Heligoland

This article is about the island Heligoland. For the article about the landscape Helgeland in Norway, see Helgeland.

Heligoland (in German, Helgoland and in North Frisian, Lun, Hålilönj) is a small German archipelago in the North Sea.

Formerly a Danish and British possession, the islands (population 1,650) are located in the Heligoland Bight or German Bight in the south-east corner of the North Sea. They are approximately two hours' sailing time from the mouth of the river Elbe.

Geography

Heligoland is located 70 km (44 mi) from the German coast line and actually consists of two islands: the populated triangular-shaped 1 km² ( 0.4 sq mi) main island (Hauptinsel) to the west and the Düne ("dune") to the east. While the former is what the place name "Heligoland" normally is used to refer to, the latter is somewhat smaller (0.7 km²), lower, surrounded by sand beaches and not permanently inhabited.

The main island is commonly divided into the Unterland ("Lower Land") at sea level (to the right on the photograph, where the harbour is), the Oberland ("Upper Land") consisting of the plateau visible in the photographs and the Mittelland ("Middle Land") between them on one side of the island; the latter came into being in the course of the "Big Bang" (see below).

The main island also features small beaches in the North and the South and drops down to the sea 50 metres (about 160 ft) in the North, West and South-West. In the latter, the ground continues to drop underwater to a depth of 56 metres below sea level. North-west of the island proper Heligoland's famous landmark is found: The Lange Anna ("Long Anna" or "Tall Anna") which is a free standing new red sandstone rock (or column), 47 metres high and weighing about 25,000 tonnes.

The two islands were connected until 1720, when the natural connection was destroyed by a storm flood. The highest point is on the main island, reaching 61 meters (about 200 feet) above sea level.

The two islands are part of the district of Pinneberg in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The main island has a good harbour and is frequented mostly by sailing yachts.

Climate

Heligoland sports a very healthy off-shore climate, being almost free of pollen and thus ideal for allergics. Since there is no land mass in the vicinity that could cool down too much in the winter time, it hardly gets colder than -5 °C (23 °F) in any year. At times, winter temperatures can be higher than in Hamburg by up to 10 °C (50 °F) because cold winds from Russia are weakened. While spring tends to be comparatively cool, autumn on Heligoland is often longer and warmer than on the mainland and statistically, the climate generally is sunnier.

Due to the mild climate, figs have been grown on the island since the 1920s - there still is an old mulberry tree in the Upper Town.

Since the 1980s, people successfully cultivated subtropical plants such as Chusan palms, Chilean wine palms, laurels, yuccas, cordylines, holm oaks and others for ornamental reasons.

Geology

The island of Heligoland is a geological oddity; the presence of the main island's characteristic red sedimentary rock in the middle of the German Bight is unusual. It is not known to form cliffs anywhere else along the North Sea coast. The formation itself is from the early Eocene geologic age. It is younger than and layered on top of a much thicker bedrock of white chalk, the very same which is well known to form the white cliffs of Dover, and cliffs of Danish and German islands in the Baltic Sea. In fact, a small chalk rock close to Heligoland, called the "whitte klippe" (white cliff) is known to have existed within sight of the island to the west till the 18th century, when storm floods finally eroded it to below sea level.

Heligoland's rock is significantly harder than the postglacial sediments and sands forming the islands and coastlines to the east of the island. This is why the core of the island, which a thousand years ago was still surrounded by a large, low-lying marshland and sand dunes and separated from coast in the east only by narrow channels, has remained to this day, although the onset of the North sea has long eroded away all of its surroundings. A small piece of Heligoland's sand dunes remains — the sand isle just across the harbour called "die Düne" (the Dune), which today holds the air strip.

History

The German Bight and the area around the island is known to have been inhabited since prehistoric times. Tools made of flint have been recovered from the bottom of the sea surrounding Heligoland.

In AD 697, Radbod, the last Frisian king, retreated to the then single island after his defeat by the Franks. By 1231 the island is listed as the property of the Danish king Valdemar II. From then until 1714 ownership switched several times between Denmark and the Duchy of Schleswig, with one period of control by the Hanseatic City of Hamburg. In August 1714 it was captured by Denmark, and in 1807 it was seized by the British during the Napoleonic wars.

Britain gave up the islands to Germany in 1890 (by virtue of the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty), and gave up their interests in Madagascar to the French, in return for those countries quitting their claims to the African island of Zanzibar (now a part of Tanzania), largely so the British could intervene there to suppress the slave trade. A "grandfathering"/optant approach prevented the Heligolanders (as they were named in the British measures) from forfeiting advantages because of this imposed change of status.

Under the German Empire, the islands became a major naval base, and during the First World War the civil population was evacuated to the mainland. The first naval engagement of the war, the Battle of Heligoland Bight was fought nearby in the first month of the war. The islanders returned in 1918, but during the Nazi era the naval base was reactivated. Lager Helgoland, the Nazi labour camp on Alderney was named after the island.

