British Administration of Heligoland
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Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small
archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arc ...
in the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...
. A part of the German state of
Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...
since 1890, the islands were historically possessions of
Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...
, then became the possessions of the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
from 1807 to 1890, and briefly managed as a war prize from 1945 to 1952. The islands are located in the
Heligoland Bight The Heligoland Bight, also known as Helgoland Bight, (german: Helgoländer Bucht) is a bay which forms the southern part of the German Bight, itself a bay of the North Sea, located at the mouth of the Elbe river. The Heligoland Bight extends f ...
(part of the
German Bight The German Bight (german: Deutsche Bucht; da, tyske bugt; nl, Duitse bocht; fry, Dútske bocht; ; sometimes also the German Bay) is the southeastern bight of the North Sea bounded by the Netherlands and Germany to the south, and Denmark and ...
) in the southeastern corner of the North Sea and had a population of 1,127 at the end of 2016. They are the only German islands not in the vicinity of the mainland. They lie approximately by sea from
Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is an independent town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has ...
at the mouth of the
River Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Rep ...
. During a visit to the islands,
August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben August Heinrich Hoffmann (, calling himself von Fallersleben, after his hometown; 2 April 179819 January 1874) was a German poet. He is best known for writing "Das Lied der Deutschen", whose third stanza is now the national anthem of Germany, an ...
wrote the lyrics to "", which became the national anthem of Germany. In addition to German, the local population, who are ethnic Frisians, speak the
Heligolandic Heligolandic (''Halunder'') is the dialect of the North Frisian language spoken on the German island of Heligoland in the North Sea. It is spoken today by some 500 of the island's 1,650 inhabitants and is also taught in schools. Heligolandic is ...
dialect of the North Frisian language called .


Name

The island had no distinct name before the 19th century. It was often referred to by variants of the High German ''Heiligland'' ('holy land') and once even as the island of the Holy Virgin Ursula. Theodor Siebs summarized the critical discussion of the name in the 19th century in 1909 with the thesis that, based on the Frisian self-designation of the Heligolanders as ''Halunder'', the island name meant 'high land' ( similar to
Hallig The ''Halligen'' (German, singular ''Hallig'', ) or the ''halliger'' (Danish, singular ''hallig'') are small islands without protective dikes. They are variously pluralized in English as the Halligen, Halligs, Hallig islands, or Halligen islands. ...
). In the following discussion by Jürgen Spanuth, Wolfgang Laur again proposed the original name of ''Heiligland''. The variant ''Helgoland'', which has appeared since the 16th century, is said to have been created by scholars who Latinized a North Frisian form ''Helgeland'', using it to refer to a legendary hero,
Helgi Helge or Helgi is a Scandinavian languages, Scandinavian, German language, German, and Dutch language, Dutch mostly male name. The name is derived from Proto-Norse ''Hailaga'' with its original meaning being ''dedicated to the gods''. For its Sla ...
. ''Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde,'' Vol. 14, Artikel ''Helgoland.'' Berlin 1999. For example, in Heike Grahn-Hoek
Online ''Heiliges Land – Helgoland und seine früheren Namen''.
In: Uwe Ludwig, Thomas Schilp (eds.): ''Nomen et fraternitas. Festschrift für Dieter Geuenich zum 65. Geburtstag'' (Supplementary volumes to the ''Reallexikon des Germanischen Altertums''). De Gruyter, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-11-020238-0, p. 480.
The discussion is complicated by a disagreement as to which of the listed names really refers to the island of Helgoland, and by a desire for the island to still been seen as holy today.


