Wöbbelin

Wöbbelin is a municipality in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. The municipality has a seat in the office of Ludwigslust from where it is administered. Wöbbelin consists of three areas: Dreenkrögen, the "Funkamtsiedlung", a housing development and buildings supporting a former radio broadcasting station, and the main town, Wöbbelin.HistoryWöbbelin was first mentioned in 1333 as "Wopelyn". In 1813, Theodor Körner, "Dichter der Freiheitskriege", the "poet of the wars of liberation", who died in Gadebusch on 1813-08-26, was buried in Wöbbelin. The monument to Theodor Körner on his grave was designed by the architect, Gottlob Friedrich Thormeyer, and solemnly opened on 1814-09-23. The grove with the graves of Körners and some family relatives became a patriotic memorial place shortly after Körners' death.In 1938, a year before the beginning of World War II, the "Theodor-Körner-Gedenkstätte", the Theodor Körner memorial place, became a "nationalsozialistischen Weihestätte", a Nazi 'holy' place. On 1945-02-12, a concentration camp, which was a sub-camp of the Neuengamme concentration camp, Hamburg, was set up in the proximity of the district town of Ludwigslust. As it was located on the road to Wöbbelin, it was named the Wöbbelin concentration camp. The camp was taken by American troops on 1945-05-02 and many victims were buried in the cemetery where the Theodor Körner memorial place is located. In the middle of the cemetery, the former "nationalsozialistischen Weihestätte" serves today as a remembrance and memorial place for Wöbbelin and as the headquarters of a museum. The remembrance and memorial place remembers both the "Dichter der Freiheitskriege", Theodor Körner, and the Wöbbelin concentration camp.