Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a constituent Land of the Federal Republic (see Bundesrepublik Deutschland). This coastal region by the Baltic Sea was created by the Soviet military administration in 1945 and reinstated in 1990. From 1949 to 1990 it belonged to the DDR (see Deutsche Demokratische Republik). In 1621 Mecklenburg was divided into two states which in 1701 became the dukedoms of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Mecklenburg-Schwerin. In 1815 both were elevated to the status of Großherzogtum (see Wiener Kongress), which they retained as members of the Norddeutscher Bund and (from 1871) of the Empire (see Deutsches Reich). Designated Freistaat during the Weimar Republic, they were united in 1934. The history of Pomerania is associated with the evolution of Prussia (see Preussen). The old residential city Schwerin with its romantic Schloß, lake, and park, and its gothic cathedral is the capital of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Other cities include Rostock with its harbour and university (founded in 1419), Neubrandenburg, Stralsund, Greifswald, since 1456 a university city where C. D. Friedrich was born, Wismar, and Güstrow with its Renaissance residence (Schloß) and associations with E. Barlach. Fritz Reuter, the region's outstanding dialect writer (see Dialektdichtung), J. H. Voß, and the archaeologist H. Schliemann are natives of Mecklenburg; E. M. Arndt, born on the island of Rügen, is associated with Pomerania. Others include Uwe Johnson.