Plau am See
{{short description|Town in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany}}
{{Infobox German location
|type = Stadt
|image_photo = Plau_lock.jpg
|image_caption = Lock and former mill
|image_coa = DEU Plau am See COA.svg
|coordinates = {{coord|53|27|29|N|12|15|45|E|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|image_plan = Plau am See in LUP.svg
|state = Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
|district = Ludwigslust-Parchim
|Amt = Plau am See
|elevation = 70
|area = 115.99
|postal_code = 19395
|area_code = 038735
|licence = PCH
|Gemeindeschlüssel = 13 0 76 114
|divisions = 9
|website = {{url|https://www.stadt-plau-am-see.de/}}
|mayor = Norbert Reier
|party = Linke
}}
Plau am See ({{IPA|de|plaʊ̯ am ˈzeː|lang|De-Plau am See.ogg}}) is a town in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in north-eastern Germany. It is situated {{convert|28|km|mi}} east of Parchim, and {{convert|29|km|mi}} west of Waren.
Etymology
Around 1235 the town was called Plawe, that being the Polabian field name for the place where rafting is practiced. The name lasted until the 16th century and was then written according to its German phonetic form Plau. On 11 January 1994, the name of the city was modified by the addition of am See (on Lake) to remove confusion with the similarly named towns of Plaue, Plauen and Plaue.
History
During World War II, in February 1945, a German-perpetrated death march of Allied prisoners-of-war from the Stalag XX-B POW camp passed through the town.{{cite book|last=Kaszuba|first=Sylwia|editor-last=Grudziecka|editor-first=Beata|title=Stalag XX B: historia nieopowiedziana|language=pl|location=Malbork|publisher=Muzeum Miasta Malborka|page=108|chapter=Marsz 1945|isbn=978-83-950992-2-9}}
Sights
At the edge of town, there is a protected forest habitat named Plauer Stadtwald (literally: Plau city forest). Among the sights in town are a historic church building, the ruins of the Burg Plau castle and a bridge that may be vertically lifted to allow boats on the channel below to pass through.[http://www.experience-germany.com/html/plauer_see.html Experience Germany: Plauer See]
Notable people
- Anna of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1484-1525), Landgravine of Hesse by marriage.
- Friedrich Lange (1834-1875), history painter and member of the Nazarene movement
- Friedrich Bohndorff (1848-after 1894), German researcher and ornithologist
- Alfred Brunswig (1877-1927), German philosopher
- Rudolf Elvers (1924–2011), musicologist and librarian, particularly of the work of Felix Mendelssohn
- Peter Paetzold (born 1935), German chemist
- Horst-Ulrich Hänel (born 1957), field hockey player. team silver medallist at the 1984 & 1988 Summer Olympics
Gallery
Image:Plau_town_hall.jpg|Town hall
Image:Plau_Burgturm.jpg|Tower of former castle
Image:Plau_lift_bridge.jpg|Lift bridge
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category-inline}}
- [https://www.stadt-plau-am-see.de/ Official website] {{in lang|de}}
{{Towns and municipalities in Ludwigslust-Parchim (district)}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Cities and towns in Mecklenburg
Category:1226 establishments in Europe
Category:Populated places established in the 13th century
{{LudwigslustParchim-geo-stub}}