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Demmin () is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in north-eastern Germany. It was the capital of the former district of Demmin.
North of Demmin is the Drosedow Forest and woods of Woldeforst (c. 174 ha.). Here is also the Kronwald Nature Reserv (103 ha.). To the west on the left bank of the Peene is the woodland area of Devener Holz and, on the left bank, Vorwerk Switzerland ( Vorwerker Schweiz). To the east of the town are the Sandberg Pines and, to the southeast, the Vorwerk Forest.
Villages and populations
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A popular explanation of the name, but without any historical basis, is as follows: two princesses built a castle called Haus Demmin and promised each other (in the Low German language spoken in Demmin) Dat Hus is din und min ('That house is thine din and mine min'). Thus the name of the castle and of the city is said to have developed. Temme, Jodocus Donatus Hubertus. 1840. Die Volkssagen von Pommern und Rügen. Berlin: Nicolaische Buchhandlung, p. 171.Ferrand, Eduard. 1845. "Norddeutsche Volkssagen." In Arthur Müller, Moderne Reliquien, vol. 2, pp. 329–360. Berlin: Adolf Gumprecht, p. 351.Schmidt, Th. 1865. Die Bedeutung der pommerischen Städtenamen: Jubelschrift zur fünf- und zwanzigjährigen Stiftungsfeier der Friedrich-Wilhelms-Schule in Stettin. Stettin: A. Rast, p. 9.Grässe, Johann Georg Theodor. 1871. Sagenbuch des preussischen Staats, vol. 2. Glogan: Verlag von Carl Flemming, p. 466.Knoop, D. 1891. "Allerhand Scherz, Neckereien, Reime und Erzählungen über pommersche Orte und ihre Bewohner." Baltische Studien 41: 99–203, p. 121.Eichblatt, Hermann: Sagen, Volksglaube und Bräuche aus Demmin und Umgebung. Demmin 1925, chapter 1.
Demmin was a stronghold of the West Slav Circipanes during the Middle Ages. Due to its strategical importance, strongholds were erected (and often attacked and destroyed) at the Vorwerk and Haus Demmin sites, named Dimin or Dymin. In the early 12th century Polish monarch Bolesław III Wrymouth, who established sovereignty over Pomerania, initiated Christianization, entrusting this task to Otto of Bamberg, who visited Dymin in 1127. The inhabitants accepted Christianity, and a church was founded in 1140. A Saxon army unsuccessfully besieged the settlement during the 1147 Wendish Crusade. In 1160, Dymin became the capital of a small Pomerania-Demmin. In 1164, it was captured by Henry the Lion. It was soon rebuilt, and in 1177 it was successfully defended during another siege by Henry the Lion.Kratz, p. 115 In 1211 it was captured by King Valdemar II of Denmark, who retained it until 1227. In 1264, it was reunited with the Duchy of Pomerania.
It was granted municipal rights in the 13th century, confirmed by Dukes Bogislaw IV, Barnim II and Otto I in 1292, along with its old privileges.Kratz, p. 116 It was Ostsiedlung by Germans and Flemings by the 13th to 14th centuries. Following the division of the Duchy of Pomerania in 1295, the town passed to the Wolgast dukes and the castle passed to the Szczecin dukes.Kratz, p. 117 In 1326 Duke Otto I granted all merchants coming to the town exemption from customs duties and taxes in the area.Kratz, p. 118 In 1327 it was unsuccessfully besieged by Mecklenburg during the Wars of the Rügen Succession. From 1478 Demmin was part of the reunited Duchy of Pomerania.
During the Thirty Years' War, Demmin was occupied by imperial forces from 1627 to 1630, and thereafter by Swedish forces. From 1648, Demmin was part of Swedish Pomerania. From 1720, it was part of Prussia, within which it was administratively located in the Province of Pomerania. In 1807 it was briefly occupied by France. In the late 19th-century the inhabitants were mainly employed in weaving, tanning, fishing and trade.
In the Weimar Republic Demmin was a stronghold of the nationalistic organisations DNVP and the Stahlhelm. Even before 1933 there were boycotts of Jewish businesses, which drove away most of the Jews and the synagogue was sold in June 1938 to a furniture company, which is why it survives as a building today. In the last free national elections to the Reichstag on 5 March 1933 the National Socialist Party won 53.7 percent of votes in Demmin.Thomas Schreck: Echt deutsch und national - Die vorpommersche Kleinstadt Demmin im Jahr 1933, in: Zeitgeschichte regional 4/4 (2000), S. 14-23 On 11 November 1938, thousands gathered in the square in an anti-Semitic demonstrationArtikel Demmin in: Irene Diekmann (Hg.), Wegweiser durch das jüdische Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Potsdam 1998, S. 99 ff, bes. S. 111 f as part of Kristallnacht.
During World War II, Poles, Russians, as well as POWs from France and Belgium were used as forced labour in the town.
German troops destroyed the bridges over the Peene while retreating from Demmin during World War II. This way, the advance of the Soviet Red Army was slowed down when they arrived in Demmin on 30 April 1945. During that night and the following morning, Demmin was handed over to the Red Army largely without fighting, similar to other cities like Greifswald. Rapes, pillage and executions committed by Red Army soldiers triggered a mass suicide of hundreds of people and nearly all of the Old Town was burned down by the Red Army.Buske, Norbert (Hg.): Das Kriegsende in Demmin 1945. Berichte Erinnerungen Dokumente (Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Landeskundliche Hefte), Schwerin 1995, in German ( The End of the War in Demmin 1945 - Reports, Reminiscences, Documents). . (Originally published in .) From 1945 to 1952, Demmin was part of the State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, from 1952 to 1990 of the Bezirk Neubrandenburg of East Germany and since 1990 again of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Modern Age
Like most of Pomeranian areas aside the larger coastal Hanse cities, the character of Demmin and its surrounding areas remained rural and dominated by agriculture until today, even though Demmin had been a member of the Hanseatic League because of the rivers (e.g. the Peene River) connecting this area to the Baltic coast.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms of Demmin displays:
Notable residents
Sport
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