The Totenkopf is a hill , on the Brilon Heights in the counties of

Hochsauerlandkreis Hochsauerlandkreis (meaning “High Sauerland District” in German) is a Kreis (district) in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Soest, Paderborn, Höxter, Waldeck-Frankenberg, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Olpe, M� ...

and

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

, in the German state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

Location

The Totenkopf, most of which is in the Sauerland and

Diemel The Diemel is a river in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Weser. Route The source of the Diemel is near Willingen, in Sauerland. The Diemel flows generally northeast through the towns Marsberg, Warburg, an ...

Uplands, is around 4.5 kilometres

as the crow flies __NOTOC__ The expression ''as the crow flies'' is an idiom for the most direct path between two points, rather similar to "in a beeline". This meaning is attested from the early 19th century, and appeared in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel ''Oliver ...

west of

Marsberg Marsberg () is a town in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. History Although its origins are obscure, Marsberg was a prospering town by the 13th century (it was even minting coins). It was a free city until 1807, when ...

on the Brilon Heights which surround the Brilon Plateau and, in the north, gradually transition via the Alme Uplands into the Sintfeld. It is located on the boundary between the

Obermarsberg Obermarsberg is one of seventeen Quarter (country subdivision), quarters in the municipality of Marsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on the site of an Old Saxon hillfort and refuge castle, the Eresburg, on a hill 130m above t ...

Forest in the east and the Madfeld Forest in the west. The northern boundary of the Diemelsee Nature Park runs over the densely wooded summit of the Totenkopf. On its northern hillside, and thus on the side on which Bleiwäsche lies a few kilometres away, is the highest point (498 m) in the region of Ostwestfalen-Lippe and the county of

. A number of streams rise on the Totenkopf and its spurs: the

Große Aa The Große Aa is a , right, eastern tributary of the River Ems in western Lower Saxony (Germany). It begins in the ''Samtgemeinde'' Freren, near the quarter of Overwater, at the confluence of the Deeper Aa and Ahe rivers. From there is flows t ...

, Kleine Aa, Dütlingsbach and Momeke. Just under 650 metres

to the northeast of the summit is the Totenkopfstein monument. The so-called Totenkopfstein (i.e. Skull-Stone) was a boundary marker showing a skull and bones.Grenzsteine - Fürstenberger Wals/Aa-Bachtal
contains a picture. The highest hills in the vicinity of the Totenkopf, which are actually its spurs, are the Klettenberg (484.0 m; to the northeast), the Brülingskopf (437.0 m; to the southeast), the Brautlicht (498.7 m; to the southwest) and the Liebfrauenberg (ca. 490 m; to the southwest).

Watersheds

The Rhine-Weser watershed runs over the Totenkopf. So while the waters of the Großen Aa and Kleine Aa, which are impounded a few kilometers north of the hill by the Aabach Dam to form the Aabach Reservoir, drain via the Aabach,

Afte Afte is a river of North Rhine-Westphalia, 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 s ...

, Alme and

Lippe Lippe () is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Herford, Minden-Lübbecke, Höxter, Paderborn, Gütersloh, and district-free Bielefeld, which forms the region Ostwestfalen-Lippe. The ...

in a predominantly northwesterly direction into the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

, the shorter streams that rise south of the Totenkopf drain via the

Hoppecke Hoppecke is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse, Germany. It flows into the Diemel near Marsberg Marsberg () is a town in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. History Although its origins are obscure, Marsbe ...

and

, or from the Momeke and Dütlingsbach straight into the Diemel, in a mainly northeasterly direction into the

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...

References

{{reflist Mountains and hills of North Rhine-Westphalia Hochsauerlandkreis Paderborn (district)