Polabian Slavs, also known as Elbe Slavs and more broadly as Wends, is a collective term applied to a number of Lechitic tribes who lived scattered along the Elbe river in what is today eastern Germany. The approximate territory stretched from the Baltic Sea in the north, the Saale and the Limes Saxoniae in the west, the Ore Mountains and the Western Sudetes in the south, and Poland in the east.
Primary source about history of Polabian Slavs - Chronica Slavorum of Helmold from the 12th century translated to Polish language by Jan Papłoński in 1862.
Reconstruction of Slavic gord near Neubrandenburg
Reconstruction of Slavic gord at the Burgwallinsel (Gord Island)
Reconstruction of Slavic gord in Groß Raden, Mecklenburg
Wends is a historical name for Slavs who inhabited present-day northeast Germany. It refers not to a homogeneous people, but to various peoples, tribes or groups depending on where and when it was used. In the modern day, communities identifying as Wendish exist in Slovenia, Austria, Lusatia, the United States, and Australia.
The interior of the original Lutheran Church the Wends established in Serbin, Texas, St. Paul.