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City Guide Stralsund

for guests of the Hanseatic city: A richly illustrated ramble through the present and history of the Hanseatic city of Stralsund with a map of the old town.

Ludorf manor in calendar 2019

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The von Oertzen Family

The history of the von Oertzen family reaches back to the year 1192 and the nobleman Uritz in the retinue of Prince Borwin I.

With the passage of time the name Uritz changed from Oritz and Ordesen to Oertzen. The meaning is equivalent to “the man from the place on the lake,” another interpretation being “farmer.” The first documentary evidence of the family dates from the 14th century. The seat of the von Oertzen family is Roggow, which remained in its possession from the 14th century until expropriation in 1945. The von Oertzens were of the first importance in the Mecklenburg area. After the reunification of Germany the family was able to reacquire its ancient seat.

Particularly prominent representatives of the family are:

Jasper von Oertzen, who as minister-president of Mecklenburg participated in the founding of the German Empire in 1871
Hans-Ulrich von Oertzen, who laid down his life in the attempted coup against Hitler on 20 July 1944
Dr. Dietrich von Oertzen was the last finance minister of the state of Mecklenburg until 1945
Rudolf von Oertzen was a professor of church music in Hamburg, holding an endowed chair
Luise von Oertzen successfully headed the Office of the Matron General of the nurses’ homes of the German Red Cross in Bonn until 1961 and was awarded the Federal Service Cross

Estates:

In 2012 we received the following interesting letter about the cross on a grave shown among the pictures above:

“Ladies and Gentlemen,

“In January of this year I was on a boat trip on the Guaporé River/Itenes River in the border area of Brazil and Bolivia. On this trip I stopped in Pimenteiras, a small city in the Brazilian rainforest in the state of Rondônia. In front of the local Catholic church I stumbled upon the grave of Jasper von Oertzen (see enclosure), born 18 November 1875 in Leppin and died 3 January 1907 in Pimenteiras. . . .

“Yours sincerely, . . .”