Geography

Heligoland is located off the German coastline and consists of two islands: the populated triangular main island () to the west, and the ('dune', Heligolandic: ) to the east. ''Heligoland'' generally refers to the former island. is somewhat smaller at , lower, and surrounded by sand beaches. It is not permanently inhabited, but is today the location of Heligoland's
airfield An aerodrome ( Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for pub ...
. The main island is commonly divided into the ('Lower Land', Heligolandic: ) at sea level (to the right on the photograph, where the harbour is located), the ('Upper Land', Heligolandic: ) consisting of the
plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...
visible in the photographs, and the ('Middle Land') between them on one side of the island. The came into being in 1947 as a result of explosions detonated by the
British Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fra ...
(the so-called "Big Bang"; see below). The main island also features small beaches in the north and the south and drops to the sea high in the north, west and southwest. In the latter, the ground continues to drop underwater to a depth of below sea level. Heligoland's most famous landmark is the ('Long Anna' or 'Tall Anna'), a free-standing rock column (or stack), high, found northwest of the island proper. 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 above sea level. Although culturally and geographically closer to
North Frisia North Frisia (; ; ) is the northernmost portion of Frisia, located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany between the rivers Eider and Wiedau. It also includes the North Frisian Islands and Heligoland. The region is traditionally inhabited by the Nort ...
in the German district of , the two islands are part of the district of
Pinneberg Pinneberg (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Pinnbarg'') is a town in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. It is the capital of the district of Pinneberg and has a population of about 43,500 inhabitants. Pinneberg is located 18&nbs ...
in the state of
Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...
. The main island has a good harbour and is frequented mostly by sailing yachts.


History

The German Bight and the area around the island are known to have been inhabited since prehistoric times.
Flint tools A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone Ag ...
have been recovered from the bottom of the sea surrounding Heligoland. On the ''Oberland'', prehistoric
burial mounds A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built ...
were visible until the late 19th century, and excavations showed skeletons and artifacts. Moreover, prehistoric copper plates have been found underwater near the island; those plates were almost certainly made on the ''Oberland''. In 697, Radbod, the last Frisian king, retreated to the then-single island after his defeat by the
Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...
—or so it is written in the ''Life of Willebrord'' by
Alcuin Alcuin of York (; la, Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus; 735 – 19 May 804) – also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin – was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student o ...
. By 1231, the island was listed as the property of the Danish king Valdemar II. Archaeological findings from the 12th to 14th centuries suggest that copper ore was processed on the island. There is a general understanding that the name "Heligoland" means "Holy Land" (compare modern Dutch and German '' heilig'', "holy"). In the course of the centuries several alternative theories have been proposed to explain the name, from a Danish king Heligo to a Frisian word, ''hallig'', meaning "salt marsh island". The 1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' suggests ''Hallaglun'', or ''Halligland'', i.e. "land of banks, which cover and uncover". Traditional economic activities included fishing, hunting birds and seals, wrecking and—very important for many overseas powers—piloting overseas ships into the harbours of Hanseatic League cities such as Bremen and
Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...
. In some periods Heligoland was an excellent base point for huge herring catches. Until 1714 ownership switched several times between Denmark-Norway and the Duchy of
Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ...
, with one period of control by Hamburg. In August 1714, it was conquered by Denmark-Norway, and it remained Danish until 1807.


