Dömitz Fortress

Dömitz Fortress is a fortress in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It is strategically located on the Elbe River in the town of Dömitz.

The Mecklenburg Duke Johann Albrecht I had the largest fortress in Mecklenburg built between 1559 and 1565 to secure Mecklenburg's southwestern border and the Elbe crossings. For this purpose, he had the existing castle there expanded. The military used the fortress until 1894. It survived the centuries unscathed and is still an impressive lowland fortress today. Bastions, casemates, and the commandant's house can be visited.

During the Thirty Years' War, the town and fortress served as a base for changing parties, including Tilly and Wallenstein. In 1635, the entire town was burned down for defensive purposes. In 1809, the first battles of the Wars of Liberation against Napoleon took place here. Cannonballs are still embedded in the brick wall today, commemorating the bombardment of the fortress in the 19th century.

Since 1750, the fortress was also used as an asylum and prison. The writer Fritz Reuter, who wrote in Low German, spent the last part of his fortress imprisonment here from 1838 to 1840. He was released on August 25, 1840. In his book Ut mine Festungstid ("From my Fortress Time"), he reports on this period.