The Galgeninsel is a

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

on the shore of

Lake Constance Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, ca ...

near

Lindau Lindau (german: Lindau (Bodensee), ''Lindau am Bodensee''; ; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Lindou'') is a major Town#Germany, town and Lindau (island), island on the eastern side of Lake Constance (''Bodensee'' in German) in Bavaria, Ge ...

in the Bay of Reutin in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Geography

The Galgeninsel peninsula lies 550 metres east of the

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

Hoy Hoy ( sco, Hoy; from Norse , meaning "high island") is an island in Orkney, Scotland, measuring – the second largest in the archipelago, after Mainland. A natural causeway, ''the Ayre'', links the island to the smaller South Walls; the two ...

and about 200 metres south of the loading sidings of Reutin's

goods yard A goods station (also known as a goods yard or goods depot) or freight station is, in the widest sense, a railway station where, either exclusively or predominantly, goods (or freight), such as merchandise, parcels, and manufactured items, are lo ...

, and covers an area of around 1,600 square metres. The territory of the peninsula belongs to the borough of Lindau and ''

Gemarkung A ''Gemarkung'' (also ''Markung'', in Switzerland also ''Gemarchen'', in Austria ''Katastralgemeinde'') is the entirety of all land plots of a specific municipality recorded in the cadastre in the countries of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Gem ...

'' of Reutin.

History

The Galgeninsel was originally the island on which the

gallows A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks ...

of the

Free Imperial City In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...

of Lindau stood. Even today, a hole can be seen in a mighty stone block which once held the heavy gallows post. A 16th-century map still shows the Galgeninsel as an island, but not in the correct geographical location. A view of the town dating to the early 18th century gives no indication of whether it was an island or peninsula at that time, because it only appears at the edge of the picture. An 1836 map still clearly shows the Galgeninsel as an island or several islands. Later maps show the Galgeninsel as a peninsula. By 1856, the remains of a prehistoric settlement were observed in the lake near the Galgeninsel. More recent investigations, as part of the planned expansion of the goods year in 2005, did not yield archaeological finds however. The Galgeninsel and the surrounding Bay of Reutin (''Reutiner Bucht'') have been designated as a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

. There is a story of a macabre test which a criminal who was under the

death sentence Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

had to undergo. His arms were tied tightly across his back, he was released on Galgeninsel and marched towards Inselstadt, which was a few hundred metres away. The criminal succeeded in making his way through the water, which is deep even at low tide, and reached the mainland. He thus regained his life and freedom. The last person to be sentenced as a result of the

witch trial A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern perio ...

s in Lindau was Maria Madlener. She was executed by sword on 4 August 1730 on the Galgeninsel. In 2017 the Galgeninsel was the setting of the German TV film, ''Die Toten vom Bodensee – Der Wiederkehrer''.

References

Literature

External links

Regierung von Schwaben: Schutzgebiet Reutiner Bucht
{{Islands in Lake Constance Peninsulas of Germany Former islands of Germany Geography of Lake Constance Lindau (district)