19th century

On 11 September 1807, during the
Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
, brought to the Admiralty the despatches from Admiral Thomas Macnamara Russell announcing Heligoland's capitulation to the British. Heligoland became a centre of resistance and intrigue against Napoleon. Denmark then ceded Heligoland to George III of the United Kingdom by the
Treaty of Kiel The Treaty of Kiel ( da, Kieltraktaten) or Peace of Kiel ( Swedish and no, Kielfreden or ') was concluded between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Kingdom of Sweden on one side and the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway on t ...
(14 January 1814). Thousands of Germans came to Britain and joined the King's German Legion via Heligoland. The British annexation of Heligoland was ratified by the
Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France: Treaties 1200s and 1300s * Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade * Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France * Trea ...
signed on 30 May 1814, as part of a number of territorial reallocations following the abdication of Napoleon as Emperor of the French. The prime reason at the time for Britain's retention of a small and seemingly worthless acquisition was to restrict any future French naval aggression against the Scandinavian or German states. In the event, no effort was made during the period of British administration to make use of the islands for military purposes, partly for financial reasons but principally because the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
considered Heligoland to be too exposed as a forward base. In 1826, Heligoland became a seaside spa and soon turned into a popular tourist resort for the European upper class. The island attracted artists and writers, especially from Germany and Austria who apparently enjoyed the comparatively liberal atmosphere, including Heinrich Heine and
August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben August Heinrich Hoffmann (, calling himself von Fallersleben, after his hometown; 2 April 179819 January 1874) was a German poet. He is best known for writing "Das Lied der Deutschen", whose third stanza is now the national anthem of Germany, an ...
. More vitally it was a refuge for revolutionaries of the 1830s and the 1848 German revolution. As related in '' The Leisure Hour'', it was "a land where there are no bankers, no lawyers, and no crime; where all gratuities are strictly forbidden, the landladies are all honest and the boatmen take no tips", while ''
The English Illustrated Magazine ''The English Illustrated Magazine'' was a monthly publication that ran for 359 issues between October 1883 and August 1913. Features included travel, topography, and a large amount of fiction and were contributed by writers such as Thomas Hardy, ...
'' provided a description in the most glowing terms: "No one should go there who cannot be content with the charms of brilliant light, of ever-changing atmospheric effects, of a land free from the countless discomforts of a large and busy population, and of an air that tastes like draughts of life itself." Britain ceded the islands to Germany in 1890 in the
Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty The Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty (german: Helgoland-Sansibar-Vertrag; also known as the Anglo-German Agreement of 1890) was an agreement signed on 1 July 1890 between the German Empire and the United Kingdom. The accord gave Germany control of ...
. The newly unified Germany was concerned about a foreign power controlling land from which it could command the western entrance to the militarily-important
Kiel Canal The Kiel Canal (german: Nord-Ostsee-Kanal, literally "North- oEast alticSea canal", formerly known as the ) is a long freshwater canal in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The canal was finished in 1895, but later widened, and links the N ...
, then under construction along with other naval installations in the area and thus traded for it. A "
grandfathering A grandfather clause, also known as grandfather policy, grandfathering, or grandfathered in, is a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while a new rule will apply to all future cases. Those exempt from t ...
"/ optant approach prevented the inhabitants of the islands from forfeiting advantages because of this imposed change of status. Heligoland has an important place in the history of the study of ornithology, and especially the understanding of migration. The book ''Heligoland, an Ornithological Observatory'' by Heinrich Gätke, published in German in 1890 and in English in 1895, described an astonishing array of migrant birds on the island and was a major influence on future studies of bird migration. In 1892, the Biological Station of Helgoland was founded by phycologist Paul Kuckuck, a student of
Johannes Reinke Johannes Reinke (February 3, 1849 – February 25, 1931) was a German botanist and philosopher who was a native of Ziethen, Lauenburg. He is remembered for his research of benthic marine algae. Academic background Reinke studied botany with h ...
(leading marine phycologist).


20th century

Under the German Empire, the islands became a major naval base, and during the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
the civilian population was evacuated to the mainland. The island was fortified with concrete gun emplacements along its cliffs similar to the Rock of Gibraltar. Island defences included 364 mounted guns including 142
disappearing gun A disappearing gun, a gun mounted on a ''disappearing carriage'', is an obsolete type of artillery which enabled a gun to hide from direct fire and observation. The overwhelming majority of carriage designs enabled the gun to rotate back ...
s overlooking shipping channels defended with ten rows of
naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ...
s. 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 Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
era the naval base was reactivated.
Werner Heisenberg Werner Karl Heisenberg () (5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist and one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics. He published his work in 1925 in a breakthrough paper. In the subsequent serie ...
(1901–1976) first formulated the equation underlying his picture of quantum mechanics while on Heligoland in the 1920s. While a student of Arnold Sommerfeld at Munich in the early 1920s, Heisenberg first met the Danish physicist
Niels Bohr Niels Henrik David Bohr (; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922 ...
. He and Bohr went for long hikes in the mountains and discussed the failure of existing theories to account for the new experimental results on the quantum structure of matter. Following these discussions, Heisenberg plunged into several months of intensive theoretical research but met with continual frustration. Finally, suffering from a severe attack of hay fever that his aspirin and cocaine treatment was failing to alleviate, he retreated to the treeless (and pollenless) island of Heligoland in the summer of 1925. There he conceived the basis of the quantum theory. In 1937, construction began on a major reclamation project () intended to expand existing naval facilities and restore the island to its pre-1629 dimensions, restoring large areas which had been eroded by the sea. The project was largely abandoned after the start of World War II and was never completed.


