DEUTSCHLAND	GERMANY
Bundesland: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	Mecklenburg-West Pomerania
Landkreis: Nordwestmecklenburg

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Poel is an island in the Baltic Sea building the natural northern and eastern boundaries of the Bay of Wismar on the German coast. The northern coast of the island is also on the south side of the large gulf known as the Bay of Mecklenburg, which Wismar Bay enters into. Administratively it is a municipality (Ostseebad Insel Poel) in the Nordwestmecklenburg district. It consists of Kirchdorf and Oertzenhof (the main towns) and the smaller villages of Am Schwarzen Busch, Brandenhusen, Fährdorf, Gollwitz, Kaltenhof, Kirchdorf, Malchow, Neuhof, Niendorf, Oerzenhof, Seedorf, Timmendorf, Vorwerk, Wangern and Weitendorf. The island covers an area of 36 km² and has about 2,500 citizens (2014).

Poel's first inhabitants in historic times were Slavs, belonging to the West Mecklenburgian tribe of the Obotrites. In the early 13th century, German settlers came onto the island. In 1614–1620 Duke of Mecklenburg built a fortress on the island making use of the strategically good location. During the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) the Duke had to give up the castle to the imperial troops (i.e. the Catholic coalition) in 1628. After the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 two-thirds of Poel together with Wismar and the municipality of Neukloster were granted to the King of Sweden. The western third of the island remained the property of the Holy-Spirit-Hospital (Heiligen-Geist-Hospital) in Lübeck which had already had this endowment for several centuries. In 1802 the House of Mecklenburg came in possession of the property of the Holy-Spirit-Hospital in Lübeck. The Swedish portion of the island was leased for 99 years by the Duke in 1803. It officially remained in Swedish possession until 1903, when it completely returned to Mecklenburg. Since the 17th century Poel has been connected to the mainland with dams and bridges. Since 1927 the island has been connected to the mainland by a causeway.

The picture on glass no. 3037 shows the beach in the locality Am Schwarzen Busch, located on the northwestern side of the island.

The German pronunciation of Poel is [pø:l], identical to the that of the municipality of Pöhl in the Vogtland district of Saxony.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poel, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poel]