A town crossed by the river Warnau which flows into the Baltic, Rostock is the former port of the former GDR. It is also the largest city in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: it had 250 000 inhabitants before the fall of the Berlin Wall, about 247 000 afterwards, a stable figure given the number of Western Germans in the West to seek employment. A living city that is not lacking in charm despite the extensive destruction that its centre has experienced during the th century, the city can be the subject of a pleasant stay. This is a prerequisite if we want to feel the soul of the Baltic coast. The history of the city is once again marked by the Hanse: the first German traders settled on the site of an ancient Slavic colony (th century) and the city reached its commercial apogee in the th and th centuries. It was an important intellectual centre, particularly following the construction of the first University of Northern Europe in 1419. With the end of the Thirty years war and the definitive disappearance of the Hanse (1699), the city became a medium-sized German port, far from by Hamburg and Kiel. With the four British bombings that lasted around 50% of the city, Rostock had at the end of the Second World War the darkest hours in its history. The new democratic and socialist Germany will seek to give the city its role as a major industrial port, notably through the construction of large shipyards. Accompanying the reconstruction, new cities have emerged in the vicinity of Rostock, on the route of Warnemünde, from the post-war emergency. Lütten Klein is one of the largest concrete ensembles in the former GDR. German reunification will trigger difficult hours for Rostock, unemployment to the key. The city was marked by the «events» of summer 1992, when neo-Nazi gangs incendièrent the home of Lichtenhagen asylum seekers, supported by hundreds of neighbours hungry by the neighbourhood's neighbours in transit. The peaceful demonstrations of the candle, organized to protest against this outbreak of violence, have also become famous. But rest assured, if the problem of the neo-Nazis still affects Rostock like many cities in East Germany that have large concrete ensembles, this painful period already belongs to the past and the city is sitting in quiet days. Far from the image of these problems, Rostock is even the most lively city in East Germany after Leipzig, Dresden and of course Berlin. Resolutely oriented towards modernity, the city allègrement benefits from the tourist development of the Baltic coast of the former GDR.

What to visit Rostock?

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Pictures and images Rostock

Marché de Noël : Neuer Markt TZRW / Irma Schmidt
Vue du port depuis le centre historique TZRW / Irma Schmidt
Vue sur la ville de Rostock. RicoK69 - iStockphoto.com
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