World War II

The area was the setting of the aerial Battle of the Heligoland Bight in 1939, a result of
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
bombing raids on Kriegsmarine warships in the area. The waters surrounding the island were frequently mined by Allied aircraft. Heligoland also had a military function as a sea fortress in the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. Completed and ready for use were the submarine bunker North Sea III, the
coastal artillery Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications. From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of ...
, an air-raid shelter system with extensive bunker tunnels and the airfield with the
air force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...
– (April to October 1943). Forced labour of, among others, citizens of the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
were used during the construction of military installations during World War II.''Lager russischer Offiziere und Soldaten, Helgoland Nordost''
auf spurensuche-kreis-pinneberg.de
On 3 December 1939, Heligoland was directly bombed by the Allies for the first time. The attack, by twenty four Wellington bombers of 38, 115 and 149 squadrons of the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
failed to destroy the German warships at anchor.Seekrieg
''1939 Dezember''
(Württemberg State Library, Stuttgart). Retrieved 4 July 2015.
In three days in 1940, the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
lost three submarines in Heligoland: on 6 January, on 7 January and on 9 January.bremerhaven.de
''Unter den Wellen Teil 3 – Britische U-Boote vor Helgoland''
. February 2013.
Early in the war, the island was generally unaffected by bombing raids. Through the development of the
Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
, the island had largely lost its strategic importance. The , temporarily used for defense against Allied bombing raids, was equipped with a rare variant of the
Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the ''Luftwaffe's'' fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War ...
fighter originally designed for use on aircraft carriers. Shortly before the war ended in 1945, Georg Braun and Erich Friedrichs succeeded in forming a resistance group. Shortly before they were to execute the plans, however, they were betrayed by two members of the group. About twenty men were arrested on 18 April 1945; fourteen of them were transported to
Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is an independent town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has ...
. After a short trial, five resisters were
executed by firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...
at Cuxhaven-Sahlenburg on 21 April 1945 by the German authorities.Wolfgang Stelljes. ''Verräter kam aus den eigenen Reihen.'' In: ''Journal'' (weekend edition of ''Nordwest Zeitung''), Volume 70, No. 84 (1112 April 2015), s. 1. To honour them, in April 2010 the Helgoland Museum installed six stumbling blocks on the roads of Heligoland. Their names are Erich P. J. Friedrichs, Georg E. Braun, Karl Fnouka, Kurt A. Pester, Martin O. Wachtel, and Heinrich Prüß. With two waves of bombing raids on 18 and 19 April 1945, 1,000 Allied aircraft dropped about 7,000 bombs on the islands. The populace took shelter in air raid shelters. The German military suffered heavy casualties during the raids.Imke Zimmermann
''Im Schutz der roten Felsen – Bunker auf Helgoland''
vom 19. April 2005, auf fr-online.de
The bomb attacks rendered the island unsafe, and it was totally evacuated.


Explosion

From 1945 to 1952 the uninhabited islands fell within the
British Occupation zone The British occupation zone in Germany (German: ''Britische Besatzungszone Deutschlands'') was one of the Allied-occupied areas in Germany after World War II. The United Kingdom along with her Commonwealth were one of the three major Allied po ...
and were used as a bombing range. On 18 April 1947, the Royal Navy detonated 6,700 tonnes of explosives ("
Operation Big Bang Operation Big Bang or British Bang was the explosive destruction of bunkers and other military installations on the island of Heligoland. The explosion used 7400 tons (6700 metric tons) of surplus World War II ammunition, which was placed in va ...
" or "British Bang") in an attempt to destroy the island entirely and remove it as a fleet base location for Germany. This resulted in one of the biggest single non-nuclear detonations in history. The blow shook the main island several miles down to its base, changing its shape (the was created).


Return of sovereignty to Germany

On 20 December 1950, two students and a professor from
Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
– René Leudesdorff, Georg von Hatzfeld and Hubertus zu Löwenstein – occupied the off-limits island and raised various German, European and local flags. The students were arrested by the soldiers present and brought back to Germany. The event started a movement to restore the islands to
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
, which gained the support of the West German
parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
. On 1 March 1952, Heligoland was returned to German control, and the former inhabitants were allowed to return. The first of March is an official holiday on the island. The German authorities cleared a significant quantity of unexploded ordnance and rebuilt the houses before allowing its citizens to resettle there.


