Historical Western Pomerania, also called Cispomerania, Fore Pomerania, Front Pomerania or Hither Pomerania ( ; ), is the western extremity of the historic region of Pomerania, located mostly in north-eastern Germany, with a small portion in north-western Poland, at the southern coast of the Baltic Sea.
Western Pomerania's boundaries have changed through the centuries as it belonged to various countries such as the Duchy of Pomerania (later part of the Holy Roman Empire), Denmark, Sweden, as well as Prussia which incorporated it as the Province of Pomerania.
Today, the region contains the whole area of Pomerania west of the Oder River, small bridgeheads east of the river, as well as the islands in the Szczecin Lagoon. Its majority forms part of Germany and has been divided between the states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg, with the cities of Stralsund and Greifswald, as well as towns such as Ribnitz-Damgarten (Damgarten only), Bergen auf Rügen (Rügen Island), Anklam, Wolgast, Demmin, Pasewalk, Grimmen, Sassnitz (Rügen Island), Ueckermünde, Torgelow, Barth, and Gartz. The cities of Szczecin and Świnoujście, as well as the towns of Police, Goleniów, Wolin, Międzyzdroje, Nowe Warpno, and (the left-bank part of) Dziwnów are part of Poland. The German part forms about one-third of the present-day north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, while the Polish part constitutes the westernmost border areas of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship.
German Western Pomerania had a population of about 470,000 in 2012 (districts of Vorpommern-Rügen and Vorpommern-Greifswald combined) while the Polish districts of the region had a population of about 520,000 in 2012 (cities of Szczecin, Świnoujście and Police County combined). Overall approximately 1 million people live in the historical region of Western Pomerania today.
Terminology The German prefix Vor- denotes a location closer to the speaker, and is the equivalent of "Fore"/"Front"/"Hither" in English and Anterior/Citerior/Cis- in Latin (with the corresponding antonyms in German, English and Latin being Hinter-, "Hinder"/"Rear"/"Farther" and Posterior/Ulterior/Trans-, respectively). Historically the name "Hither Pomerania" has been used, but in modern English the German region is more commonly called "Western Pomerania" or by its native name. The formerly widespread local dialect term is .
The name Pomerania comes from Slavic po more, which means "land by the sea".Der Name Pommern (po more) ist slawischer Herkunft und bedeutet so viel wie "Land am Meer". (Pommersches Landesmuseum, German) The adjective for the region is (Western) Pomeranian (, ), inhabitants are called (Western) Pomeranians (, ). The Polish names for the historical region, Pomorze Zachodnie (Western Pomerania) or Pomorze Nadodrzańskie (Oder Pomerania), have usually been applied to the entire narrower Pomerania, including Farther Pomerania, but excluding Pomerelia. In the narrower sense, the designation may also refer to the western part of the area only, alternatively called for precision Pomorze Szczecińskie (Szczecin Pomerania), encompassing the entire German Pomerania combined with the Polish part of the historical Middle Pomerania up to Rega. In such case, the remainder of Farther Pomerania is called Pomorze Środkowe (contemporary Middle Pomerania) or Pomorze Koszalińsko-Słupskie (Koszalin-Słupsk Pomerania).
As a further complication, the borders of the eponymous administrative units have been drawn disregarding mostly the historical ones. The Polish unit called województwo zachodniopomorskie (West Pomeranian Voivodeship) includes the whole Polish part of Hither Pomerania, but only the western two-thirds of Farther Pomerania, with the remaining easternmost one-third (Słupsk, Ustka, Miastko) forming a part of the neighbouring województwo pomorskie (Pomeranian Voivodeship). On the other hand, it stretches far more south than the historical region, to include the northern part of the historical Neumark (Dębno, Chojna, Trzcińsko-Zdrój, Myślibórz, Nowogródek Pomorski, Lipiany, Barlinek, Pełczyce, Suchań, Choszczno, Recz, Drawno), as well as a strip the historical Greater Poland (Tuczno, Człopa, Mirosławiec, Wałcz, Czaplinek), or even a small part of Pomerelia (Biały Bór). As a consequence, the common understanding of the term West Pomerania has recently started to shift towards this current administrative extent. Similarly, borders of the German districts Vorpommern-Rügen and Vorpommern-Greifswald deviate from the historical ones in numerous locations.
The name Pomorze Przednie, Przedpomorze corresponding to Hither/Fore Pomerania is nowadays used in Polish almost exclusively when referring to the part located in Germany, while its usage in the full (historical German) meaning is limited to exact translations of German texts. It is also referred to as Pomorze Wołogoskie (Wolgast Pomerania).
Geography The major feature of Western Pomerania is its long Baltic Sea and lagoons coastline. Typical is a distinct "double coast", whereby offshore islands separate lagoons (so-called bodden) from the open sea, forming a unique landscape. The islands Kirr, Hiddensee, Ummanz, Dänholm, Rügen, Öhe, Riems, Vilm, Greifswalder Oie, Usedom, Karsibór and Wolin, as well as the islands of the city of Szczecin are located in Western Pomerania.
The largest city in Western Pomerania is Szczecin on the Polish side and Stralsund on the German side. Today it is still an important town economically. The towns of Stralsund and Greifswald together, after Rostock, are the second largest centres of population in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In addition the region has the highest population density of the four planning regions in the state.
Western Pomerania has several national parks: Jasmund National Park West Pomeranian Lagoon Area National Park Wolin National Park
Another region in Western Pomerania under extensive conservation protection is the Peene Valley.
