Peenemünde, Germany

Peenemünde is a municipality on the northern part of the island of Usedom in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. It belongs to the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald and is administered by the Usedom-Nord office based in the town of Zinnowitz. The place is known for the rocket development in the Peenemünde Army Research Institute, which was once stationed there, under which the missile aggregate 4, known as V2, became operational.

 

Peenemünde in the Third Reich

With the start of construction work in 1936 for the Peenemünde research institute, a time began that brought about both major technical innovations and, as a result, great suffering.

 

Vertices

In 1936 construction of the "Peenemünde Research Institute" began. The aim was to continue the development and manufacture of long-range missiles. In 1938, the Luftwaffe's "Peenemünde-West" test site was added. Under Wernher von Braun, the first long-distance rocket was launched in Peenemünde in 1942. In 1943 several hundred British bombers tried to destroy Peenmünde. Because of this attack, rocket production was moved to a bombproof, underground factory in northern Thuringia. From then on, the V1 and V2 rockets were mass-produced in the Dora-Mittelbau near Nordhausen.

 

Balance V1 and V2

Around 20,000 forced laborers and concentration camp inmates died in the production of rockets in Dora-Mittelbau. Approximately 22,000 V 1s and 3,000 V 2s were shot west (towards France, Belgium and England). Around 8,000 people were killed in London alone as a result of attacks with long-distance weapons. (See also the number of victims here)

 

The legacy of Peenemunde

The basics for rocket technology developed under w:Wernher von Braun in Peenemünde formed the foundation for today's civilian space travel. But they also enabled the arms race in the Cold War. The Museum Peenemünde - Historical-Technical Information Center tries to work up the difficult topic.

 

Sights

Historical monuments

The entire landscape of monuments in Peenemünde (except for the restricted areas due to remains of ammunition) is signposted and provided with information boards.
Chapel Peenemünde: In 1876 a chapel was built in the cemetery of what was then the fishing village of Peenemünde. The octagonal central building made of half-timbered bricks was designed by Friedrich Krager. After the building had fallen into disrepair in GDR times, it was rebuilt in 1993. In addition to its function as a chapel, it now serves as a memorial for the victims of the Nazi era.
Memorial stone for the 300th anniversary of the landing of the Swedes under King Gustav II Adolf in the Thirty Years' War (originally erected and inaugurated on June 26, 1930 in the middle of the old fishing village of Peenemünde, now on the cemetery grounds in front of the chapel)
Memorial stone to commemorate the successful escape of Mikhail Petrovich Dewjatajew and nine other Soviet concentration camp prisoners in a Heinkel He 111 bomber plane from Peenemünde airfield on February 8, 1945 (originally erected on October 7, 1968 at the Karlshagen air base, since the late 1990s the HTM site)
Boulder to mark the firing point of the A4 rockets in the former test stand VII (today in the restricted area), from where the first shot into space took place on October 3, 1942
Between Peenemünde and Karlshagen, a two-circuit 110 kV three-phase overhead line crosses the Peene, whose 75 meter high masts can be seen from afar. This line was built at the beginning of the 1950s in order to effectively discharge the electricity generated in the Peenemünde thermal power plant, most of which was no longer needed on Usedom after the dissolution of the Peenemünde Army Research Institute, to the mainland. Later, a branch line was built from this line to the substation in Karlshagen. After the power plant was shut down in 1990, the 110 kV overhead line from the branch line to Karlshagen to the Peenemünde power plant was dismantled, so that the 110 kV three-phase line running across the Peene only feeds the Karlshagen substation.

 

Museums

In the power plant and in the open spaces, the Historical-Technical Museum provides information about the history of the site and its surroundings in a comprehensive exhibition.
Similar to Flensburg, Wolfsburg, Phenomenta Bremerhaven and Lüdenscheid, Peenemünde also has a Phenomenta, the "interactive exhibition to join in and try out", which playfully brings everyday phenomena of physics closer to the visitor.
The disused, diesel-powered submarine U-461 of the Baltic Fleet (Red Banner Fleet) with a double launch container for tactical missiles is located in the main harbor (Maritim Museum Peenemünde).
On the opposite side of the main harbor is the museum ship Hans Beimler, a former Tarantul-class missile boat of the People's Navy, which can be visited.
The Peenemünde Navy and Airfield Museum, located next to the museum ship, provides information in the harbor gallery about the history of the Peenemünde main port and the 1st flotilla of the People's Navy as well as the history of the Peenemünde airfield and the 9th Fighter Squadron of the Air Force of the NVA.
In Peenemünde there is a small privately run toy museum.

 

Getting in

Peenemünde is easily accessible by car and public transport.

By plane
Heringsdorf Airport (IATA: HDF) offers scheduled domestic services. The nearest regional airport is Rostock Airport (IATA: RLG) . The nearest international airports are Berlin Brandenburg Airport (IATA: BER) and Szczecin-Goleniów Airport (IATA: SZZ) .

