Politics 1900 up to 1950

Around 1900 Mecklenburg was incorporated into the structure of the German Empire. With the outbreak of war in 1914 Mecklenburg was governed by the military. In 1918 the monarchy in Mecklenburg and the German Empire came to an end. The independent states of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz resulted from free elections in 1919. Governments fluctuated between left and right civic factions.

In 1932 a government was formed in Mecklenburg-Strelitz that consisted of German Nationals and NSDAP. In Mecklenburg-Schwerin the NSDAP received almost 49% of the votes. In 1933 the state parliaments were dissolved and both states were united. Mecklenburg was ruled by an imperial governor, who was also Gauleiter of the NSDAP. The state became a centre for aircraft construction and was therefore heavily bombed from 1942 onwards.

Emergency supplies collapsed at the end of the war. Mecklenburg‘s population doubled due to the number of refugees. Local and district commandant’s offices and the “Soviet military administration in Mecklenburg” ruled through orders. Administration was officially placed in German hands. Elections for the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state parliament in 1946 ended with a marginal victory for the SED. The constitution was concluded in 1947. Up to 12,500 people were detained in “special camp 9, Fünfeichen” up to 1948 and in some cases deported to Siberia.

In new elections for the People’s Parliament of the GDR founded in 1949, the state parliament and the communal parliament in 1950 single lists of candidates from the “National Front” determined the allocation of seats before the election.

Stettin has 230,000 inhabitants in 1910 and is therefore the only large city in Pomerania.

With the outbreak of the First World War, the 2nd Army Corps takes charge of Stettin.

The monarchy comes to an end in November 1918. Revolutionary sailors from Kiel land in Stralsund and Wolgast. Councils of workers, soldiers and sailors seize power in Stralsund, Barth, Loitz, Pasewalk, Torgelow and Wolgast.

A general strike in July 1919 brings this impasse to an end. The local council is strengthened.

The government districts of Stralsund and Stettin merge in 1932. In 1932, Hitler receives 43.1 per cent of the vote in Pomerania. The provincial government is disbanded in 1933. Greater Stettin is formed by incorporating two towns and 36 villages. The district of Randow is disbanded.

A concentration camp is opened in the abandoned Vulcan shipyard at the end of 1933. Around 1,000 male Jews are incarcerated in the Oranienburg concentration camp after the Kristallnacht in 1938. The Jews in the government district are deported to occupied Poland in 1940, where almost all of them are murdered.

Around 375,000 civilians in Pomerania are displaced at the end of the war. Over 80 per cent of the territory falls to Poland. The roads are jammed with processions of refugees. The Red Army overruns Western Pomerania in just five days, seizing control on 1 May 1945. Prenzlau and Demmin are ravaged by fire. The inferno leads to mass suicides.

The 'Soviet Military Administration' rules by decree. Administration is placed in German hands. Unlike the rest of the border, Stettin and Swinemünde, which straddle the Oder, fall to Poland.

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern exists from 1945 to January 1947. Then the Allied Control Council abolishes the state of Prussia. 'Western Pomerania' does not appear in the state constitution of 1947. The SED Party narrowly wins the elections of 1946.