base word "more" meanssea, so that together "po more" meansLand at the Sea. The German prefix "vor-" denotes a closer location; from the German point of view, this is the near part of Pomerania.[10]
The full name in German is pronounced[ˈmeːklənbʊʁkˈfoːɐ̯pɔmɐn]. Sometimes,Mecklenburg is pronounced[ˈmɛklənbʊʁk], because the digraph⟨ck⟩ marks a preceding short vowel inHigh German. However, Mecklenburg is within the historicalLow German language area, and the⟨c⟩ appeared in its name during the period of transition toStandard, High German usage (Low German authors wrote the nameMeklenborg orMęklenborg, depicting proper Low German pronunciation, which itself was asyncope ofMiddle Low GermanMekelenborg). The introduction of the⟨c⟩ is explained as follows: Either the⟨c⟩ signals the stretched pronunciation of the preceding⟨e⟩ (Dehnungs-c), or it signals the pronunciation of the subsequent⟨k⟩ as anocclusive[k] to prevent it from falsely being rendered as africative[χ] following a Low German trend.[11] Another explanation is that the⟨c⟩ comes from a mannerism in High Germanofficialese of writing unnecessary letters, a so-calledLetternhäufelung (lit.'letter accumulation', as was done sometimes in English with words such as "doubt").
Human settlement in the area of modern Mecklenburg and Vorpommern began after theIce Age, about 10,000 BC. About two thousand years ago,Germanic peoples were recorded in the area. Most of them left during theMigration Period, heading towards Spain, Italy, and France, leaving the area relatively deserted. In the sixth centuryPolabian Slavs populated the area. While Mecklenburg was settled by theObotrites, Pomerania was settled by theVeleti (laterLiuticians) and theRani.[13]
In the late 12th century,Henry the Lion, Duke of the Saxons, conquered theObotrites, subjugated itsNikloting dynasty, and Christianized its people. In the course of time, German monks, nobility, peasants and traders arrived to settle here. After the 12th century, the territory remained stable and relatively independent of its neighbours; one of the few German territories for which this is true. Mecklenburg first became aduchy of theHoly Roman Empire in 1348. Though later partitioned and re-partitioned within the same dynasty, Mecklenburg always shared a common history and identity. The states ofMecklenburg-Schwerin andMecklenburg-Strelitz becameGrand Duchies in 1815, and in 1870 they voluntarily joined the newGerman Empire, while retaining their own internal autonomy. After theFirst World War and theabdication of the GermanKaiser, the monarchies of the duchies were abolished and republican governments of both Mecklenburg states were established, until the Nazi government merged the two states into a unifiedstate of Mecklenburg [de], a virtually meaningless administrative decision under the centralised regime.
During the war, the make-up of Mecklenburg and Vorpommern's population changed, due to wartime losses and the influx of evacuees (mainly from the Berlin and Hamburg metropolitan areas that were subject to air raids). After the war, people whofled and were expelled from theformer eastern territories of Germany east of theOder-Neisse line settled in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (and elsewhere in Germany), increasing the population by 40%. Before the war,Mecklenburg andWestern Pomerania had a population of 1,278,700, of whom many perished during the war and others moved west in the course of the Red Army's advance. In 1947, some 1,426,000 refugees from the former eastern parts of Germany were counted. Most of them settled in rural communities, but the urban population also increased, most notably inSchwerin from 65,000 (1939) to 99,518 (January 1947), inWismar from 29,463 to 44,173, and inGreifswald from 29,488 to 43,897.[16] Western Pomerania was additionally stripped ofthe area around the Pomeranian regional capital Stettin/Szczecin as well as the city itself, despite its location to the west of the river Oder.
Rostock was the major overseas port ofEast Germany, and is one of the most importantBaltic Sea ports today. Pictured isHanse Sail, one of the world's largest maritime events.
