Parchim (; Mecklenburgisch: ''Parchen'') is a town in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is the capital of the Ludwigslust-Parchim district. It was the birthplace of

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder Helmuth is both a masculine German given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name; *Helmuth Theodor Bossert (1889–1961), German art historian, philologist and archaeologist *Helmuth Duckadam (born 1959), Romanian forme ...

, to whom a monument was erected in 1876. Founded about 1210, it was the seat of the short-lived Lordship of Parchim-Richenberg, a partition of the Duchy of Mecklenburg, from 1226 until 1248 when the lord relocated to Richenberg. Parchim was absorbed into the

Lordship of Werle {{Infobox country , native_name = ''Herrschaft Werle'' ( de) , conventional_long_name = Lordship of Werle , common_name = Werle , era = Middle Ages , status = Vassal , empire = ...

in 1255. In 1277 Werle was partitioned and Parchim became the seat of Werle-Parchim until it was reunited with Werle-Güstrow in 1307. One branch of the family of the duke of Mecklenburg resided in Parchim during part of the 14th century. It became a prosperous industrial town during the 16th century, but this prosperity was destroyed by the Thirty Years' War. Image:Parchim_town_hall_W.jpg, Image:Parchim_town_hall_S.jpg,

Population development

* 1648 – 1,300 * 1789 – 4,000 * 1830 – 5,800 * 1850 – 6,270 * 1910 – 12,804 * 1939 – 16,000 * 1974 – 23,000 * 1990 – 23,800 * 2000 – 20,048 * 2005 – 19,348

Notable residents

* Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke (1800-1891), Prussian general field marshal, honorary citizen * Rudolf Tarnow (1867-1933), low German writer * Elise Blumann (1897-1990), German-Australian expressionist painter * Friedrich Hildebrandt (1898–1948), German SS Obergruppenführer, a Gauleiter, and executed for war crimes * Ernst Goldenbaum (1898-1990), politician, chairman of the