Mecklenburg’s Switzerland – at the heart of things

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Mecklenburg’s Switzerland in Europe

Everything is quiet and peaceful here today, but the region was nevertheless the scene of events of European significance. The migration of peoples brought Germanic tribes and then Slavs from the Kiew Rus. Christianization brought new settlers from Westphalia and Denmark, who, over time, mingled with the local population. Swedish, French and Prussian people also made a mark on the region’s history. The roots of the Mecklenburg people are truly multiethnic and in the course of history they have done much to preserve this status.

In the Hanseatic era they sailed the Baltic as seamen with mercantile flair, trading with partners from Norway to deep inside Russia. For over four hundred years they enjoyed considerable success in their ventures; their wealth can still be seen today in the streets of the proud Hanseatic towns and cities.

Contacts with the European royal houses were also cherished. No less than five princesses of Mecklenburg-Schwerin were later to be Danish queens. One of them was Alexandrine, the grand mother of Queen Margrethe II. Queen Elizabeth II of England also had a grandmother from Mecklenburg. Sophie Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, at the side of Georg III, ruled the British empire at the end of the eighteenth century. Family ties reach both into the Dutch ruling house and that of the former Russian czarist realm. In Sweden, Albert von Mecklenburg (1338-1412) wrote a chapter in royal history when he was king for twenty-six years. Somewhat longer was the chapter begun by king Gustavus Adolphus II of Sweden when he landed in Mecklenburg in 1630, in the middle of the turmoil of the Thirty Years’ War. That chapter lasted 273 years until the formal restitution of Wismar in 1903 – a period which left its marks, above all architecturally with fine ensembles of town houses and castles. In general, the two sides lived on good terms with each other. An old proverb of this period states that “life is good under three Crowns” and even today the Swedish Lucia Festival is still celebrated in some parts. Good traditions are worth preserving.