With the Peenemünde Airport (IATA: PEF), Peenemünde has its own special landing field, which can be flown to under VFR conditions by aircraft up to 5.7 t (or more if requested). There is an air taxi service to and from Peenemünde, as well as the option of chartering a plane. The airport is about 3 km from the village.

By train
The Peenemünde train station is connected to destinations on the eastern part of the island and on the mainland by the Usedomer Bäderbahn. Change in Zinnowitz. In Züssow there is a connection to the Deutsche Bahn network.

On the street
Via the A 20 motorway at the Gützkow exit onto the B 111 federal road to Wolgast. From here continue in the direction of Bannemin and then follow the signs to Peenemünde.
Via Anklam on the B 110, Zecheriner Bridge, Usedom-Stadt then continue depending on your destination.

 

Shopping

Village shop Peenemünde, Museumsstr. 2 . Since the summer of 2022, the village shop has been offering food again, with a small café. Open daily.
Books about the history of Peenemünde and rocket research are z. B. available in the gift shop of the information center. You can also buy model rockets there.

 

Geography

Peenemünde is the northernmost municipality on the island of Usedom and is located north-west of the seaside resort of Karlshagen at the point where the Peenestrom flows into the Baltic Sea.

 

History of Peenemünde

Early history

Gold rings, which were discovered between 1905 and 1908 in the forest at the Peenemünder Haken as a find for safekeeping, and another one, which came to light in 1938 in the Peenestrom near Peenemünde as an excavation find, document contacts with Scandinavia during the Viking Age. The rings are thought to be Danish goldwork from the times of Kings Gorm and Harald Bluetooth in the 10th century.

Peenemünde was first mentioned in a document from Duke Bogislaw IV in 1282, in which he donated the town to the city of Wolgast.

On June 26, 1630, during the Thirty Years' War, the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf landed near Peenemünde with a force of 15,000 men and, after conquering Usedom, soon occupied the entire Oder estuary area. After the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, Peenemünde and Western Pomerania became Swedish.

During the Great Northern War, the Prussian General Georg Abraham von Arnim conquered the town from August 21-22, 1715. But it was only after the Peace of Stockholm in 1720 that the place became Prussian with Usedom-Wollin and Altvorpommern. Although a redoubt was built before Peenemünde on the Peenestrom after 1630, it was not until 1717 that the facility was expanded as a real fortress. In 1759 this facility was modernized again because there were constant disputes between Prussia and Sweden.

After the administrative reform in 1815, Peenemünde became part of the Prussian province of Pomerania and belonged to the Usedom-Wollin district from 1818 to 1945.

In 1835 an amber mine was recorded in the PUM (Preußisches Urmesstischblatt) in the Peenemünder Haken, which existed there as an open-pit mine. Apparently that was not profitable or was exploited and was discontinued before 1880.

In 1858 Peenemünde had 550 inhabitants with the Gaatz farm, 33 families made their living from fishing. In the village there were 82 residential buildings and a school. The village belonged to the city of Wolgast.

In 1876 a chapel was built in the cemetery in Peenemünde.

After the storm floods of 1872, 1904 and 1913, which also severely damaged Peenemünde, construction of a dike with a height of 1.80 m began in 1927. From January 1928 onwards, the first embankment work was carried out on the route from Karlshagen to Wolgaster Fähre, which was completed in 1929.

 

1936-1945: Peenemünde test sites

Peenemünde became known for the Peenemünde Army Research Center (Peenemünde-Ost) and the Peenemünde-West Air Force Test Center. From 1936, the Wehrmacht acquired the entire north of the island from Karlshagen to the Peenemünder Haken from the city of Wolgast and from private individuals. In August 1936, construction work began on the Peenemünde a.U. test site, as the joint office of the Army and Air Force was initially called. On April 1, 1938, the organizational separation and renaming as Army Test Center Peenemünde (HVP) and Air Force Test Center Peenemünde-West took place.

Gradually, the population had to leave the place, only five residents remained as civilian employees of the HVP (Army Test Center Peenemünde). Since the flood of 1872 exceeded 2.64 m, that of 1904 with 1.90 m and that of 1913 with 1.91 m over the 1.80 m dyke that had been erected in the meantime, the dyke from the Peenemünder Haken to the port of Karlshagen was rebuilt in 1939 increased to 4.0 m. Large quantities of sand were washed into the dyke and the areas behind it from the resulting harbor basin, the Peenestrom and the Bodden, so that the level for the entire village area and the areas of the HVP could be increased by 2.0 m.