21st century

Heligoland, like the small exclave Büsingen am Hochrhein, is now a holiday resort and enjoys a tax-exempt status, being part of Germany and the EU but excluded from the EU VAT area and
customs union A customs union is generally defined as a type of trade bloc which is composed of a free trade area with a common external tariff.GATTArticle 24 s. 8 (a) Customs unions are established through trade pacts where the participant countries set up ...
. Consequently, much of the economy is founded on sales of cigarettes, alcoholic beverages and perfume to tourists who visit the islands. The ornithological heritage of Heligoland has also been re-established, with the Heligoland Bird Observatory, now managed by the ("Ornithological Society of Heligoland") which was founded in 1991. A search and rescue (SAR) base of the DGzRS, the (German Maritime Search and Rescue Service), is located on Heligoland.


Energy supply

Before the island was connected to the mainland network by a submarine cable in 2009, electricity on Heligoland was generated by a local diesel plant. Heligoland was the site of a trial of GROWIAN, a large wind turbine testing project. In 1990, a 1.2 MW turbine of the MAN type WKA 60 was installed. Besides technical problems, the turbine was not lightning proof and insurance companies would not provide coverage. The wind energy project was viewed as a failure by the islanders and was stopped. The Heligoland Power Cable has a length of and is one of the longest AC submarine power cables in the world and the longest of its kind in Germany. It was manufactured by the North German Seacable Works in a single piece and was laid by the
barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...
''Nostag 10'' in 2009. The cable is designed for an operational
voltage Voltage, also known as electric pressure, electric tension, or (electric) potential difference, is the difference in electric potential between two points. In a static electric field, it corresponds to the work needed per unit of charge to ...
of 30 kV, and reaches the German mainland at Sankt Peter-Ording.


Expansion plans and wind industry

Plans to re-enlarge the land bridge between different parts of the island by means of land reclamation came up between 2008 and 2010. However, the local community voted against the project. Since 2013, a new industrial site is being expanded on the southern harbour. E.ON, RWE and ''WindMW'' plan to manage operation and services of large offshore windparks from Heligoland. The range had been cleared of leftover ammunition.


Demographics

At the beginning of 2020, 1,399 people lived on Heligoland. As of 2018, the population is mostly
Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
(63%), while a minority (18%) is
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
.


Climate

The climate of Heligoland is typical of an offshore climate, being almost free of pollen and thus ideal for people with pollen
allergies Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, refer a number of conditions caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic dermat ...
. Since there is no land mass in the vicinity, temperatures rarely drop below even in the winter. At times, winter temperatures can be higher than in Hamburg by up to 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 is generally sunnier. The coldest temperature ever recorded on Heligoland was in February 1956, while the highest was in July 1994. Owing to the mild climate,
figs The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world ...
have reportedly been grown on the island as early as 1911, and a 2005 article mentioned Japanese bananas, figs,
agave ''Agave'' (; ; ) is a genus of monocots native to the hot and arid regions of the Americas and the Caribbean, although some ''Agave'' species are also native to tropical areas of North America, such as Mexico. The genus is primarily known for ...
s,
palm tree The Arecaceae is a family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm ...
s and other exotic plants that had been planted on Heligoland and were thriving. There still is an old mulberry tree in the Upper Town.


Geology

The island of Heligoland is a geological oddity; the presence of the main island's characteristic red
sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
in the middle of the German Bight is unusual. It is the only such formation of cliffs along the continental coast of the North Sea. The formation itself, called the Bunter sandstone or
Buntsandstein The Buntsandstein (German for ''coloured'' or ''colourful sandstone'') or Bunter sandstone is a lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the subsurface of large parts of west and central Europe. The Buntsandst ...
, is from the early
Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Year#Abbreviations yr and ya, Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 ...
geologic age. It is older than the white chalk that underlies the island Düne, the same rock that forms the
White Cliffs of Dover The White Cliffs of Dover is the region of English coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France. The cliff face, which reaches a height of , owes its striking appearance to its composition of chalk accented by streaks of black flint, depos ...
in England and cliffs of Danish and German islands in the
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...
. A small chalk rock close to Heligoland, called ''witt Kliff'' (white cliff), is known to have existed within sight of the island to the west until the early 18th century, when storm floods finally
eroded Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is disti ...
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 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 Düne (Dune). A referendum in June 2011 dismissed a proposal to reconnect the main island to the Düne islet with a landfill.


