Bergen auf Rügen is the capital of the former district of Rügen in the middle of the island of Rügen in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. Since 1 January 2005, Bergen has moreover been the administrative seat of the Amt of Bergen auf Rügen, which with a population of over 23,000 is Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s most populous Amt.
Bergen is in the middle of Germany’s biggest island, Rügen, on the Baltic Sea coast. The town lies in a hilly area, with the Rugard woods on the town’s northeast outskirts reaching a height of 91 m above sea level. The area around Bergen is predominantly agricultural. The town itself is built on a glacial moraine deposited when the ice sheets retreated during the last ice age. Not far from central Bergen, to the northeast, is the Kleiner Jasmunder Bodden, a shallow bay, and to the southeast lies another bay, the Greifswalder Bodden, and with the town of Putbus. South of the town is the Kiebitzmoor (“Peewit Moor”) and to the northwest is the lake of Nonnensee which was reactivated a few years ago.
Four days before the end of the Second World War, undefended Bergen was occupied by the Red Army on 4 May 1945. After the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was founded, the new government pressed ahead with further industrialization. In 1952, construction began on the industrial area on the town’s western outskirts. From 1953 to 1958, the dairy was established, which furnished 300 tonnes of milk daily. In 1955–1956 came the establishment of the VEB Brot- und Backwaren (Bread and Baked Goods). In 1957–1958, the slaughterhouse and meat plant went into production. An efficient food industry was set up in Bergen, supplied from the island and parts of the mainland. Since Reunification and East Germany’s accession into the Federal Republic, the town has undergone a number of marked changes. The population dwindled from its former level of almost 20,000 to 16,500. Many prefabricated concrete structures, common in the former Warsaw Pact countries, were modernized and adapted to new demands. In addition, a few schools were closed and new hotels built. Historical downtown was completely renovated and decorated, giving it a new appeal.
Bergen has essentially good transport connections. This refers to travel on the island of Rügen and the national rail system. The road connection with the mainland, on the other hand, used to be very choked. In summer, the Rügen Causeway – the bridge that joins Rügen to the mainland at Stralsund often became a bottleneck. This has recently been alleviated by the new Strelasund Crossing – a second crossing over the Strelasund with an expressway feeder. Individually, the road network serving Bergen is as follows. The B 96 reaches Bergen from Stralsund, where it connects with the B 105 which leads to Rostock. Bergen is also accessible by car by taking the ferry from Glewitz. In Bergen, the road further branches into the B 196, affording access to the island’s eastern area, where there are bathing beaches. The B 96 itself leads further on to Sassnitz. Those who would rather forgo the car may also reach Bergen by train. Already by the time the first stretches of railway were built on Rügen in 1883, trains were reaching the island from afar. The island’s capital, Bergen, has always profited from this, as it lies right on the main transport arteries to the bathing resorts and the harbour at Mukran (Sassnitz). All parts of the island of Rügen can also be reached from Bergen by the many buslines there. Until the 1960s, Bergen was also served by a local narrow gaugerailway, the Rügen Light Railway, popularly known as Rasender Roland (“Racing Roland”), but the Deutsche Reichsbahn, which owned it at the time, shut all the lines in the central and northern parts of Rügen down at that time. Part of the system still runs, however.
