Editing Demmin (section)

=== Modern Age ===
[[File:Karte von Demmin (1758).jpg|thumb|Map of ''Haus Demin'' (lower part of the map), 1758]]
[[File:St. Bartholomaei Demmin Juni 2012.JPG|thumb|St Bartholomew's Church]]

Like most of Pomeranian areas aside the larger coastal [[Hanse]] cities, the character of Demmin and its surrounding areas remained rural and dominated by agriculture until today, even though Demmin had been a member of the Hanseatic League because of the rivers (e.g. the [[Peene]] River) connecting this area to the Baltic coast.

During the [[Thirty Years' War]], Demmin was [[Capitulation of Franzburg|occupied by imperial forces]] from 1627 to 1630,<ref>{{cite book|title=Gemeinsame Bekannte: Schweden und Deutschland in der Frühen Neuzeit|editor1-first=Ivo|editor1-last=Asmus|editor2-first=Heiko|editor2-last=Droste|editor3-first=Jens E.|editor3-last=Olesen|first=Herbert|last=Langer|chapter=Die Anfänge des Garnisionswesens in Pommern|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nI9dItT816kC&pg=PA397|publisher=LIT Verlag|location=Berlin-Hamburg-Münster|year=2003|isbn=3-8258-7150-9|language=de|page=403}}</ref> and [[Treaty of Stettin (1630)|thereafter by Swedish forces]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Gemeinsame Bekannte: Schweden und Deutschland in der Frühen Neuzeit|editor1-first=Ivo|editor1-last=Asmus|editor2-first=Heiko|editor2-last=Droste|editor3-first=Jens E.|editor3-last=Olesen|first=Herbert|last=Langer|chapter=Die Anfänge des Garnisionswesens in Pommern|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nI9dItT816kC&pg=PA397|publisher=LIT Verlag|location=Berlin-Hamburg-Münster|year=2003|isbn=3-8258-7150-9|language=de|page=397}}</ref> From 1648, Demmin was part of [[Swedish Pomerania]]. From 1720, it was part of [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]],<ref name=sgk/> within which it was administratively located in the [[Province of Pomerania (1815–1945)|Province of Pomerania]]. In 1807 it was briefly occupied by [[First French Empire|France]].<ref name=sgk>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom I|year=1880|language=pl|location=Warszawa|page=956}}</ref> In the late 19th-century the inhabitants were mainly employed in weaving, tanning, fishing and trade.<ref name=sgk/>

In the Weimar Republic Demmin was a stronghold of the nationalistic organisations [[German National People's Party|DNVP]] and the [[Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten|Stahlhelm]]. Even before 1933 there were boycotts of Jewish businesses, which drove away most of the Jews and the synagogue was sold in June 1938 to a furniture company, which is why it survives as a building today. In the last free national elections to the Reichstag on 5 March 1933 the National Socialist Party won 53.7 percent of votes in Demmin.<ref>Thomas Schreck: '' Echt deutsch und national - Die vorpommersche Kleinstadt Demmin im Jahr 1933'', in: Zeitgeschichte regional 4/4 (2000), S. 14-23</ref> On 11 November 1938, thousands gathered in the square in an anti-Semitic demonstration<ref>Artikel ''Demmin'' in: Irene Diekmann (Hg.), ''Wegweiser durch das jüdische Mecklenburg-Vorpommern'', Potsdam 1998, S. 99 ff, bes. S. 111 f</ref> as part of [[Kristallnacht]].

During World War II, Poles, Russians, as well as POWs from France and Belgium were used as [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] in the town.

German troops destroyed the bridges over the [[Peene]] while retreating from Demmin during World War II. This way, the advance of the Soviet [[Red Army]] was slowed down when they arrived in Demmin on 30 April 1945. During that night and the following morning, Demmin was handed over to the Red Army largely without fighting, similar to other cities like [[Greifswald]]. Rapes, pillage and executions committed by Red Army soldiers [[Mass suicide in Demmin|triggered a mass suicide of hundreds of people]] and nearly all of the Old Town was burned down by the Red Army.<ref>Buske, Norbert (Hg.): ''Das Kriegsende in Demmin 1945. Berichte Erinnerungen Dokumente'' (Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Landeskundliche Hefte), Schwerin 1995, in German (''The End of the War in Demmin 1945 - Reports, Reminiscences, Documents''). {{ISBN|3-931185-04-4}}.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Huber|first=Florian|translator-first=Imogen|translator-last=Taylor|title=Promise Me You'll Shoot Yourself|year=2019|publisher=Allen Lane|location=London|isbn=978-0-241-39924-8}} (Originally published in {{langx|de|Kind, Versprich Mir Dass Du Dich Erschieβt}}.)</ref> From 1945 to 1952, Demmin was part of the State of [[Mecklenburg-Vorpommern]], from 1952 to 1990 of the [[Bezirk Neubrandenburg]] of [[East Germany]] and since 1990 again of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.