Flag

The Heligoland flag is very similar to its
coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...
—it is a tricolour flag with three horizontal bars, from top to bottom: green, red and white. Each of the colours has its symbolic meaning, as expressed in its motto: There is an alternative version in which the word ("sand") is replaced with ("beach").


Road restrictions

A special section in the German traffic regulations (''Straßenverkehrsordnung'', abbr. ''StVO''), §50, prohibits the use of automobiles and bicycles on the island.
Kick scooter A kick scooter (also referred to as a push-scooter or scooter) is a human-powered street vehicle with a handlebar, deck, and wheels propelled by a rider pushing off the ground with their leg. Today the most common scooters are made of aluminum, ...
s are sometimes used as substitutes for bicycles. There are very few cars on Heligoland; except for the local ambulance van and the small firetrucks, the only motor vehicles on the island are electrically powered and used primarily for moving material. The island received its first police car on 17 January 2006; until then the island's policemen moved on foot and by bicycle, being exempt from the bicycle ban.


Emergency services

Ambulance services are provided by the Paracelsus North Sea Clinic Helgoland in cooperation with the State Rescue Service of Schleswig-Holstein (RKiSH). There are three ambulances available: one on the main island and one on Düne; the third is in reserve on the main island. The ambulance service drives first to the Paracelsus North Sea Clinic. In the event of serious injuries or illnesses, the patients are transferred to the mainland with a rescue helicopter or a sea rescue cruiser operated by the German Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked Persons (DGzRS). If there is an emergency on the Düne, the ambulance crew takes a boat to the dune and carries out the operation with the ambulance based there. Fire protection and technical assistance are provided by the Helgoland volunteer fire brigade, which has three stations (Unterland, Oberland and Düne).The tasks also include ensuring fire protection during flight operations at the Heligoland-Düne airfield. Volunteer firefighters are deployed on Düne in the summer, who report for 14 days and go on holiday with their families on the island and go into action in an emergency. There are normally five police officers based on Heligoland. They have the use of an electric car and a number of bicycles. In the summer months the population can also triple with up to 3,000 daytrippers and additional overnight visitors. Occasionally the usual complement of police officers in supplemented by additional officers from the mainland during this period. Since 2021, the so-called BOS center, a joint service building for the fire brigade, ambulance service and police, has been under construction on the Oberland, and will incorporate five apartments for police staff on the upper floor.


Notable residents

* Heinrich Gätke (1814–1897), artist and ornithologist * Georg C. F. Greve (born 1973 in Heligoland) software developer, physicist and author * John Hindmarsh (1785–1860), veteran of the
Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...
and first governor of South Australia, was the governor of Heligoland 1840–56. *
James Krüss James Krüss (31 May 1926 – 2 August 1997) was a German writer of children's and picture books, illustrator, poet, dramatist, scriptwriter, translator, and collector of children's poems and folk songs. For his contribution as a children's writ ...
(1926–1997) a German writer of children's and picture books, illustrator, poet, dramatist and scriptwriter *
Richard Mansfield Richard Mansfield (24 May 1857 – 30 August 1907) was an English actor-manager best known for his performances in Shakespeare plays, Gilbert and Sullivan operas, and the play '' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde''. Life and career Mansfield was born ...
(1857–1907), actor * Peter Andresen Oelrichs (1781–1869) a lexicographer and linguist. *
Robert Knud Friedrich Pilger Robert Knud Friedrich Pilger (3 July 1876, in Helgoland – 1 September 1953, in Berlin)
(1876–1953) botanist born in Heligoland, specialised in the study of conifers. *
Eva von der Osten Eva Helga Bertha von der Osten (19 August 1881 – 5 May 1936) was a German soprano. Biography She was born in Helgoland, the daughter of actor (1847–1905) and Rosa von der Osten-Hildebrandt (1850–1911). Von der Osten debuted in 1902 at th ...
(1881–1936), the soprano, was born here. *
August Uihlein August Uihlein (1842–1911) was a German-American brewer, business executive and horse breeder. Early life August Uihlein was born Georg Karl August Ühlein in 1842 in Wertheim am Main, Grand Duchy of Baden, which is now in Germany. He had a bro ...
(1842–1911) a German-American brewer, business executive and horse breeder


