Parchim (German: [ˈpaʁçɪm] ⓘ; 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.
Sport
Motorcycle speedway is held at the Mecklenburgring, in the north west outskirts of the town off the Dammer Weg. The club Motorsportclub Mecklenburgring Parchim e.V. organise race meetings at the site and between 2002 and 2005, the team merged with Speedway Wolfslake and won the 2004 Bundesliga as RG Parchim/Wolfslake.
Notable residents
- Johann Jakob Engel (1741–1802), author.
- Helmuth von Moltke the Elder (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
- Éric Weil (1904-1977), self described as a post-Hegelian Kantian philosopher, studied violence
- Heinrich Alexander Stoll (1910-1977), author of adventure and historical novels.
- Hans-Wilhelm Ebeling (1934-2021), Lutheran clergyman and politician, chairman of the DSU, Minister for Economic Cooperation, 1990
- HA Schult (born 1939), object and action artist
- Jana Gerisch (born 1978), volleyball player
- Stefanie Weichelt (born 1983), football player
- Laura Larsson, (DE Wiki) (born 1989), podcast and radio host