On 5 June 1946, a law enacted by the Soviets constituted a provisional German administration (Beratende Versammlung, English:"Consulting assembly") under Soviet supervision on 29 June 1946. After elections on 20 October 1946, aLandtag replaced theBeratende Versammlung and created the constitution of 16 January 1947, for theLand Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. On 18 April 1947, the state's name was shortened toLand Mecklenburg. Mecklenburg became a constituent state ("Land") of theGerman Democratic Republic (GDR) upon its formation in 1949. In 1952, the East German government abandoned the termLand in this context and redesignated its administrative territorial divisions as "districts" (German:Bezirke). The territory of Mecklenburg and Vorpommern was divided into three districts that covered roughly the same area:Bezirk Rostock,Bezirk Schwerin andBezirk Neubrandenburg. These were commonly known as theNordbezirke (northern districts) under the highly centralised GDR government. The East German government developed theshipyards in the oldHanseatic ports (the largest being inRostock andStralsund), and also established theGreifswald Nuclear Power Plant inLubmin nearGreifswald.
At the time ofGerman reunification in 1990, the eastern states were reconstituted along their postwar boundaries (with minor adjustments) as they had existed until 1952, and the historic name Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was restored. Since 1990, the state has undergone dramatic changes. What had been largely an industrial and agricultural economy is increasingly driven by theservice,tourism, andhigh-tech sectors. Theold towns,hundreds of castles and manors,resort buildings,windmills, churches, and various other cultural monuments of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern have been renovated in recent years. Since 2013, net migration into the state has been positive again.
The state'sBaltic Sea coast is about 2,000 km (1,200 mi) long and features several islands, most notably Germany's two biggest islandsRügen andUsedom, but also a number of smaller islands such asHiddensee andPoel. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's varied coastline also has many peninsulas such asFischland-Darß-Zingst and variouslagoons (also known asBodden orHaff).
A total of 283 nature reserves, 110 landscape reserves and three of Germany's fourteennational parks are scattered all over the state.
The southern part of the state is characterized by a multitude of lakes within theMecklenburg Lakeland, the largest of which is LakeMüritz (also the largestGerman lake), followed byLake Schwerin,Plauer See andLake Kummerow. The "land of a thousand lakes" (German:Land der tausend Seen) is hallmarked by its unspoilt nature. Due to its clean air and idyllic setting,medical tourism has become a notable tourism sector in the region.[17]
Over the centuries, Mecklenburg and Vorpommern have developed and maintained strong regional cultures. It can generally be described asNorth German and has similar linguistic and historic characteristics to other north German states, such asSchleswig-Holstein. People in Vorpommern, as a result of that territory being a former province ofPrussia, tend to look slightly more towardsBerlin andBrandenburg than people in Mecklenburg would.
The old towns are usually built around one or several market places with a church or the town hall. Often towns were founded at theBaltic Sea, one of the manylakes or a river for logistical and trade motives.
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is home to many cultural events throughout the year. During summer, many open-air concerts and operas are open to visitors. The Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival (Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) attracts a sizeable audience by performing classical concerts in parks, churches and castles.
Today the vast majority of people speakStandard German; a few centuries ago most people spokeLow German (German:Plattdeutsch orNiederdeutsch), a language that is still kept alive within various communities and cultural events.
As of 2020, the majority (82.4%) of the citizens of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are not religious or adhere to other religions. 14.2% are members of theProtestant Church in Germany and 3.4% of theCatholic Church.[19]
The state's school system is centralised. There are two main types of schools,Regionalschule (for the majority of pupils) andGymnasium (for the top 30% of each year's students, leading to the university entrance qualification "Abitur"). Besides, there are also independent schools, comprehensive schools and trade schools.
