Geographical location

Laage lies between the cities Güstrow, Teterow und Rostock on a natural ford along the Recknitz river.

To the west and east of the Recknitz-Urstromtal there are terminal moraines. Der Kalte Berg is 62m above the Normalhöhennull, the tallest point of elevation in the municipal area. Rostock Laage Airport is located a few kilometers west of Laage.

Municipal areas

The municipal area is made up of the city center Laage and the following areas:^[2]

Name

In 1216 Laage was known as Lauena. The original polabian name changed to Lawe in 1257, and Laue in 1306, then again to Lawe, and finally to Lage in 1622, with the modern common spelling Laage becoming popular in 1726. The wendish Lave could be translated as footbridge or bridge; Laage then being known as the bridge-place over the flowing Recknitz.^[3]

Early settlement

As early as the Mesolithic (around 8000 BCE) there were hunters, gatherers, and fishers settling the fertile area. Remains from the Neolithic period (around 4500 BCE to 1800 BCE) and the Bronze Age (1800 BCE to 70 BCE) have also been documented.^[4] A burial mound near Goritz is an example of a discovery form the late Bronze Age. Prior to the departure of migrations, the region was inhabited by Germanic peoples.

Middle ages

In the early middle ages there was a slavonic castle and fortified settlement. Paths made out of planks and gravel, as well as Glacial erratics were created by the 6th century CE at the latest in order to traverse the Recknitz Valley. A total of five paths were discovered in 2015, the younger ones being dated between 719 and 830, and the youngest being dated to Old Slavic times.^[5]

At the end of the 12the century, a German settlement took place, and Laage became a German castle at the crossing of the Recknitz. In 1216, Laage was first mentioned as a village. The town belonged to the Werle Fiefdom Fiefdom. In 1270, Laage was mentioned in a deed of donation by Prince Nicholas II of Werle. Laage was the seat of the de:Landvogt until around the 15th century. In the middle of the 13th century the construction of an early Gothic village church was started, the tower being completed in the 15th century. In 1309 (according to other sources 1271) Laage was named an Oppidum, thus having town privileges. The city developed through the important east-west connection of the via regia – the royal road from Wismar to Demmin – and a country road to Rostock. In the 14th century, Laage received a rampart with moat to protect it from robber knights. With the death of Prince Wilhelm the Wendish the principality of Werle died out, and the Dukes of Mecklenburg therefore inherited Laage. The town became a town in Mecklenburg [de] and as such was one of the towns in the Wendische Kreis, which until 1918 were represented at the Mecklenburg Legislature, united in 1523 [de].

16th to 19th centuries

In 1569, a fire broke out in the town. Parts of the city, church, and town hall were subject to damage. In 1638, during the Thirty Years' War, imperial troops attacked Laage. This was followed by The Black Death, from which only five residents survived. Hardly recovered, the Great Northern War and the Seven Years' War followed, with many casualties requiring the quartering of soldiers. In 1712, Czar Peter the Great had his quarters in Laage.^[6] In 1759, another town fire ensued, in which 63 houses and 24 barns burned down.

The city recovered from the wars. In 1768 it received a new city constitution, which was in force until 1918. Since then, there has been one mayor and two senators. The local governance consisted of a spokesperson, three viertelmann (a combination of mayor and policeman) and three deputies.

In 1692, a paper mill was built and in 1748 the Bockwindmill was built on the Bullenberg. In 1786, the first pharmacy was established by Chirurgus Hektor. Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher visited the city in 1814.

In 1829, Laage was better connected to the transport network with the construction of the Chaussee Rostock-Neubrandenburg. After the Gründerzeit, the village had a population of 2,345. The Amtsgericht and a paper mill were set up. It was followed in 1886 by a railway connection with Laage station west of the city center. In 1891, a voluntary fire brigade was founded. A dairy, the gas plant (1905), the waterworks and the water tower (1926) were built, and in 1915 the village received electric light.

Recent history

In the 1920s, new residential buildings were built, among others in the Paul-Lüth-Straße, the St. -Jürgen-Straße, Goethestraße and Breesener Straße. The sewerage system was also further expanded.

On May 1, 1945, the Red Army invaded Laage. The day before, local Social Democrats had dismantled the tank barriers erected for the defense. The acting mayor, Otto Thode,^[7] met the Soviet troops and prevented destruction in Laage.^[8]

Shortly after the invasion of the Red Army, on 2 May 1945, the well-known architect de:Paul Korff took his own life together with his wife. Otto Thode also chose suicide with his wife and daughter on that day. They were buried in communal graves at the Laager Cemetery.

After the Second World War, the number of inhabitants doubled due to the influx of refugees.

At the end of 1945 and the beginning of 1946, ten young people (aged 16 and over) were arrested by the Soviet secret service NKVD and sentenced by a military tribunal to heavy prison terms for “hostile attitudes towards Communism and the Red Army”. Seven of them died in the Soviet special camp Sachsenhausen. The group was rehabilitated in 1993 by the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation.^[9]

The milk sugar factory resumed production in 1946. Agricultural production cooperatives were established around 1950, and the Volkseigenes Gut was important. An outdoor swimming pool was built and in 1967 a second school was built on the new sports ground. The Breesener Straße Hospital became a rural ambulatory.

