Gorlosen is a municipality in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is a member of the Amt Grabow and, via its district, the Hamburg Metropolitan Region.
Geography Gorlosen has an area of that is divided into a total of five ortsteile which, besides the village of Gorlosen itself, are: Boek, , Grittel, and Strassen. Geographically, the municipality is located in the Griese Gegend, not too far from the Elbtalaue region. The municipality's south-eastern border with Milow is formed by the Meynbach and Alte Elde rivers. The municipality's physical geography is characterized by the Eldetal and forests.
The B191 federal road lies north of Gorlosen in the neighboring municipality of Eldena. The villages of Strassen and Gorlosen proper are connected to Eldena and Lenzen via the L07 state road.
Gorlosen borders Eldena to the north-west, Grabow to the north, Kremmin to the north-east, Milow to the south-west, Lenzen (Elbe) in the Prignitz district of Brandenburg to the south, and Neu Kaliß as well as Malk Göhren to the west. The village of (municipality of Milow), which is located south-east of Gorlosen proper and north-east of Grittel, it lies directly on the municipality's border.
History The territory now occupied by the municipality was previously settled by the Linones, a Polabian tribe associated with the Obotrites. According archaeological finds were also made in the village.
Gorlosen was first mentioned in 1317 as Gorlose. It was also known by the names Gurlose (1334), Gorloess (1506), Gorlosen (1551), and Gorlosii (1561). The name likely comes from the Old Slavic words gora and lêsŭ, meaning "settlement by the forested hill". The settlement of Gorlosen is a Hufendorf.
Historically, Gorlosen was home to a legendary castle which was referenced by Karl May in his work Der beiden Quitzows letzte Fahrten.
On 1 July 1950, Boek, Grittel, and Strassen became part of Gorlosen. On 1 January 1974, the municipality of (including the village of Görnitz) also became part of Gorlosen but re-gained independence in 1995 until finally becoming part of Milow in 2004. was annexed into Gorlosen on 13 June 2004.
Demographics As of 2024, Gorlosen has a population of 441 which is split between 214 (51.5%) male and 227 (48.5%) female. As of the 2022 German census, most residents (70.7% or 323 people) do not belong to one of Germany's two state-recognized churches while 28.7% (131 people) are protestants and 0.7% (3 people) are Catholic. As of that same census, 96.9% of residents (443 people) have German citizenship, while 1.8% (8 people) have Ukrainian citizenship and 1.3% (6 people) are holding another EU citizenship.
Politics
Municipal council The most recent elections for Gorlosen's municipal council were held on 9 June 2024, as part of the 2024 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern municipal elections, and yielded the following results: PartyVotesShareSeats%+/-Won+/–WG Gorlosen-Dadow48267.04 9.283 2FF Boek/Gorlosen23732.96New2 2Total719100.05 1Valid votes71968.95Invalid/blank votes607.63Total votes779100.0Turnout26268.95 2.51Eligible voters380 Previous elections had the following results: colspan="2" rowspan="2" 20242019%Seats%SeatsWG Gorlosen-Dadow67.04376.325FF Boek/Gorlosen32.962Did not existIndependentsDid not run23.681Total100.05100.06
Mayor During the 2024 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern municipal elections, the incumbent mayor Kathrin Heiden (Ind.) was the only standing candidate but lost re-election with only 48.05% of the yes vote (50% is required). Instead, the newly elected municipal council selected one of its members to serve as mayor. The council chose Thomas Bach, a member of WG Gorlosen-Dadow, who has served as the municipality's mayor since.
Gallery
Notable people
(1939–2007), internist and pharmacist Karl-Peter Schmidtke (born 1945), sprinter
Notes
References