Wittenberge

Wittenberge stands on the northern bank of the Elbe in Prignitz, near the mouths of the Stepenitz and Karthane. Its town rights were confirmed by Otto Gans in 1300. The settlement suffered severely in the Thirty Years' War, and later disasters included fires in 1686 and 1757 and breaches of the Elbe dykes in 1709 and 1761. River transport remained central to its fortunes. In 1820 a steamship on the Berlin–Hamburg passenger route called at Wittenberge, and in 1823 the merchant Salomon Herz established an oil mill. Completion of the Elbe harbour in 1835 helped lay the foundations for the town's later development.