In culture

* Heligoland appeared in the British
Shipping Forecast The Shipping Forecast is a BBC Radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of the British Isles. It is produced by the Met Office and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. ...
up until 1956 when it was renamed German Bight. The name of Shena Mackay's 2003 novel ''
Heligoland Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possessions ...
'' is prompted by its disappearance from the forecast. * Physicist Carlo Rovelli titled his 2020 popular science book on
quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistr ...
''
Helgoland Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possessions ...
''. This is because
Werner Heisenberg Werner Karl Heisenberg () (5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist and one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics. He published his work in 1925 in a breakthrough paper. In the subsequent serie ...
got the first intuition about the theory while staying on the island in the 1920s. *In the game Battlefield 1, Heilgoland Bight appeared as a map in the turning tides expansion dlc with the german army defending against the British Royal Marines.


Leaders of Heligoland


Lieutenant-Governors

The British Lieutenant-Governors of Heligoland from 1807 to 1890 were: * 1807–1808: Corbet James d'Auvergne * 1808–1815: William Osborne Hamilton (1750-1818) * 1815–1840: Sir Henry King * 1840–1856: Sir John Hindmarsh * 1857–1863: Richard Pattinson * 1863–1881: Sir Henry Berkeley Fitzhardinge Maxse * 1881–1888: Sir John Terence Nicholls O'Brien * 1888–1890: Arthur Cecil Stuart Barkly


See also

*
Forseti Forseti (Old Norse "the presiding one", "president" in modern Icelandic and Faroese) is the god of justice and reconciliation in Norse mythology. He is generally identified with Fosite, a god of the Frisians. Name Grimm took ''Forseti'', "''pr ...
—A Norse god whose central place of worship was at Heligoland *
Location hypotheses of Atlantis There are several hypotheses about real-world events that could have inspired Plato's fictional story of Atlantis, told in the ''Timaeus'' and ''Critias''. While Plato's story was not part of the Greek mythic tradition and his dialogues use it so ...
—Heligoland is hypothesized as a possible location for Atlantis by the Austrian-born author Jürgen Spanuth. * Postage stamps and postal history of Heligoland


References


Further reading


Papers

* * Historical synopsis with review of modern economy and society on Heligoland. *


Books

* Andres, Jörg: ''Insel Helgoland. Die »Seefestung« und ihr Erbe.'' Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2015, . * * Dierschke, Jochen: ''Die Vogelwelt der Insel Helgoland.'' Missing Link E. G., 2011, . * (originally published in 2002, ) * Friederichs, A.: ''Wir wollten Helgoland retten – Auf den Spuren der Widerstandsgruppe von 1945.'' Museum Helgoland, 2010, . * Grahn-Hoek, Heike: ''Roter Flint und Heiliges Land Helgoland.'' Wachholtz-Verlag, Neumünster 2009, . * * Wallmann, Eckhard: ''Eine Kolonie wird deutsch – Helgoland zwischen den Weltkriegen.'' Nordfriisk Instituut, Bredstedt 2012, .


External links


Film clip of coast defenses


– includes an aerial photograph of Heligoland (front) and Düne (back).


Heligoland Bird Observatory

Footage of Destruction of Heligoland fortifications April 1947
{{Authority control Archipelagoes of Germany Landforms of Schleswig-Holstein Special territories of the European Union Archipelagoes of the North Sea Former British colonies and protectorates in Europe Car-free zones in Europe Germany–United Kingdom relations Pinneberg (district) Frisian Islands 1807 establishments in the British Empire 1890 disestablishments in the British Empire Special economic zones Duty-free zones of Europe Tax avoidance