Greifswald

Greifswald
Town Hall (red) and Cathedral
Greifswald
Coordinates	54°5′0″N 13°23′0″E
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
District	Urban district
Town subdivisions	16 boroughs
Lord Mayor	Dr. Arthur König (CDU)
Basic statistics
Area	50.50 km2 (19.50 sq mi)
Elevation	5 m  (16 ft)
Population	53,434  (31 December 2006)
- Density	1,058 /km2 (2,740 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	HGW
Postal codes	17489-17493
Area code	03834
Website	www.greifswald.de

Greifswald is officially known as Universitäts- und Hansestadt Greifswald, which means University and Hanseatic Town of Greifswald (from German Greif, "griffin", and Wald, "forest"). It is a town in northeastern Germany.

The town is on the Baltic Sea, about 200 km (124.3 mi) to the north of Berlin in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The population is roughly 55,000, including about 11,500 students and some 5,000 employees of the University of Greifswald.

City Council

The city council is elected for five year terms. Since the last election on 13 June 2004, the 42 city council seats are allocated as follows:

• CDU (conservatives) - 16 seats
• Left Party (socialists) - 9 seats
• SPD (social democrats) - 8 seats
• Greens - 3 seats
• FDP (liberals) - 2 seats
• others - 4 seats

Town twinning

• Finland, Kotka, since 1959
• Poland, Goleniów, since 1986, twin town since 2006
• Germany, Osnabrück, since 1988
• Sweden, Lund, since 1990
• Norway, Hamar, since 1997
• USA, Newport News, Virginia, since 2007
• Poland, Szczecin, city friendship since 1996
• France, Angers, contacts since 1994
• USA, College Station, contacts since 1995

Notable people from Greifswald

• Caspar David Friedrich, Romanticist painter
• Hans Fallada, author
• Wolfgang Koeppen, author
• Josef Sommer, actor
• Toni Kroos, Professional footballer currently playing for Bayern Munich

Other websites

• City of Greifswald (official website)
• university
• Pomeranian State Museum, Greifswald
• theatre