Vorpommern-Rügen is a district in the north of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the Baltic Sea and the districts Vorpommern-Greifswald, Mecklenburgische Seenplatte and Rostock. The district seat is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund.
Vorpommern-Rügen is characterized by diverse shore line landscapes with many lagoons, beaches and cliff lines, part of them protected in the Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park and in the Jasmund National Park.
Usedom (German: Usedom [ˈuːzədɔm] , Polish: Uznam [ˈuznam]) is a Baltic Sea island in Pomerania, divided between Germany and Poland. It is the second largest Pomeranian island after Rügen, and the most populous island in the Baltic Sea.
It lies north of the Szczecin Lagoon estuary of the Oder river. About 80% of the island belongs to the German district of Vorpommern-Greifswald in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The eastern part and the largest city on the island, Świnoujście, are part of the Polish West Pomeranian Voivodeship. The island's total area is 445 square kilometres (172 square miles) – 373 square kilometres (144 square miles) in the German part and 72 square kilometres (28 square miles) in the Polish part. Its population is 76,500 (German part 31,500; Polish part 45,000).
Greifswald (German pronunciation: [ˈɡʁaɪfsvalt] ; Low German: Griepswold), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (German: Universitäts- und Hansestadt Greifswald) is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. In 2021 it surpassed Stralsund for the first time, and became the largest city in the Pomeranian part of the state. It sits on the River Ryck, at its mouth into the Danish Wiek, a sub-bay of the Bay of Greifswald, which is itself a sub-bay of the Bay of Pomerania of the Baltic Sea.
It is the seat of the district of Western Pomerania-Greifswald, and is located roughly in the middle between the two largest Pomeranian islands of Rügen and Usedom. The closest larger cities are Stralsund, Rostock, Szczecin and Schwerin. It lies west of the River Zarow, the historical cultural and linguistic boundary between West (west of the river) and Central Pomerania (east of the river). The city derives its name from the dukes of Pomerania, the House of Griffin, and thus ultimately from the Pomeranian Griffin, and its name hence translates as "Griffin's Forest".
Peenemünde (German pronunciation: [peːnəˈmʏndə] , lit. 'Peene [River] Mouth') is a municipality on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in north-eastern Germany. It is part of the Amt (collective municipality) of Usedom-Nord. The community is known for the Peenemünde Army Research Center, where the world's first functional large-scale liquid-propellant rocket, the V-2, was developed.
Wolgast (German pronunciation: [ˈvɔlˌɡast] ) is a town in the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the bank of the strait Peenestrom, facing the island of Usedom on the Baltic coast that can be accessed by road and railway via a movable bascule bridge (Blaues Wunder). In December 2004, the town had a population of 12,725.