Corona stories: Number 57 Germany 2010

“Der Schimmelreiter” (The rider of the white horse) Theodor Storm

The climate is changing and cold winters get rare. For some institutions this fact is registered with relief. Some even have foreseen the development a long time ago. The Dutch railways have eliminated all precautions for a possible spell of icy weather and snow and rather shut down their services if that case should occur. In a country like Norway that would mean to close down the railways for half a year. In times of Corona only a suicidal would use a train anyway. But they also had to shut down the shunting yard which handles all the traffic out of the port of Rotterdam. And I guess that cannot wait.

But not only the rail traffic suffers. Motorways are closed because the frost has caused parts of the poorly made tarmac come off.

“First take the blame from misfortune, what remains, bear in patience!” (Theodor Sturm)

The frozen port of Husum

The cold spell also led to the closure of the corona test and vaccination centers. This cannot be related to the shut-down of the railways, since they were all placed in areas which are impossible to reach by public transport. Instead of using a protected, unused platform or shed in a station they were all constructed as tent camps at locations which just can be safely reached by car. If you have one and there is no ice.

Fishing boats in Husum

When we were kids the winters really were winters. Month-long spells of temperatures of -20° C were not rare. The huge station where I grew up gave a ghostly sight when we had to go to school long before daybreak. Everything was covered in ice but fires were burning next to each switch to heat up the steel to prevent the switch from being blocked by freezing. And everything was mechanic at the time. Grease and heating did the job even at -20° C. For Dutch switches in 2021, -3° C, a little wind of force 4 and 10 cm of snow is enough to block the entire network.

The year 2010 had seen another hard winter. We are on a northbound ICE train. Because of ice and snow it has to run at a speed reduced from 250 km/h to 200 km/h to avoid damages to the unit. After a big delay we change to a local train further north at the station of Hamburg-Altona and arrive at the little seaside town of Husum in the middle of the night. The area around the station is crossed by waist high snow drifts. Nevertheless snow plows have managed to keep the road clear so that a friend can pick us up by car to get to the vacation home we have rented.

“Few shells have pearls” (Theodor Storm)

In summer this is the beach

The town is covered in ice and snow. Even the salt water of the wadden sea is frozen and the little harbor is covered with ice floats. The rigging and nets of the fishing boats are frozen solid. Few thickly dressed souls hurry from door to door where in summer a crowd of sparely dressed vacationers spoils the pretty town.

The railway dam to Nordstrandischmoor

This part of the German coast is home to some of the most unique and exposed settlements along the shores in Europe. While the coastline is protected by solid dykes there are a number of tiny off-shore islands called Halligen. These islands are not much more than mounds in the sea with a house on it. The lowland around the mounds is dry most of the year and can be used to graze cattle. However, in some years the area around the mounds is flooded up to 40 times and cattle and everything what can drift away has to be brought into safety on the mound. This is how the entire coastline between Normandy in northern France and Denmark must have looked like before dykes and locks were built.

“You have to carve your life out of the wood you have, even if it were crooked and gnarled.” (Theodor Storm)

Train with hay for the cattle

In summer guided tours are offered at low tide to walk across the bottom of the wadden sea to the Halligen. Now everything is covered in ice floats. But we learn that it still is possible to go for a walk. While it is not possible to get there by car, some of these Halligen are connected to the mainland by a miniature railway on a dyke. We walk along the track to the Hallig of Nordstrandischmoor. Everything around us is covered in ice. We cover most of our face in scarfs but everything left uncovered is soon coated with a layer of frozen ice. We are glad to have a guide. For him the islets pub, which is closed in winter, has opened for the occasion and we get soup, sausages and hot drinks.

“When winter had come again and the frost had appeared, he wandered still farther out on the dike to points he had never reached before, until the boundless ice-covered sand flats lay before him.” (Theodor Storm)

Entrance to the islet's pub

Freeze drying laundry

The islet has four warfts, the mounds, Neuwarft, Amalienwarft, Halberwegwarft and Norderwarft. At the time of our visit four households with 18 people lived in these places. The islet is home to Germany’s smallest school with 3 pupils, which also serves as church, the pub and a cemetery. The islet is connected to the mainland by a field railway of track width 600 mm to Lüttmoorsiel. Every household on the warft has his own little train. Halfway the track is a passing place. In summer at high tide a ferry can moor at a jetty.

Warfts on Nordstrandischmoor

Nordstrandischmoor is the youngest Hallig. Originally it was, along with the islands of Pellworm and Nordstrand, part of the island of Strand, which sank in the Burchardi flood of 1634. At the time, a whole town, Rungholt, disappeared in the flood. However, even after the disappearance of Strand, the islet was regularly washed away with collateral loss of lives and property. Nevertheless, people kept coming back. Still, the four warfts today are the only remaining of originally 16. The land kept being washed away until the shore was enforced with rocks and the railway was built in 1933. In 1961 all the warfts were raised to make them safer during the frequent floods. At the occasion all the houses had to be built anew. From the railway terminus a branch line goes up to the highest point to provide a safe shelter for the trains during floods.