The Peenemünde site, with its army goods district extending as far as Karlshagen, grew steadily until the middle of the war, especially when, from the beginning of the war, a plant for series production (test series plant or plant south) was built in the army test center in addition to the facilities for developing and testing rockets. In the summer of 1943, the workforce peaked at over 12,000. After the bombing of Peenemünde in August 1943, the staff shrank because more and more tasks were outsourced. Outside of the restricted area, which extended beyond Zempin, numerous outposts were established on the island of Usedom or on the mainland, assigned to Peenemünde.

 

Post war period

According to the stipulations of the Potsdam Agreement, after 1945 the facilities of the test sites in and around Peenemünde were blown up after all remnants of the HVP that could be used had been secured and transported away by the Red Army. The area of Peenemünde from Karlshagen was still a restricted area and could only be entered with special permits to Peenemünde.

The HVP power plant was soon put back into operation to supply the military base and the population. It was still working until April 1990.

The site was used until 1952 as a Soviet naval and air force base for the Red Army – later the Group of Soviet Armed Forces in Germany.

In 1952 the base was handed over to the barracked People's Police in See as a forerunner of the National People's Army of the GDR. Among other things, they used it as a naval base for the 1st Flotilla of the People's Navy and as the airfield for the 9th Fighter Squadron of the NVA Air Force. These military bases, airfield and military port, were further expanded, and a repair yard was built north of the power plant for the NVA flotilla (now Nordhafen). In the three control and testing facilities of the HVA in the southeast of Peenemünde, ammunition stores were set up for the NVA with the appropriate infrastructure.

Until 1990, the entire northern area of the island of Usedom up to Karlshagen was a restricted area for the National People's Army, which operated an important military airfield there. The Peenemünde airfield was already part of the former test site of the Peenemünde-West Air Force and was expanded from 1958 to 1961.

After the reunification of Germany, the military base was dissolved in 1993.

The Nordic history of the island of Usedom was taken into account with the Viking camps at Pentecost from 1995 to 2000 in Peenemünde. A specially designed modern rune stone with rune characters later found its place in the port. The massive granite boulder bears an inscription carved in runes of the Younger Futhark, which translates as follows: fusnan (= Usedom Island) – jomsbork (= Jomsburg) – CMXCV – MCMXCV (995–1995). The Roman numerals refer to the 1000th anniversary of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which was celebrated in 1995.

From 1945 to 1952, the municipality, together with the part of the Usedom-Wollin district that remained with Germany after the Second World War, formed the Usedom district in the state of Mecklenburg, which was merged into the Wolgast district in the Rostock district in 1952. The municipality has belonged to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania since 1990 and to the district of Ostvorpommern from 1994, which was merged into the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald in 2011.

 

Gaatz

Gaatz was first mentioned in a document in 1693 as Gartz Dutch Farm. In the gazetteer of 1906 it appears as Gaatz. The name is interpreted as a dike, but also as a wet field.

The village was south-east of Peenemünde between the Kämmerersee and the forest. Because of the location, only livestock farming was possible there, hence the old name Hollanderei.

It was still marked as Vorwerk Gaatz in the 1920 survey table. It was dissolved and cleared after 1936 with the construction of the HVA. In the course of the expansion of the HVA, a control stand was created there for the adjacent test stands or testing and starting systems for the A 4 (V2) aggregates. In the direction of the Peenestrom, the Wehrmacht camp and the Peenebunker were built. All of the objects mentioned around the deserted village of Gaatz were connected to the tracks of the HVA works railway.

 

Jarchow (deserted town)

Jarchow was named as a district of Peenemünde in 1926. The location was not described. North of Peenemünde (old village) was the place only referred to as Vorwerk Peenemünde in the MTB (Messtischblatt) 1880 and 1920.

From 1936 the whole area including this place was bought by the Reich, the inhabitants resettled and most of the buildings were cleared apart from a few remnants. The entire area was used to set up the Peenemünde a.U. and its sub-works are dyked and partially washed up by about two meters. Many areas, especially in the area of the current airport, were swampy meadows and quarries. There was also the place Jarchow, the former Vorwerk Peenemünde. The place was cleared and also washed up. However, there was no construction for the test sites or branches. It is now a barren area southwest of the airfield.

 

Traffic

passenger ferry
Peenemünde can be reached directly from the mainland by passenger ferries from Kröslin and Freest.

rail traffic
Peenemünde can be reached via the Zinnowitz–Peenemünde railway line with DB Regio Nordost trains, which runs on the former factory railway line (double track in sections in 1943, later dismantled) of the Army Research Institute. In some places, the remains of the sidings and station tracks, some platforms (e.g. at the Trassenmoor stop and about 100 m north of the Karlshagen stop) and the concrete base of the electrical overhead line can still be seen.

shipping
The municipality is the home port of the MS Adler Mönchgut, a passenger ship of the passenger shipping company Adler-Schiffe, which runs scheduled services between the islands of Rügen and Usedom in summer.

airfield
The Peenemünde airfield is the starting point for island sightseeing flights over Usedom. It is also used as a motorcycle race track.