Usedom

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This article is about the island. For the town, see Usedom (town).

Landsat satellite photo of Szczecin Lagoon - Usedom is the western of the two large islands separating the waters of the Lagoon from the Baltic Sea, the eastern island is Wolin.

Usedom (German) / Uznam (Polish) is a Baltic Sea island on the modern post-1945 border between Germany and Poland. It is situated north of the Szczecin Lagoon (German: Stettiner Haff, Polish: Zalew Szczeciński) estuary of the Oder (Polish: Odra) river in Pomerania. Most of the island is a part of German Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (district Ostvorpommern) but eastern part with the city of Świnoujście is in Polish West Pomeranian Voivodeship. Świnoujście (German: Swinemünde) has belonged to Poland since 1945. Area 445 km²; German part 373 km², Polish part 72 km². Population 76,500; German part 31,500; Polish part 45,000.

[edit] History

From ca. 1000 until 1945 the eastern, now Polish, part of the island was German-speaking and part of the Holy Roman Empire resp. Imperial Germany too. The eastern part was assigned to the People's Republic of Poland by the Potsdam Conference in 1945 and the German inhabitants were expelled.

The best known place on the island is probably the small village of Peenemünde, where during World War II the Luftwaffe tested their missiles and rockets, including the V-1 and V-2. Germany used thousands of slave laborers who were prisoners of war in the concentration camps on Usedom during World War II.

[edit] Geography

Map of Usedom-Wolin area

The island is separated in the east from the neighbouring island of Wolin by the Świna (German: Swine) strait (or river) which is the main route connecting Szczecin Bay with the Pomeranian Bay, part of the Baltic Sea. The strait between the island and the mainland is called Peenestrom; it is an extension of the Peene river, which flows into the westernmost part of Szczecin Bay.

The main town on the island is Świnoujście (Swinemünde), which has more inhabitants than the rest of the island. Another town, giving its name to the island, is called Usedom. The largest town in the German part is Heringsdorf (formerly Dreikaiserbäder). There are many popular tourist resorts on the northern coast, including the three Dreikaiserbäder cities Ahlbeck, Heringsdorf and Bansin, as well as Świnoujście and Zinnowitz.