Schwedt

Schwedt (or Schwedt/Oder; ˈʃveːt) is a town in Brandenburg, in northeastern Germany. With the official status of a Große kreisangehörige Stadt (major district town), it is the largest town of the Uckermark district, located near the river Oder, which forms the border with Poland. The formerly agrarian town today has one of the largest oil refineries (PCK Raffinerie GmbH) in Germany, established in 1958 and connected to the Russian Druzhba pipeline network. The refinery uses 20 million cubic meters of water per year for the process. A large paper factory (UPM) is located near Schwedt. Most industries were located in the remote area during communist rule in the 1960s and 1970s. Large residential areas were built for the workers moving to Schwedt. About 9% of the town's flats are in prefab concrete buildings (Plattenbau) dating from the era. As many jobs were lost after German reunification and the return to market economy, Schwedt has lost a quarter of its population since 1990. In recent decades, Schwedt became a model town for the demolition of Plattenbau housing to combat urban decay. Schwedt is situated in the east of the historic Uckermark region stretching from the Oder to the Havel River. It is situated on a sandur at the western edge of the Oder floodplain running along the German-Polish border, which in 1995 was declared as the Lower Oder Valley National Park nature reserve. Across the river and the border, about to the southeast, is the Polish town of Chojna. The nearest German towns are Angermünde (about to the west) and Gartz ( down the Oder). In a 1974 municipal reform, the neighbouring village of Heinersdorf was incorporated into Schwedt, followed by Blumenhagen, Gatow and Kunow in 1993, by Kummerow in 1998, by Criewen and Zützen in 2001, Stendell in 2002, the former town Vierraden in 2003, Schöneberg in January 2021 and Berkholz-Meyenburg, Mark Landin and Passow in April 2022. With Schwedt is among the 100 largest German municipalities by area.