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

'Usedom' ( , ) is a Baltic Sea island on the border between Germany and Poland. It is situated north of the Szczecin Lagoon (, ) estuary of the Oder () river in Pomerania. Most of the island belongs to the German district of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Ostvorpommern with the exception of the eastern part and the city of Świnoujście which is in Polish West Pomeranian Voivodeship. Its area is 445 km²; the German part 373 km², the Polish part 72 km². Its population is 76,500; (German part 31,500; Polish part 45,000).

Contents

Geography

History

Geography

The island is separated in the east from the neighbouring island of Wolin by the Świna () strait (or river), which is the main route connecting Szczecin Bay with the Pomeranian Bay, a part of the Baltic Sea. The strait between the island and the mainland is called Peenestrom; it is an underwater extension of the valley of the Peene river, which flows into the westernmost part of Szczecin Bay. The island is mostly plain, partly covered by marshes.
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.
Economical activities include agriculture, fishing, animal husbandry, food processing and timber.

History

Around the 4th century AD it was inhabited by Polabian Slavs, eg. Obotrites and the Veleti tribes. From the 10th century this territory, known as Western Pomerania (Polish: Zachodnie Pomorze), came under the influence of Poland. In 1128 Pomeranian duke Wartislaw I converted to Christianity through the efforts of Otto of Bamberg. In 1155 Premonstratensians established an abbey/cloister in Grobe, which in 1309 was moved to Pudagla village. In the meantime another abbey was created in Crummin and soon almost the whole island became the abbey’s possession. During the Reformation, ownership changed again to Slavic dukes of Pomerania, who took over the island.
During the Thirty Year's War, on June 26 1630, the Swedish army under king Gustav Adolf II landed in the village of Peenemünde located at the ujścia or Peene river (Polish: Piana). Uznam was annexed by Sweden after the war for almost a century, until in 1720 it was sold for 2 million thalers to the Prussian king Frederick William I. In 1740 Frederick the Great developed a seaport in Swinemünde (Polish: Świnoujście).

The small village of Peenemünde came to prominence again during World War II. The Luftwaffe tested their missiles and rockets, including the V-1 and V-2. Germany used thousands of slave labourers who were prisoners of war in the concentration camps on Usedom during World War II.
In 1945 the eastern part of the island, together with the city and port of Świnoujście, was assigned to Poland by the Potsdam Conference, the German inhabitants being expelled to the west. The territory was populated with Poles who had in turn been expelled by the Soviet Union from lands east of the Bug river.