Lauterbach () is a village in the borough of

Putbus Putbus () is a town on the southeastern coast of the island of Rügen, in the county of Vorpommern-Rügen in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, close to the Baltic Sea. The town has 4,741 inhabitants and is a significant tourist destinat ...

on the German

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 from ...

island of

Rügen Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...

. The village has a population of about 500 and lies southeast of Putbus on the

Bay of Greifswald The Bay of Greifswald Rügen Light Railway Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, wher ...

History

The first known modern settlement in the area was in 1819 when a

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt, ...

was built between the

Goor Goor () is a city about 20 km west of Enschede in the Netherlands, Dutch province of Overijssel. It received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1263. Goor was a separate municipality until 2001, when it became a part of Hof van T ...

woods and Neuendorf. Previously, Prince Wilhelm Malte of Putbus had established the first seaside resort on Rügen in 1816 on the beach at Neuendorf further to the south. Initially this resort only consisted of tents and

bathing machine The bathing machine was a device, popular from the 18th century until the early 20th century, to allow people to change out of their usual clothes, change into swimwear, and wade in the ocean at beaches. Bathing machines were roofed and walled woo ...

s. In 1817/1818 a permanent bathing house was built in the Goor. In order to enable boats to land, it was decided in 1834 to build a landing stage. The site chosen for this, however, was the calmer bay of the present-day Lauterbach, and not Neuendorf. Between 1833 and 1836 the first settlement appeared here as a result. The first records of this date to 1840. At that time the settlement had 7 houses. Thanks to the construction of the jetty, boats from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and Oderkähne and steamships from

Stettin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin language, Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Po ...

and

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, Neub ...

docked. Bathing services soon reduced, but boat-building, fishing and trade remained prominent for many years. The name of the village comes from the wife of the Prince of Putbus, whose maiden name was ''von Lauterbach''. In 1890 the railway line from Bergen to Lauterbach was completed. The station building is a

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. In 1901, construction of the harbour started and it was completed the following year.

Economy

There are various small businesses in Lauterbach running restaurants and accommodation. The harbour is important for the local economy, being also used as a

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

. Passenger boats also call at the harbour. An important tourist destination is the island of

Vilm The Baltic Sea island of Vilm lies in the bay south of the much larger island of Rügen, and is one of Germany's most remote and tranquil spots. Covering less than , Vilm is the remnant of a moraine left as the glaciers retreated about 6000 yea ...

, not far from Lauterbach. Boatbuilding and fishing are still carried on.

Personalities

The Japanologist Jürgen Berndt (1933–1993) and the photographer Botho Walldorf (b. 1945) were born in Lauterbach. The painter Karl Bock (1873–1940) worked for some time in Lauterbach from 1918/19, the physicist Marion Asche (1935–2013) spent parts of her childhood there.

Literature

*Georg Jung, ''Meerumschlungen und kreidegrün, Rügen von A-Z'', Ellert & Richter Verlag Hamburg 2009, , page 82 *André Farin, Lauterbach. Rügens ältestes Seebad. Hafenort. Bootsbautradition. Mit Kindheitserinnerungen der Lauterbacherin Marlene Lübbe, geb. Wiechmann. - 2nd ed. - Lauterbach 2012,

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lauterbach (Rugen) Putbus Vorpommern-Rügen