Editing Greifswald (section)

===1815 – ''today'': Germany===

[[File:Wiesen bei Greifswald (1821-1822) - Caspar David Friedrich (Hamburger Kunsthalle).jpg|thumb|[[Caspar David Friedrich]] (1774–1840) depicted his hometown in several paintings; this is ''Wiesen bei Greifswald'' (''Meadows near Greifswald''), 1820.]]
[[File:Frau am Fischerbrunnen, Greifswald.jpg|thumb|Woman at the 'fishers well', by [[Jo Jastram]] in the 20th century]]
During the 19th century, Greifswald attracted many Polish students.<ref>S. Wierzchosławski, Polskie organizacje studenckie na uniwersytecie w Gryfii w drugiej połowie XIX i początkach XX wieku, Studia Historica Slavo- Germanica T. X — 1981, s. 127 – 140</ref> After [[Breslau]] (now [[Wrocław]], Poland) and Berlin, Greifswald hosted the third-largest group of Polish students in Germany.<ref>Die Universität Greifswald in der Bildungslandschaft des Ostseeraums, page 372 [[Dirk Alvermann]], [[Nils Jörn]], Jens E. Olesen</ref>

About 1900, the town – for the first time since the Middle Ages – expanded significantly beyond the old town walls. Also, a major railway connected Greifswald to [[Stralsund]] and Berlin; a local railway line further connected Greifswald to [[Wolgast]].

The city survived World War II without much destruction, even though it housed a large German Army (''Wehrmacht'') garrison. During the war, in May 1940, the Stalag II-C [[German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II|prisoner-of-war camp]] was relocated to Greifswald from [[Dobiegniew]], and it housed [[French prisoners of war in World War II|French]], Belgian, Serbian and Soviet POWs with many sent to [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labor]] detachments in the region.<ref name=ushm>{{cite book|last1=Megargee|first1=Geoffrey P.|last2=Overmans|first2=Rüdiger|last3=Vogt|first3=Wolfgang|year=2022|title=The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV|publisher=Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|page=397|isbn=978-0-253-06089-1}}</ref> In the spring of 1945, the camp was evacuated to the west.<ref name=ushm/> In April 1945, German Army Colonel (''[[Oberst]]'') Rudolf Petershagen defied orders and surrendered the city to the [[Red Army]] without a fight.

From 1949 to 1990, Greifswald was part of the [[German Democratic Republic]] (DDR). During this time, most historical buildings in the medieval parts of the city were neglected and a number of old buildings were pulled down. The population increased significantly, because of the construction of a nominal 1760&nbsp;MW [[Soviet]]-made [[nuclear power plant]] in [[Lubmin]], which was closed in the early 1990s. New suburbs were erected in the monolithic industrial socialist style (''see [[Plattenbau]]''). They still house most of the city's population.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} These new suburbs were placed east and southeast of central Greifswald, shifting the former town center to the northwestern edge of the modern town.

Reconstruction of the old town began in the late 1980s. Nearly all of it has been restored. Before that almost all of the old northern town adjacent to the port was demolished and subsequently rebuilt. The historic marketplace is considered one of the most beautiful in northern Germany. The town attracts many tourists, due in part to its proximity to the [[Baltic Sea]].

Greifswald's greatest population was reached in 1988, with about 68,000 inhabitants, but it decreased afterward to 55,000, where it has now stabilized. Reasons for this included migration to western German cities as well as [[suburbanisation]]. However, the number of students quadrupled from 3,000 in 1990 to more than 11,000 in 2007 and the university employs 5,000 people; nearly one in three people in Greifswald are linked in some way to higher education.

Despite its relatively small population, Greifswald retains a supra-regional relevance linked to its intellectual role as a university town and to the taking of the central functions of the former Prussian [[Province of Pomerania (1815–1945)|Province of Pomerania]] after World War II, such as the seat of the bishop of the [[Pomeranian Lutheran Church]], the state archives (''Landesarchiv'') and the Pomeranian Museum (''Pommersches Landesmuseum''). Three courts of the state of [[Mecklenburg-Vorpommern]] are also based at Greifswald:
* the Supreme Administrative Court (''Oberverwaltungsgericht'');
* the Supreme Constitutional Court (''Landesverfassungsgericht''); and
* the {{Ill|Fiscal Court Mecklenburg-Vorpommern|de|Finanzgericht Mecklenburg-Vorpommern}} (''[[Fiscal Court (Germany)|Finanzgericht]]'')