Administrative subdivisions German Vorpommern is understood today as comprising the islands of Rügen and Usedom and the nearby mainland, roughly matching the administrative districts of Vorpommern-Rügen and Vorpommern-Greifswald, though those districts' boundaries with Mecklenburg proper do not match the pre-1945 demarcation.
The region is mentioned in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state constitution as one of the two constituting regions of the state with the right to form a Landschaftsverband, which is an administrative entity subordinate only to the state level. Consideration was given during an unsuccessful district reform project in 1994 to restoring the old boundary, but this was not implemented. The Ribnitz, Marlow and Fischland area of Vorpommern-Rügen were historically part of Mecklenburg. The old western boundary line was preserved in the division between the two Protestant church bodies of the Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Mecklenburg and the Pomeranian Evangelical Church prior to their absorption into the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany.
The Polish part encompasses the cities with powiat rights of Szczecin and Świnoujscie, the entire Police County, Gmina Goleniów in Goleniów County, as well as the part of Kamień County located on the island of Wolin (Gmina Międzyzdroje, western part of Gmina Wolin and western part of Gmina Dziwnów).
Cities and towns There are four cities in the region, namely Szczecin and Świnoujście on the Polish side, as well as Stralsund and Greifswald on the German side of the border. Major towns in the German part of the region include Bergen auf Rügen, Demmin, Anklam, Wolgast and Pasewalk. The municipalities of Binz, Zingst, Zinnowitz and Heringsdorf do not have town rights, but are in fact semi-urban localities, with the latter of them covering the area known as Dreikaiserbäder (three emperors baths) consisting of the former municipalities of Ahlbeck, Bansin and Heringsdorf. Towns in the Polish part include Police, Goleniów, Wolin, Międzyzdroje, Nowe Warpno, and the left-bank part of Dziwnów. In addition, the highly populated villages of Mierzyn, Przecław, Warzymice and Bezrzecze constitute in fact direct residential extensions of the city of Szczecin, consisting mostly of large housing estates, thus having along with the resort locality of Trzebież a semi-urban character, in spite of neither holding town rights nor being seats of a municipality, and despite being several-fold more populated than the seats of the respective municipalities that they are parts of.
You can sort this complete table of cities and towns by clicking one of the upper columns. The list does not include the former town of Dąbie, which currently is a neighbourhood of Szczecin; it also does not include the Brandenburgian city of Schwedt whose parts located north of Wesel, acquired in contemporary times, belong to historic Western Pomerania. Town or (bold) city in Germany/Poland Coat of Arms District of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania or (bold) Brandenburg/County of West Pomeranian Voivodeship first mentioned Town privileges Area in km2 Population at 31 December 2013MV Stats: Census results Image Szczecin city with powiat rights 1243 301.30 408105 Hanseatic City of Stralsund Vorpommern-Rügen 1234 1234 38.97 Hanseatic and University City of Greifswald Vorpommern-Greifswald 1241 1250 50.50 Świnoujście city with powiat rights 1765 197.23 41371 Police Police County 1243 1260 36.84 33625 Goleniów Goleniów County 1220 1268 11.74 22776 Bergen auf Rügen Vorpommern-Rügen 1314 1613 51.42 Anklam Vorpommern-Greifswald 1243 1264 56.57 Wolgast Vorpommern-Greifswald 1123 1257 61.52 Demmin Mecklenburgische Seenplatte 1070 1236Town privileges given between 1236 and 1249 81.56 Pasewalk Vorpommern-Greifswald 1121 1251unsettled date, definite town privileges at 1276 54.99 Grimmen Vorpommern-Rügen 1267 1287 50.29 Sassnitz Vorpommern-Rügen 1906merging of the fishing villages Saßnitz and Crampas 1957 46.45 Torgelow Vorpommern-Greifswald 1281 1945 49.46 Ueckermünde Vorpommern-Greifswald 1178 1260 84.69 Barth Vorpommern-Rügen 1255 1255 40.83 Międzyzdroje Kamień County 15th century 1945 4.51 5425 Altentreptow Mecklenburgische Seenplatte 1245 1282 52.83 Wolin Kamień County 966 1267 14.41 4999 Eggesin Vorpommern-Greifswald 1216 1966 88.01 Loitz Vorpommern-Greifswald 1242 1242 89.53 Putbus Vorpommern-Rügen 1810 1810 66.60 Ribnitz-Damgarten (Damgarten only) Vorpommern-Rügen 1258 (Damgarten) (both parts, 2013) 3289 (Damgarten, 2018Einwohnerzahlen vom 31. Dezember 2018 nach Auskunft des Einwohnermeldeamtes) Jarmen Vorpommern-Greifswald 1269 1720 30.64 Gützkow Vorpommern-Greifswald 1301 1353 42.68 Tribsees Vorpommern-Rügen 1136 1285 54.75 Gartz Uckermark 1124 1249 61.69 2508 (2019) Garz/Rügen Vorpommern-Rügen 1207 1319 65.44 Penkun Vorpommern-Greifswald 1240 1284 78.64 Usedom Vorpommern-Greifswald 1124 1298 38.54 Lassan Vorpommern-Greifswald 1136 1274 27.98 Franzburg Vorpommern-Rügen 1231 1587 15.19 Richtenberg Vorpommern-Rügen 1231 1535 15.62 Nowe Warpno Police County 1184 1295 24.51 1231 Dziwnów (Dziwna left-bank neighbourhood only) Kamień County 1243 2004 4.07 (entire town) 3.04 (Dziwna) 2137 (entire town, 2013) 669 (Dziwna, 2001)
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