Perleberg (German: [ˈpɛʁləˌbɛʁk] ; North Margravian: Perlberg) is the capital of the district of Prignitz, located in the northwest of the German state of Brandenburg. The town received city rights in 1239 and today has about 12,000 inhabitants. Located in a mostly agricultural area, the town has a long history of troops (most notably Prussian) being stationed there and as an administrative center for local government.

Perleberg is located in the heart of the district of Prignitz, about halfway between the two largest German cities Berlin and Hamburg. It is surrounded by the municipalities Karstädt to the north-west, Gross Pankow (Prignitz) to the north-east, Plattenburg to the south-east; the Ämter Bad Wilsnack/Weisen in the south, Lenzen-Elbtalaue in the west; and the town of Wittenberge to the south-west.

The Stepenitz flows from northeast to southwest through Perleberg. The town's historic center is built on an island between two arms of the river.

One of the town's oldest buildings is St James's Church. First mentioned in 1294, it was frequently altered and extensively remodelled in the 1850s. In German, it is called the Jakobikirche, and therefore sometimes mistakenly called St Jacob's in English.

In the 14th century the town was at its height as part of the Hanseatic League. In 1523 it was the muster point for an army assembled by Elector Joachim I in support of his brother-in-law Christian II of Denmark's attempt to recover his throne. The Thirty Years' War caused serious damage to the town: of 3,500 inhabitants, only 300 survived. The mayor responsible for rebuilding the town after this period was Georg Krusemarck.

On November 25, 1809, Benjamin Bathurst disappeared in Perleberg. Later accounts of the incident exaggerated the circumstances to such an extent that the disappearance is sometimes claimed to have been caused by paranormal phenomena.

• 
  Development of population since 1875 within the current Boundaries (Blue Line: Population; Dotted Line: Comparison to Population development in Brandenburg state; Grey Background: Time of Nazi Germany; Red Background: Time of communist East Germany)
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  Recent Population Development and Projections (Population Development before Census 2011 (blue line); Recent Population Development according to the Census in Germany in 2011 (blue bordered line); Official projections for 2005-2030 (yellow line); for 2017-2030 (scarlet line); for 2020-2030 (green line)

Perleberg: Population development
within the current boundaries (2020)

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1875 10,311 —     1890 10,013 −0.20% 1910 12,161 +0.98% 1925 12,882 +0.38% 1939 14,845 +1.02% 1950 17,414 +1.46% 1964 15,983 −0.61%

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1971 16,193 +0.19% 1981 16,078 −0.07% 1985 15,736 −0.54% 1990 15,032 −0.91% 1995 14,596 −0.59% 2000 13,907 −0.96% 2005 13,094 −1.20%

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 2010 12,332 −1.19% 2015 12,204 −0.21% 2016 12,367 +1.34% 2017 12,317 −0.40% 2018 12,141 −1.43% 2019 12,065 −0.63% 2020 12,035 −0.25%

Perleberg is twinned with:

• Kaarst, Germany
• Szczawnica, Poland

• Lotte Lehmann, born here
• Dörte von Westernhagen, born here
• Ernst Ehrenbaum (1861–1942), biologist
• James Broh (1867–1942), lawyer, publicist and politician

Media related to Perleberg at Wikimedia Commons