Plau am See

Town in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany

Coat of arms

Location of Plau am See within Ludwigslust-Parchim district

53°27′29″N 12°15′45″E / 53.45806°N 12.26250°E / 53.45806; 12.26250CountryGermanyStateMecklenburg-VorpommernDistrictLudwigslust-Parchim Municipal assoc.Plau am SeeSubdivisions9Government

• MayorNorbert Reier (Left)Area

• Total115.99 km² (44.78 sq mi)Elevation

70 m (230 ft)Population

(2022-12-31)^[1]

• Total6,231 • Density54/km² (140/sq mi)Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)Postal codes

19395

Dialling codes038735Vehicle registrationPCHWebsitewww.stadt-plau-am-see.de

Plau am See (German: [plaʊ̯ am ˈzeː] ^ⓘ) is a town in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in north-eastern Germany. It is situated 28 kilometres (17 mi) east of Parchim, and 29 kilometres (18 mi) west of Waren.

Etymology

Around 1235 the town was called Plawe, that being the Polabian field name for the place where rafting is practiced. The name lasted until the 16th century and was then written according to its German phonetic form Plau. On 11 January 1994, the name of the city was modified by the addition of am See (on Lake) to remove confusion with the similarly named towns of Plaue, Plauen and Plaue.

History

During World War II, in February 1945, a German-perpetrated death march of Allied prisoners-of-war from the Stalag XX-B POW camp passed through the town.^[2]

Sights

At the edge of town, there is a protected forest habitat named Plauer Stadtwald (literally: Plau city forest). Among the sights in town are a historic church building, the ruins of the Burg Plau castle and a bridge that may be vertically lifted to allow boats on the channel below to pass through.^[3]

Notable people

Anna of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1484-1525), Landgravine of Hesse by marriage.
Friedrich Lange (1834-1875), history painter and member of the Nazarene movement
Friedrich Bohndorff (1848-after 1894), German researcher and ornithologist
Alfred Brunswig (1877-1927), German philosopher
Rudolf Elvers (1924–2011), musicologist and librarian, particularly of the work of Felix Mendelssohn
Peter Paetzold (born 1935), German chemist
Horst-Ulrich Hänel (born 1957), field hockey player. team silver medallist at the 1984 & 1988 Summer Olympics

Gallery

Town hall
Tower of former castle
Lift bridge

References

^ "Bevölkerungsstand der Kreise, Ämter und Gemeinden 2022" (XLS) (in German). Statistisches Amt Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. 2023.
^ Kaszuba, Sylwia. "Marsz 1945". In Grudziecka, Beata (ed.). Stalag XX B: historia nieopowiedziana (in Polish). Malbork: Muzeum Miasta Malborka. p. 108. ISBN 978-83-950992-2-9.
^ Experience Germany: Plauer See