STRALSUND

Swedish Strlsund, city, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania Land (state), northeastern Germany, Baltic port on the Strelasund (strait) opposite Rgen island, with which it is connected by the Rgendamm, a road and rail embankment. There was a village that specialized in ferrying goods and passengers to Rgen island as early as 1200; it was chartered in 1234. Stralsund joined the Hanseatic League in 1293. During the Thirty Years' War it was unsuccessfully besieged in 1628 by imperial forces under Albrecht von Wallenstein. It was transferred to Sweden in 1648, occupied by the French in 1807 and by the Danes in 1814, and passed to Prussia in 1815. Although heavily damaged in World War II, it retains its medieval Gothic churches and town hall. Its port facilities and shipbuilding yards were expanded after World War II, and fishing and fish processing are its important industries. Pop. (1989 est.) 75,498.