at
Cape Arkona, island of
Rügen.
Era before 1121 In prehistoric times, the area was inhabited by
megalith cultures. In the first half of the first millennium, the
East Germanic Rugians are reported in the area, who are known to later set up a kingdom far South in
Pannonia in the 5th century. By the 6th and 7th century,
West Slavic people populated the region. If they met a substantial Rugian population and whether and/or how these were assimilated by the Slavs is not known. The Slavic inhabitants, also referred to as part of the
Wilzen/Veleti, diverged into several small tribes, listed from Northwest to Southeast: The
Rujanes or
Rani around
Rügen, the
Circipanes around the
Pane (Peene) River, the
Redarians around the temple of
Rethra, the
Wollinians on the isle of
Wolin, the
Tollensians around the
Tollense River and the
Ukrainians around the
Uecker River in the
Uckermark. The collective term
Liutizians also covers some of these tribes, as they allied in the late 10th century to secure their sovereignty. The Lutician alliances headquarters were at Rethra, where delegates from the independent allied tribes held their meetings. Whether or not the Rani were part of the Veleti or later the Lutizians is disputed. The Slavic tribes referred to as
Pomeranians settled east of the
Oder River. In this era, large mixed
Slavic and Scandinavian settlements were built at the natural havens of the bay-rich coast, the most important of which were
Ralswiek (Rügen),
Altes Lager Menzlin at the Peene River and
Wolin, which is assumed to be identical with
Vineta and
Jomsborg. Important pagan temple sites were
Arkona and Rethra. Other local strongholds were
Dimin (
Demmin) in the Circipan and
Stetin (
Szczecin) in the Pomeranian area. At the beginning of the second millennium, western Pomeranian tribes were surrounded by the expanding states of Denmark in the North,
Piast Poland in the Southeast and the German
Holy Roman Empire in the Southwest. While the eastward expansion of the latter could be halted for some time by a Slavic uprising of the Southern (
Heveller) and Western (
Obotrites) neighbors of the western Pomeranian tribes, which even was supported by the Liutizian alliance, the Pomeranians East of the Oder River were conquered by the Polish state in the late 10th century and remained vassals of the dynasty of
Piasts until 1007, had to pay tribute to the Poles after 1042, and were conquered again in 1121.
Duchy of Pomerania (1121/81–1637) and Principality of Rügen (1168–1325) In spite of his surrender or even with military help from the succeeding Poles, the
Pomeranian duke Wartislaw I of the
House of Griffins successfully started conquering the areas west of his
burgh in
Szczecin the years after 1121. These lands were considerably weakened by previous warfare: The coast was raided by the
Danes, which destroyed
Jomsborg in 1043, shifting the power in the Oder delta South to Pomeranian Stettin.
Rethra was raided and devastated by the Germans in winter 1068/69, the Lutizian alliance fell apart, and instead the Lutizian tribes started fighting against each other ("
Liutizischer Bruderkrieg", Liutizian civil war). Wartislaw's aim was not only the expansion of his duchy, but also the spread of the Christian faith. In 1124, he invited
Otto von Bamberg to mission in his duchy east of the Oder River. By 1128, Wartislaw I had expanded his duchy west to the
County of Gützkow and
Circipania and south to the
Uckermark. He invited Otto von Bamberg again to mission in these pagan areas West of the Oder River, too. The former Liutizian principalities were turned into
castellanies subordinate to the Pomeranian duke, who appointed the
castellans. These castellanies were converted from their pagan to
Christian religion in
Usedom, 1128. Except for the Rani living North of the
Ryck River and
Demmin, all western Pomeranian territories had become united and Christian. Wartislaw's dependency on Poland loosened in the following years and, in 1135 with the death of Polish king
Boleslaw III, Wartislaw's duchy regained independence. About ten years later, he was slain by pagans near
Stolpe.
Stolpe Abbey was erected at this site by Wartislaw's successor,
Ratibor I. The 1147
Wendish Crusade initiated by the Holy Roman Empire ended when the Demmin and Stettin citizens persuaded the crusaders that they were already Christians. By the middle of the 12th century, the
Principality of Rügen in northwestern Pomerania remained the last pagan state in Central Europe. In 1168, a Danish fleet led by Roskilde archbishop
Absalon sacked Rügen. The Arkona temple was sieged and destroyed. After this main temple's fall, Rügen's capitol
Charenza (
Venzer Burgwall) capitulated, all other temples were given to the Danes for destruction and
Jaromar I, Prince of Rügen became a Danish vassal. The Rani then converted to Christianity. From Rügen, which still had a strong navy and army, the Danish put pressure on Pomerania. Bogislaw I duke of Pomerania made his duchy a part of the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) in 1181, after he had allied with
Henry the Lion since 1164. But the new alliance did not prevent the Danes from successfully raiding and in 1186 conquering all of Pomerania. Danish rule ended when in 1227 the Danish navy was defeated in
Bornhöved by the Germans, Pomerania except for Rügen (until 1345 with the last Rugian duke's death) fell to the HRE.
