Editing Rostock (section)

==History==
{{unreferenced section|date = June 2022}}
{{see also|Timeline of Rostock}}

===Early history===

In the 11th century [[Polabian Slavs]] founded a settlement at the Warnow river called ''Roztoc'' (*''ras-tokŭ'', Slavic for "fork of a river"); the name Rostock is derived from that designation.

The Danish king [[Valdemar I of Denmark|Valdemar I]] set the town on fire in 1161. Afterwards the place was settled by German traders. Initially there were three separate cities:
* ''Altstadt'' (Old Town) around the ''Alter Markt'' (Old Market), which had [[St. Petrikirche, Rostock|St. Petri]] (St. Peter's Church),
* ''Mittelstadt'' (Middle Town) around the ''Neuer Markt'' (New Market), with St. Marien ([[St. Mary's Church, Rostock|St. Mary's Church]]) and
[[File:Rostocker Stadtbestätigung 1213.png|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Confirmation of [[Lübeck law]] city rights, 1218]]
* ''Neustadt'' (New Town) around the ''Hopfenmarkt'' (Hop Market, now University Square), with St. Jakobi (St. James's Church, demolished after World War II).

In 1218, Rostock was granted [[Lübeck law]] city rights by [[Henry Borwin I, Lord of Mecklenburg|Heinrich Borwin]], prince of Mecklenburg.

===Hanseatic League===
[[File:Rostock asv2018-05 img29 University.jpg|thumb|right|[[University of Rostock|Rostock University]], the oldest university in continental northern Europe and the [[Baltic Sea]] area, founded in 1419]]
During the [[first partition of Mecklenburg]] following the death of [[Henry Borwin II, Lord of Mecklenburg|Henry Borwin II of Mecklenburg]] in 1226, Rostock became the seat of the [[Lordship of Rostock]], which survived for almost a century. In 1251, the city became a member of the [[Hanseatic League]]. In the 14th century it was a powerful seaport town with 12,000 inhabitants and the largest city in [[Mecklenburg]]. [[Cog (ship)|Ships]] for cruising the [[Baltic Sea]] were constructed in Rostock. The formerly independent fishing village of [[Warnemünde]] at the Baltic Sea became a part of Rostock in 1323, to secure the city's access to the sea.

In 1419, the [[University of Rostock]] was founded, the oldest university in continental northern Europe and the [[Baltic Sea]] area.

===15th to 18th centuries===
[[File:Rostock 1550-60.jpg|thumb|left|Rostock in the 16th century]]
[[File:Rostock um 1650.jpg|thumb|left|Rostock in the 17th century]]
At the end of the 15th century, the dukes of [[Duchy of Mecklenburg|Mecklenburg]] succeeded in enforcing their rule over the town of Rostock, which had until then been only nominally subject to their rule and essentially independent. They took advantage of a riot known as ''Domfehde'', a failed uprising of the [[poverty|impoverished]] population. Subsequent quarrels with the dukes and persistent plundering led ultimately to a loss of the city's economic and political power.
[[File:Plan von Rostock gez 1780-1790 J.M. von Tarnows.jpg|thumb|right|Rostock 1780–90]]

In 1565 there were further clashes with Schwerin that had far-reaching consequences. Among other things, the nobility introduced a beer [[excise]] that favoured the dukes. [[John Albert I, Duke of Mecklenburg|John Albert I]] advanced on the city with 500 horsemen, after Rostock had refused to take the formal oath of allegiance, and had the city wall razed (slighted) to have a fortress built. The conflict did not end until the first [[Rostock Inheritance Agreement]] of 21 September 1573, in which the state princes were guaranteed hereditary rule over the city for centuries and recognizing them as the supreme judicial authority; this bound Rostock for a long time. The citizens razed (or slighted) the fortress the following spring.

From 1575 to 1577 the city walls were rebuilt, as was the ''Lagebusch'' tower and the ''Stein'' Gate, in the Dutch Renaissance style. The inscription ''sit intra te concordia et publica felicitas'' ("Let there be harmony and public happiness within you"), can still be read on the gate, and refers directly to the conflict with the Duke. In 1584 the Second Rostock Inheritance Agreement was enforced, which resulted in a further loss of former city tax privileges. At the same time, these inheritance contracts put paid to Rostock's ambition of achieving [[imperial immediacy]], as [[Lübeck]] had done in 1226.

The strategic location of Rostock provoked the envy of its rivals. [[Denmark|Danes]] and Swedes occupied the city twice, first during the [[Thirty Years' War]] (1618–48) and again from 1700 to 1721. Later in the early 19th century, the [[First French Empire|French]], under [[Napoleon]], occupied the town for about a decade until 1813. In nearby [[Lübeck]]-[[Ratekau]], [[Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher]], who was born in Rostock and who was one of few generals to fight on after defeat at the [[Battle of Jena]], surrendered to the French in 1806. This was only after furious street fighting in the [[Battle of Lübeck]], in which he led some of the [[cavalry charge]]s himself. By the time of the surrender, the exhausted [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]]ns had neither food nor ammunition.