Around 1980, the military airfield was built. The Fighter Bomber Squadron 77 and the Marine Squadron 28 of the National People's Army (NVA) had been stationed at this military airfield since 1984 with Sukhoi Su-22 aircraft until the dissolution of the NVA. From 1979 to 1988, the Kronskamp residential area was built with 850 apartments in Large panel system-building, among other things for the soldiers stationed in Laage. A third school also had to be built.

Since 1991, the historical town centre with its town hall and a little later the only remaining de:Scheunenviertel in Mecklenburg were fundamentally renovated as part of the urban development funding. The slab construction area has also been significantly improved since 1998 by demolition and upgrading measures.

The military airfield is operated by Jagdgeschwader 73 "Steinhoff" of the Bundeswehr and was expanded after 1994 in parallel to the civil airport Rostock-Laage. In 2018, around 290,000 passengers used the airport.

From 1952 to 2011 Laage belonged to the district of Güstrow (GDR-Bezirk Schwerin / State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) and since then is part of the district of Rostock.

History of municipal areas

Rossewitz: There was a castle here in the Middle Ages. Owner of the estates included the noble families Nortman (until 1450) and von Vieregg (until 1760), after which it was a ducal chamberlain. The early Baroque manor house Rossewitz was built on the foundations of the castle according to plans by Charles Philippe Dieussart between 1657 and 1680. It is considered to be the first Baroque building in Mecklenburg. Grand Duke Frederick Franz I lived in the castle several times. After 1945 it was a shelter for refugees. The roof collapsed in 1982, and an emergency roof was erected in 1986. Renovation work has taken place since 1993.

Schweez is a manor village and was owned by the families of Hahn (until 1771), Reichgrave von Wallmoden-Gimborn (until 1845), Count von Bassewitz (until 1913) and Count von Schlieffen.

Weitendorf: The church dates from the 13th century, the upper baroque tower from the 18th century, and the baroque park from 1763.

Incorporation

On 1 July 1950, the formerly independent communities of Breesen and Kronskamp were incorporated. Liessow was incorporated into the city of Laage on 13 June 2004,^[10] Weitendorf on 1 July 2006^[11] and Diekhof on 26 May 2019.^[12]

Municipal elections

Following the municipal elections on 26 May 2019, the municipal council of Laage is composed of the mayor and 19 city representatives:^[14]

Mayor

• 1900–1936: Fritz Kähler
• 1936–1942: Paul Koop (NSDAP)
• 1943–1945: Otto Thode (NSDAP)
• 1945–1946: August Hanitz (KPD)
• 1946–1947: Richard Hübner (SED)
• 1947–1950: Heinrich Schlaack (SED)
• 1951–1954: Helmuth Lendner (SED)
• 1954–1955: Robert Bendlin (SED)
• 1955–1960: Fritz Gelhaar (SED)
• 1960–1975: Willi Serve (SED)
• 1975–1979: Annelore Bull (SED)
• 1979–1990: Eckhart Bomke (SED)
• 1990–1994: Wolfram Steinke (CDU)
• 1994–2010: Uwe Heinze (SPD)
• 2010–2017: Ilka Lochner (CDU)
• 2017–2023: Holger Anders (FDP)

Anders was elected in the mayoral run-off election on 8 October 2017 with 50.9% of the valid votes.^[15] He remained in office until his death in September 2023.^[16]

Coat of arms

Flag

The flag was approved by the Ministry of Interior on 4 April 2016.

The flag consists of a yellow cloth and is covered in the centre with the figure of the city's coat of arms, which occupies two thirds of the height of the flag cloth: a visionary black bull's head with a closed mouth and a knocked out red tongue, between whose silver horns a red lily grows. The height of the flag cloth is related to the length as 3:5.^[17]

Seal of office

The official seal shows the city coat of arms with the inscription • STADT LAAGE •.^[17]

Söhne und Töchter of the city

• Franz Susemihl (1826–1901), Classics#Philology
• Otto Intze (1843–1904), Hydraulic engineer and university lecturer
• Bernhard Riedel (1846–1916), Surgeon
• Paul Korff (1875–1945), Architect
• Bernhard Beyer (1879–1966), Freemason
• Rolf H. Dittmeyer (1921–2009), Entrepreneur
• Karlheinz Gieseler (1925–2010), Sports official, born in Schweez
• Axel Kaspar (* 1939), Documentary filmmaker
• Frauke Weiß (* 1946), Politician (CDU)

With a personal connection to Laage

• Carl Beyer (1847–1923), 1875–1900 Pastor in Laage, Heimat Author
• Rudolf Sieger (1867–1925), painter, lived in Laage
• Friedrich Kähler (1873–1942), 1900–1936 mayor in Laage, Heimat Author
• Peter Kauffold (1937–2014), 1998–2002 Minister of Education for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, lived in Laage
• Joachim Gauck (* 1940), former President of Germany, Vicar in Laage
• Karin Schmidt (* 1955), Politician (Die Linke), Teacher in Laage
• Ilka Lochner (* 1970), Politician (CDU), 2010–2017 Mayor of Laage