Rerik (, formerly Alt-Gaarz) is a town in the
Rostock district, in
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania,
Germany. It is situated on the
Baltic Sea coast, 19 km west of
Bad Doberan, and 27 km northeast of
Wismar. In 1938, Rerik was named after the old Slavic-Scandinavian settlement
Reric, that was believed to have been situated near present Rerik.
It is the setting for
Alfred Andersch's
debut novel, ''Sansibar oder der letzte Grund'' (1957).
Rerik West
Rerik West, on a
peninsula
A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...
separated from the town itself by a small
isthmus, was a barracks town for
Soviet forces
The Soviet Armed Forces, the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and as the Red Army (, Вооружённые Силы Советского Союза), were the armed forces of the Russian SFSR (1917–1922), the Soviet Union (1922–1991), and th ...
during the time of the
German Democratic Republic. Following
German reunification
German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...
, it was abandoned in 1992 and declared a restricted area due to contamination by unexploded munitions. It is now a
ghost town, and has become a haven for wildlife.
Sons and daughters of the town
* Wolfgang Hillebrandt (born 1944), astrophysicist
External links
Commons category:Rerik-West
References
Seaside resorts in Germany
Cities and towns in Mecklenburg
Populated places established in 1938
Populated coastal places in Germany (Baltic Sea)
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