Article 20 of the State Constitution states that theLandtag is the "site of political decision-making".[27] The Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Landtag is elected democratically by the citizens of the state and sits for a 5-year legislative period.[27] The seat of the Landtag is located atSchwerin Palace inSchwerin.[27] The essential functions of the Landtag are to elect theMinister-President of the state; to discuss and decide on laws which have been proposed by the government, by any four members of the Landtag, or a people's initiative or petition for a referendum initiated directly by the people; and to control the state government.[27]
The executive is led by a cabinet, in turn led by a Minister-President, who is the official head of state and government. The election to determine the Minister-President is held no later than four weeks after the newly elected Landtag is convened.[27]
The last election of theLandtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern took place on 26 September 2021. TheSPD won a landslide plurality of almost 40% of votes, a ninepercentage point increase from 2016. The oppositionAlternative for Germany (AfD) remained the second largest party but declined to under 17%. The CDU recorded its worst ever result in the state with 13.3%, whileThe Left also declined to 10%.Alliance 90/The Greens and theFree Democratic Party (FDP) both won around 6% of votes and re-entered the Landtag after previously falling out in 2016 and 2011, respectively.[28]
The Landtag has been led by Minister PresidentManuela Schwesig since 2017.On 13 October 2021, Schwesig announced the SPD would enter coalition talks with The Left. She stated her motivations for reorienting the coalition as a desire for "a new departure", and described The Left as a "social, pragmatic party" with decisive policy overlap with the SPD. She said that The Left had been a reliable partner to the government even while in opposition, and had assumed "state-political responsibility" during theCOVID-19 pandemic.[29]
On 5 November 2021, the SPD and The Left agreed to a coalition government and plan to form a cabinet, which is to be approved by each party-congress by mid-November.[30]
Thegross domestic product (GDP) of the state was 44.5 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 1.3% of German economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 25,400 euros or 84% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 83% of the EU average. The GDP per capita was the lowest of all German states.[31]
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is the least densely populated and least industrialGerman state, being the sixth largest in area, but only the 14th in population. Formerly, unemployment has been negatively affected by the breakdown of non-competitive formerGDR industries after theGerman reunification in the 1990s. As of 2018 unemployment is the lowest in more than 15 years while the economy is growing and the number of jobs is increasing continually. Growing sectors arebiotechnology,information technology,life sciences,maritime industry andtourist services.
In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, approximately 732,200 people were gainfully employed in 2008 with 657,100 of them were white and blue collar workers. About 4,200 new jobs were created in 2007. Employees worked an average of 1,455 hours a year. The number of self-employed did not change in 2008. Three out of every four of all workers are employed in the service sector.[32] In October 2018 the unemployment rate stood at 7.1% and was the third highest rate in Germany.[33]
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is the top destination for intra-German tourism and is gaining importance forinternational tourism.The main tourist regions are:
Night sky: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is home to some of the mostpristine night skies in Germany, especially in the area near Nationalpark Müritz. It is a potential site for aDark Sky Park.
As a reminder of its rich history, nearly 2,000 castles, palaces andmanor houses exist in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, many of which are used as venues for public events like concerts and festivals, such as Festspiele MV[35] (a classical music festival).
Medical tourism[17] based on the clean air and idyllic settings by theBaltic Sea has a growing importance to the regional tourism industry.[17]
Main sporting attractions include theGerman football league games ofF.C. Hansa Rostock and the international sailing eventHanse Sail. If the bid for the 2012 summer Olympics inLeipzig had been successful, the sailing competitions would have taken place off the coast ofRostock.[36]
The firstV2 Rocket which was the first explosive missile was launched in 1944 during World War II inPeenemünde on the present-day territory of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.[37]
During the chancellorship ofAngela Merkel, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern hosted the first official public meeting with PresidentGeorge W. Bush in 2006 and the33rd G8 summit in 2007. Both political events were financed by state and federal budgets.
^With the abolition of states in East Germany in 1952 vehicle registration followed the new Bezirk subdivisions. Since 1991 distinct prefixes are specified for each district.
^Krech, Eva Maria; Stock, Eberhard; Hirschfeld, Ursula; Anders, Lutz-Christian (2009),Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch, Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, p. 733,ISBN978-3-11-018202-6
^Dudenredaktion; Kleiner, Stefan; Knöbl, Ralf (2015) [First published 1962],Das Aussprachewörterbuch (in German) (7th ed.), Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 590,ISBN978-3-411-04067-4. According to this source, the pronunciation with[eː] is mainly found in Northern Germany (so Mecklenburg-Vorpommern itself as well). It is the historical pronunciation. In other regions, the spelling pronunciation with[ɛ] is usual.
^Michael North,Geschichte Mecklenburg-Vorpommerns (2008), p. 113
^abMichael North,The Baltic: A History (2015), pp. 187–189
^Medley, D. J. (2004).The church and the empire. Kessinger Publishing. p. 152.
^Brunner, Detlev,Inventar der Befehle der Sowjetischen Militäradministration Mecklenburg (-Vorpommern) 1945−1949 inTexte und Materialien zur Zeitgeschichte 12, 2003,ISBN3-598-11621-7
^Beatrice Vierneisel,Fremde im Land: Aspekte zur kulturellen Integration von Umsiedlern in Mecklenburg und Vorpommern 1945 bis 1953, 2006, p.12,ISBN3-8309-1762-7,ISBN978-3-8309-1762-5
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