Parchim (; Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch: Parchen) is a town in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is the capital of the Ludwigslust-Parchim district. It was the birthplace of Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, to whom a monument was erected in 1876.
Founded about 1210, it was the seat of the short-lived Lordship of Parchim-Richenberg, a partition of the Duchy of Mecklenburg, from 1226 until 1248 when the lord relocated to Richenberg. Parchim was absorbed into the Lordship of Werle in 1255. In 1277 Werle was partitioned and Parchim became the seat of Werle-Parchim until it was reunited with Werle-Güstrow in 1307. One branch of the family of the duke of Mecklenburg resided in Parchim during part of the 14th century. It became a prosperous industrial town during the 16th century, but this prosperity was destroyed by the Thirty Years' War.
Gallery
Population development
1648 – 1,300
1789 – 4,000
1830 – 5,800
1850 – 6,270
1910 – 12,804
1939 – 16,000
1974 – 23,000
1990 – 23,800
2000 – 20,048
2005 – 19,348
Climate
Notable residents
Johann Jakob Engel (1741–1802), author. Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke (1800-1891), Prussian general field marshal, honorary citizen. Rudolf Tarnow (1867-1933), low German writer Elise Blumann (1897-1990), German-Australian expressionist painter Friedrich Hildebrandt (1898–1948), German SS Obergruppenführer, Gauleiter, executed for war crimes Ernst Goldenbaum (1898-1990), politician, chairman of the DBD and Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of the GDR, 1949-1990 Member of the Volkskammer HA Schult (born 1939), object and action artist Jana Gerisch (born 1978), volleyball player Stefanie Weichelt (born 1983), football player Laura Larsson (born 1989), podcast and radio host