The Viktorshöhe is a hill, 581.5 metres high, in the
Harz mountains
The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, is a Mittelgebirge, highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The nam ...
of
central Germany. It lies on the
Ramberg massif within the boundaries of
Gernrode
Gernrode () is a historic town and former municipality in the Harz (district), Harz District, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2014, it has been part of Quedlinburg.[Quedlinburg
Quedlinburg () is a town situated just north of the Harz mountains, in the Harz (district), district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. As an influential and prosperous trading centre during the early Middle Ages, Quedlinburg becam ...]
, and about 3 kilometres northeast of
Friedrichsbrunn.
History
The first hunting lodge on the Viktorshöhe had been built next to a small
well house at the behest of Prince Victor Frederick in 1750.
And the first observation tower here also appeared as early as the 18th century.
In 1892 a building on the Viktorshöhe had become a popular pub catering for day trippers. In 1897 a 20-metre-high tower was built, made from oak logs, from which there were views as far as the
Kyffhäuser
The Kyffhäuser (,''Duden - Das Aussprachewörterbuch, 7. Auflage (German)'', Dudenverlag, sometimes also referred to as ''Kyffhäusergebirge'') is a hill range in Central Germany, shared by Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, southeast of the Harz mou ...
.
In 1927 the forestry authority, who had the right to sell wine and beer from their lodge, was disbanded. The last foresters were recorded as Messrs. Jacobi and Sachtler. The property, however, continued to be managed and extended.
In 1946 the
Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the 8th-largest state in Germany by area an ...
governor,
Heinrich Deist senior, stayed at the Viktorshöhe Guest House. He was witness to a night-time raid on the pub on 14 July 1946 perpetrated by three
Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
soldiers. The owner of the Viktorshöhe received stab wounds to his back and was hit with a revolver. Six hundred
Reichsmark
The (; sign: ℛ︁ℳ︁; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, and in the American, British and French occupied zones of Germany, until 20 June 1948. The Reichsmark was then replace ...
s were stolen, together with a radio and clothing. Even the guests were robbed.
Until 1958, Saalmann was the publican of the Viktorshöhe.
In 1959 the Viktorshöhe became a works holiday home and was close to the public as a result.
At the end of the 1970s the building complex became a company holiday home for the ''Draht- und Seilwerke Rothenburg'' (Rothenburg Wire and Cable Company). The next-door restaurant was a favourite walking and excursion halt. In 1990 the guest house was closed..
The buildings on the Viktorshöhe became empty during the 1990s and are gradually falling into ruin. The remaining furniture lies scattered about the area and gives an impression of destruction and neglect, reminiscent of war.
Near the summit a wooden tower stood until it collapsed in November 2012, which had been used as a
fire lookout tower
A fire lookout tower, fire tower, or lookout tower is a tower that provides housing and protection for a person known as a " fire lookout", whose duty it is to search for wildfires in the wilderness. It is a small building, usually on the summit ...
and site for aerials of various radio services. In the 1980s, because of its good location, the tower was used by
radio hams of the then Halle district contest team, including the amateur ham callsign "Y34H", used by numerous international amateur radio competitions. This tower was not built as a viewing tower, but as the site for a raised trigonometric sign above a
trig point
A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity.
The station is usually set up by a map ...
(TP) of the first order by the state survey and, for that reason, used as an observation tower. As a result of advances in technology this trig sign - like others in the other federal states - lost its significance.
Surrounding area
In the vicinity of the Viktorshöhe there are several tourist attractions: the
Große Teufelsmühle, the
Bergrat Müller Teich (''Teich'' = pond), the
Bear Monument, the ruined castle of
Erichsberg, the
Bremer Teich campsite and the Erichburger Teich.
References
[Kellermann and Kellermann (2013), p. 38]
[Kellermann and Kellermann (2013), p. 73]
[Kellermann and Kellermann (2013), p. 55]
[Kellermann and Kellermann (2013), p. 61]
[Wilfried Lübeck: ''Die Fälle häufen sich – Übergriffe sowjetischer Soldaten in Sachsen-Anhalt 1945–1947'', Mitteldeutscher Verlag Halle (Saale), , p. 146]
[Kellermann and Kellermann (2013), p. 68]
Bibliography
* Rosemarie und Gerhard Kellermann (2013), ''Chronik der Stadt Gernrode'', Gernroder Kulturverein Andreas Popperodt e. V.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Viktorshohe
Mountains and hills of Saxony-Anhalt
Hills of the Harz
Gernrode