Colonization and German settlement (since the 12th century) The Rügen and Pomerania dukes called in many German settlers and aristocrats to resettle parts of their duchies devastated in the wars before and to settle new areas by turning woodland into fields. Settlers came from North German Lower Saxony. Some settlers from the
Harz mountains in central Germany settled near Stettin. Cities and monasteries were founded. Between the 12th century and 13th century, Western Pomerania changed from a pagan and Slavic to a Christian and German country (
Ostsiedlung). The Slavs (
Wends) were first excluded from the villages and privileges of the German settlers. They later merged with the German majority. Western Pomerania then was part of the
Duchy of Pomerania, the areas north of the
Peene River (
Principality of Rugia) joined the duchy in 1325. From that time onwards, the region shares a common history with
Farther Pomerania.
Swedish (1630/48–1720/1815) and Prussian province (1720/1815–1945) (center) partitioned between the
Swedish Empire and
Brandenburg after the
Treaty of Stettin (1653).
Swedish Pomerania (Western Pomerania) is indicated in light blue, Brandenburgian Pomerania (
East Pomerania) is shown in orange. Pomerania came under
Swedish military control in 1630 during the
Thirty Years' War. Swedish sovereignty over Vorpommern, including Stettin, was confirmed by the
Peace of Westphalia (1648) and the
Treaty of Stettin (1653), and from that time onwards much of the region formed
Swedish Pomerania. Possession of this region remained an issue of conflict in European politics and Swedish rule was a period marked by the ravages of warfare. A part of the region south of the
Peene river (
Old Western Pomerania) came under Prussian sovereignty after the
Stockholm peace treaty in 1720. Under the
Treaty of Kiel, the remnants of Swedish Pomerania (
New Western Pomerania) were briefly transferred to Denmark in 1814, but the 1815
Congress of Vienna ceded the territory to Prussia. From 1815, all of Western Pomerania was integrated into the
Prussian Province of Pomerania, administered as the
Region of Stralsund (New Western Pomerania) and
Region of Stettin (the old Western Pomeranian region). Stralsund was fused into Stettin in 1932. From May to September 1939, before and during the German
invasion of Poland, which started
World War II,
Polish people in the region, particularly in Szczecin, were targeted by Nazi repressions, with Polish organizations attacked and Polish leaders, activists, entrepreneurs, and even some staff of the Consulate of Poland, arrested by the
Gestapo. During the war, Germany operated the Stalag II-C, Stalag 322,
Stalag Luft I and
Stalag Luft II prisoner-of-war camps for British, American,
French, Belgian, Serbian and
Soviet POWs with numerous
forced labour subcamps in the region. The
Polish resistance movement was active in Szczecin,
Police and
Peenemünde and conducted espionage of the
Kriegsmarine, infiltrated the local German industry, distributed
Polish underground press, and facilitated escapes of Polish and British POWs who fled from German POW camps via the port of Szczecin to
neutral Sweden (see also:
Poland–Sweden relations). In the final stages of the war, in 1945, German-perpetrated
death marches of
Allied POWs from
Stalag XX-B and
Stalag Luft IV passed through the region.
Postwar period 1945-1990 At the end of
World War II in 1945, a small area of Hither Pomerania including
Szczecin – the region's principal city – and
Świnoujście was transferred along with
Farther Pomerania to Poland, and formed part of the
Szczecin Voivodeship. The bulk of Vorpommern became part of the newly constituted
Land (state) of
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The word "Vorpommern" was deleted from the state's name at the insistence of the Soviet military administration in 1947 and the entire state of Mecklenburg was abolished by East Germany (German Democratic Republic, GDR) in 1952. The Pomeranian districts were made part of the GDR's
Bezirk Rostock (coastal region) and
Bezirk Neubrandenburg, with a small area around
Gartz becoming part of
Bezirk Frankfurt/Oder.
Contemporary: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg and West Pomeranian Voivodeship The 1945–1952 state was reconstituted, with minor border adjustments, as
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern at the time of
German reunification in 1990. Vorpommern is a constitutional region of the state, yet not an administrative entity. After the administrative reforms of September 2011, the bulk of Western Pomerania is within the districts of
Vorpommern-Rügen and
Vorpommern-Greifswald; however, some west central areas including
Demmin and
Altentreptow are within
Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, while the southernmost fragment (
Amt Gartz (Oder)) remains part of the
Uckermark district within
Brandenburg. In 2012, the
Pomeranian Evangelical Church merged with the Mecklenburgian and Northalbingian Evangelical Churches. Since the administrative reform of 1999, the Polish part is located within the
West Pomeranian Voivodeship and encompasses the
cities with powiat rights Szczecin and
Świnoujście, the
Police County, the part of
Kamień County located on the island of
Wolin (
Gmina Międzyzdroje, western part of
Gmina Wolin including the town, and western part of
Gmina Dziwnów), as well as
Gmina Goleniów in
Goleniów County. ==See also==