PARCHIM (Parchem), a town of Germany, in the grand duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, on the Elde, which flows through it in two arms, 23 m. S.E. of Schwerin, on the railway from Ludwigslust to Neubrandenburg. Pop. (1905), 10,397. It was the birthplace of Moltke, to whom a monument was erected in 1876. It is an ancient place surrounded with walls, and contains a Gothic town hall and two interesting churches. Founded about 1210, Parchim was during part of the 14th century the residence of one branch of the family of the dukes of Mecklenburg. It became a prosperous industrial town during the 16th century, but this prosperity was destroyed by the Thirty Years' War. A revival, however, set in during the 19th century.
See Hübbe, Zur topographischen Entwickelung der Stadt Parchim (Parchim, 1899); and Weltzien, Zur Geschichte Parchims (Parchim, 1903).