“He ran on and on, until he stood alone in the solitary waste, where only the winds blew over the dike where there was nothing but the wailing voices of the great birds that shot by swiftly. To his left was the wide empty marshland, on the other side the endless beach with its sand flats now glistening with ice” (Theodor Storm)

Today Husum is in the german state of Schleswig-Holstein. However, the area belonged to Denmark during most of history. In 1025 the Danish King Knut promised his six year old daughter to the son of the later German emperor Konrad II. In return, Knut became the ruler of Schleswig, the area including Husum. The kids were still alive to marry in 1036. Formally this border existed until 1864. However, the neighboring dukes of Holstein tried to get influence and managed to obtain Schleswig as hereditary after a war with Denmark in which they were supported by the mighty fleet of the Hanse in 1435. After that the dukes of Schleswig-Holstein ruled an area where a part (Holstein) was in the territory of the german empire and the other part, Schleswig, belonged to Denmark. However, typical for german history, there were lots of divisions and reunifications of territory. In the 19th century the ownership of the area was the subject of the first and second war of Schleswig. Eventually Prussia supported strangely enough by Austria won the second Schleswig war in 1864 and the area became part of the German empire.

“Suffering comes, joy is gone. Joy comes, sorrow leaves - the days are never the same” (Theodor Storm)

The railway terminus at Nordstrandischmoor

Two of the toy trains

In 1621 the duke of Holstein-Gottorf, one of the many temporary subdivisions of the territory of Schleswig-Holstein, invited people from the Netherlands to settle in his territory. At the time religious minorities like the remonstrants and mennonits were persecuted in the Netherlands and better left the country. Friedrich had far flung plans to make his little duchy the center of a new trade route from Spain via Russia to East Asia. The dutch with their knowledge of navigation, trading and water management were a part of that plan. They were allowed self-government and religious liberty and started to built a town according to Dutch principles…. with dutch style buildings and canals. Dutch also was the official language and many official documents until far into the 18th century were written in Dutch.

“Whatever you can become, be not afraid of work and lie awake; but guard your soul from desiring a career!”(Theodor Strom)

The streets of Friedrichstadt

Friedrich’s megalomaniac plans of being the center of a world wide trade route died in the 30 years war. The development of the new town was slowed down by the war and many of the immigrants even went back to where they came from. However, the town stayed a center of religious liberty and therefore attracted immigrants from different religious groups. Mennonites, Remonstrants, Catholics, German Lutherans, Danish Lutherans, Quakers, Jews, Unitarians and even Mormons and Huguenots once lived in the town.

“Work that gives us satisfaction is surely the best and most solid happiness.” (Theodor Storm)

In 2010 the town was covered in a thick carpet of snow. The canals were frozen. And it kept snowing. Fortunately the town has a number of traditional pubs to warm up.

Pub and bakery in Friedrichstadt

Like in many other places along the north sea coast fear of the sea and fight against the water were ever-present in the mind of the population. Husum is the hometown of the writer Theodor Storm (1817-1888) who put that sentiment into words in his epic novel “der schimmelreiter” (the rider of the white horse). It is the story of Hauke Haien, a simple man who rises to become the dikemaster of the community. The Schimmelreiter is the story of a visionary who, with his new ideas, has to fight against local superstitions, only to become part of this superstition himself in the end, as Schimmelreiter. It is a very factual and still oppressive story which from the beginning leaves no doubt about the bad fate of the main character. At the same time it portrays the superstition and envy of the people of the time, and the fight against the sea. Its factual style makes it enjoyable literature for a modern reader.

“When the mob of all sorts is dancing around the golden calves, hold on tight: in the end you only get yourself from life.” (Theodor Storm)

Windmills dot wide stretches of the flat land around Husum

When it is time for us to leave, thaw has set in. The thick cover of snow and ice had disappeared in not much more than a day. We take the local train down south to Hamburg again to change on a long distance train. Surprisingly, when we get to the right platform, that train is already there, waiting for us. Reserved seats are indicated in the coaches, but when we get to our seats, the reservation is not right. Other people have the same problem. Eventually there is an announcement. The reservations are not correct. This is the train from two hours before, which has not left yet.

Finally the conductor gives us the reason. There is no engine.

“Can you imagine that?” he says, puzzled, “in the whole of Hamburg, no engine to be found for this train.”

The dykes protecting Schleswig from the fierce North Sea

When the train eventually has found its engine and departs we pass the vast ruined area of the former engine shed of Hamburg-Altona. It was only one of several in Hamburg and one of the biggest in Germany. Less than fifty years ago a hundred or more engines would have been waiting here for their next train.

“We can be without happiness, but not without hope” (Theodor Storm)