Butchers once roamed here. This is Fleischervorstadt. It is a district etched with the echoes of its past. This area tells a tale of meat vendors, railway expansion, and the pursuit of affordable housing.
In 1786 Greifswald still had its four original gates. The command was clear. “A suburb must be located in front of each gate.” The Fleischervorstadt got its name because the meat-producing trade had its pasture paddocks for the slaughter cattle there.
Fleischervorstadt is south of the Wallgraben. This remains true today. Fleischerstrasse marks the spot of Greifswald’s southern gate. The district stretches from there to the railway lines on Gürtzkower Strasse. It extends to the Gürtzkower Landstrasse. The area reaches west to the current train station building. The eastern border extends to Bleichstrasse.
Later railways boosted Greifswald. The city connected to places like Pasewalk and Berlin. This expansion spurred growth in Fleischervorstadt. Workshops and independent businesses emerged. They were not tied to the railway.
Affordable housing made the area attractive. First, the working population moved here. Later, professors and scholars from the University of Greifswald followed. Even now you can find plaques commemorating famous professors near Arndt-Strasse. Many university staff and students still call this area home. Ernst Moritz Arndt University is still in this district.
Today Fleischervorstadt is changing. Many renovations are complete or underway. Yet the area keeps its identity. Street names reflect geography. Wiesenstrasse and Lange Reihe are examples. Gürtzkower Strasse refers to a place. Bleichstrasse, Steinstrasse, and Baustrasse relate to trades. Names also honor important Greifswald figures. Ernst Moritz Arndt, Rosa Luxemburg, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe are among them. They all have streets named for them here in Fleischervorstadt.