During the Second World War the islanders remained on the main island. There was a large allied air raid on the island on 15 October 1944, destroying a lot of the buildings of the Unterland; then, on 18 April 1945 over a thousand Allied bombers attacked the islands leaving nothing standing. The civil population was protected in rock shelters, most of the 128 people killed being anti-aircraft crews. The islands were evacuated the following night.

From 1945 to 1952 the uninhabited islands were used as a bombing range. On 18 April 1947, the Royal Navy detonated 6,800 tonnes of explosives in a concerted attempt to destroy the island ("Big Bang" or "British Bang"); while aiming at the fortifications, the island's total destruction would have been accepted. The blow shook the main island several miles down to its base, changing its shape (the Mittelland was created). In 1952 the islands were restored to the German authorities who had to clear a huge amount of undetonated ammunition, landscape the main island, and rebuild the houses before it could be reinhabited.

Heligoland is now a holiday resort and enjoys a tax exempt status, and consequently, much of the economy is founded on sales of cigarettes, alcoholic beverages and perfumes to tourists that visit the islands. The islands are also outside the Schengen area. Its inhabitants are ethnic Frisians who speak (besides German) a distinctive Heligoland variety of the North Frisian language(s).

Also, there is a SAR base of the German Navy on Heligoland (German SAR #10).

Philately

During the period when Heligoland was a British possession, about 20 postage stamps were issued between 1867 and 1890. They have the distinction of being the first multi-coloured stamps and are still considered attractive by collectors. ^* There were up to eight printings of a single denomination and also a large volume of reprints which are known as the Berlin, Leipzig and Hamburg Reprints, respectively. The Berlin reprints are sometimes better quality than the originals. The reprints were done between 1875 and 1895. Consequently many "old" collections contain reprints rather than originals. Some believe there were seven million reprints as compared to the known 1½ million originals, of which perhaps half were sold through the post office and the remainder sold to dealers when withdrawn from use. A few printings were never postally sold but nevertheless found their way into the hands of dealers. The stamps were printed by the Prussian State Printing Office in Berlin. They were denominated in the Hamburg Schilling until 1875, when both German Reich and English values appeared on each stamp issue (the Farthing/Pfennig issues). All are embossed with a silhouette of Queen Victoria excepting the four highest values which represent Heligoland escutcheons.

Mint stamps of Heligoland are moderate to medium priced but with some running to 1000 Euros (2005) rarities. Some used stamps have brought 4800 Euros at auction and some covers have brought 10 or 12 thousand Euros. This is an inducement for forgery. Because used stamps are often more valuable than mint stamps, forged postal cancellations are plentiful and are the rule on purported high-value items. Because of the many forged cancellations and many reprints collectors of Heligoland stamps are advised to either become expert or rely on specialists; most reputable dealers will not handle them because of the prevalence of reprints and forgeries. The collector who wishes to become expert is advised to acquaint himself with the Michel Deutschland Spezial Katalog and acquire, at least, Helmuth Lemberger's "Helgoland Philatelie". Most of the philatelic literature is in German.

Bird trap

Heligoland gave its name to the Heligoland trap, used in bird ringing.

Trivia

Heligoland matches perfectly the description of the island in the North Sea that hosts the wizard prison Azkaban in the Harry Potter universe.

Werner Heisenberg first formulated the equation underlying his picture of Quantum mechanics while on Heligoland in the 1920s.

Anton Bruckner composed a large scale choral work based on text about Heligoland.

The text of the German National Anthem was written on Heligoland during British rule.

The first bomb dropped on German soil during the Second World War landed here on 3 December 1939.

The attempted destruction of Heligoland ranks as the largest single conventional explosive detonation in the Guinness Book of Records, see also: List of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions.

There's a special section (§50) in the German traffic laws (Straßenverkehrsordnung, short StVO) disallowing the use of automobiles and bicycles on the island. No other region in Germany has any exceptions to the general laws in the StVO. (The section in German).

Heligoland is spelled "Helgoland" in German and was formerly called "Heyligeland", or 'holy land,' possibly due to the island's long association with the god Forseti.

Heligoland was a previous designation of the sea area "German Bight" for the purposes of the Sea Area Forecast Forecast on the British Broadcasting Corporation between 1949 and 1956

External links

Heligoland Tourist Board — includes an aerial photograph of Heligoland (front) and Düne (back).
Site about planting palms on Heligoland
Heligoland Web Cams

Papers

L'explosion d'Heligoland. - Discussion des observations effectuées à Uccle, C. Charlier, 1947, Ciel et Terre, Vol. 64, p. 193.
Results of Seismic Observations in Germany on the Heligoland Explosion of April 18, 1947, 1951, Reich, H.; Foertsch, O.; Schulze, G. A. Journal. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 56, p.147.

Heligoland | Islands of Germany | Schleswig-Holstein | Special territories of the European Union

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Heligoland