===19th century===
[[File:Rostock asv2018-05 img38 NeuerMarkt.jpg|thumb|right|Colourful gabled houses of Rostock]]
In the first half of the 19th century, Rostock regained much of its economic importance, due at first to the wheat trade, then, from the 1850s, to industry, especially its shipyards. The first propeller-driven steamers in Germany were constructed here.

The city grew in area and population, with new quarters developing in the south and west of the ancient borders of the city. Two notable developments were added to house the increasing population at around 1900:
* ''Steintor-Vorstadt'' in the south, stretching from the old city wall to the facilities of the new ''Lloydbahnhof'' (Lloyd Railway Station, now [[Rostock Hauptbahnhof]]), was designed as a living quarter. It consisted mostly of large single houses, once inhabited by wealthy citizens.
* ''Kröpeliner-Tor-Vorstadt'' in the west, was designed to house the working population as well as to provide smaller and larger industrial facilities, such as the Mahn & Ohlerich's Brewery (now Hanseatische Brauerei Rostock). The main shipyard, ''Neptun'', was nearby at the shore of the river.

===20th century===
In the 20th century, important aircraft manufacturing facilities were situated in the city, such as the [[Arado Flugzeugwerke]] in [[Warnemünde]] and the [[Heinkel]] Works with facilities at various places, including their secondary [[Vienna International Airport|''Heinkel-Süd'' facility in Schwechat, Austria]], as the original Heinkel firm's Rostock facilities had been renamed ''Heinkel-Nord''. The world's first [[Heinkel He 178|airworthy jet plane prototype]] made its test flights at their facilities in what used to be named the ''Rostock''-{{ill|Marienehe|lt=''Marienehe''|de}} neighborhood (today's ''Rostock''-[[:de:Schmarl|''Schmarl'']] community, along the west bank of the [[Unterwarnow]] estuary).

In the early 1930s, the Nazi Party gained in popularity among Rostock's voters, many of whom had suffered economic hardship during the 1920s. In [[German federal election, July 1932|elections]] in the summer of 1932, when the Nazis achieved 37.3 percent, their greatest national showing in a free election, they polled 40.3 percent in Rostock. A year later, after the [[Nazi seizure of power]] and the suppression of other political parties, the Rostock city council (''Stadtrat'') was composed entirely of Nazis. During ''[[Kristallnacht]]'' on 10 November 1938, the synagogue in Rostock's Augustenstrasse was destroyed by arson and dozens of Jews were beaten and imprisoned.

Feverish rearmament by the Nazi regime boosted Rostock's industrial importance in the late 1930s, and employment soared at the [[Heinkel]] and [[Arado Flugzeugwerke|Arado]] factories, and at the Neptunwerft shipyard. The city's population grew from 100,000 in 1935 to 121,192 in 1939.

{{anchor|Allied air attacks}}During [[World War II]], Rostock was subjected to repeated and increasingly heavy bombing attacks, especially by the British [[Royal Air Force]]. Targets included the Heinkel and Arado plants and the shipyard, but churches and other historic structures in the city centre were also heavily damaged, among them the 14th-century Nikolaikirche (St Nicholas Church) and Jakobikirche (St Jacob's Church). The ruins of the latter were pulled down in 1960.

The city was eventually captured by the Soviet [[2nd Belorussian Front]] on 2 May 1945 during the [[Battle of the Oder–Neisse|Stettin-Rostock offensive operation]].

After the war, Rostock – now in the [[German Democratic Republic]] – became East Germany's largest seaport. The state expanded the national shipyards in the district of [[Warnemünde]]. The city's population, boosted in part by resettled ethnic German refugees who had been expelled from territories in the east, increased in the GDR years to a peak of 260,000. Following the [[German reunification|reunification]] of Germany in 1990, Rostock lost its privileged position as the No. 1 port of the GDR, and the city's population declined to about 200,000. However, after 2006, the population increased again. Today, Rostock and Warnemünde are significant tourist destinations on the Baltic Sea.

In August 1992, Rostock was the site of the xenophobic [[Rostock-Lichtenhagen riots]], during which asylum seekers were attacked by right-wing extremists.

<gallery widths="100px" heights="100px">
Lisch-Rostock Beginenberg.jpg|Depiction of Rostock in 1845
Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1985-0306-032, Rostock, zerstörte Krämerstrasse.jpg|Rostock bomb damage, 1942
Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H28029, Rostock, Marktplatz mit Rathaus.jpg|City hall, Market Square after war
Rostock Panorama Nikolaikirche nach Norden 2011-03-08.jpg|Rostock in 2011
Rostock asv2018-05 img47 Steintor.jpg|The 16th-century ''Steintor'' city gate
Rostock Marienkirche 2011-03-08.jpg|St. Mary's Church (''Marienkirche''), 2011
</gallery>