Usedom
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
Lagoon of Szczecin (Ger:
Stettiner Haff, Pol:
Zalew Szczeciński)
estuary of the
Oder (Pol: Odra) river in
Pomerania. Most of the island is a part of German
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (district
Ostvorpommern) but the city of
Świnoujście (Ger.
Swinemünde) at the eastern end of the island 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.
The island is separated in the east from the neighbouring island of
Wolin by the
Świna (Ger: Swine) strait (or river) which is the main route connecting the 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 the Szczecin Bay.
 |
A view of the beach on Usedom, near Ahlbeck |
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 German part of the island is called
Usedom. The largest town in the German part is
Dreikaiserbäder. There are many popular tourist resorts at the northern coast, including Dreikaiserbäder (
Ahlbeck, Heringsdorf and Bansin), Świnoujście and
Zinnowitz. The best known place on the island is probably the small village of
Peenemünde, where the
Luftwaffe tested their
missiles and
rockets, including the
V-1 and
V-2 during
World War II.
Usedom was also used by Germany as a
concentration camp for
prisoners of war during World War II. 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 violently expulsed.
*
Vorpommern — Usedom*
Island of Usedom
