My last Farewell to Fehmarn.

By: Else Bügge-Wood

I made up my mind I wanted to go to Fehmarn, because my sister had just had a serious operation. I talked it over with my family.- Brenda, my youngest daughter was all exited to go, she is the daughter that learned the language and still retains it. Her husband Andrew was also willing to take off 2 weeks from the post office. They decided that we take the three boys along, for that would be a wonderful lesson for everybody, a long trip to Fehmarn.

We all took a quick lesson in the language, mostly on how to read the highway signs, and the difference between the state routes and the county routes. It was rather simple once we knew the state routes were marked blue and county routes yellow. There is no comparison to the highways here in the USA, Schleswig Holstein still has many narrow roads. -

We had to get all new passports for the whole family. While making the plans I realized that we would just have a good time and do as little research as possible; after all John Kostick is the expert. We planned flying to Detroit and from there take KLM to Amsterdam and then to Hamburg. In Hamburg we found a car rental right in the airport where we could rent a seven-passenger car that would take us to Fehmarn.

In May of 2004 we arrived in Hamburg and loaded our luggage into the brand new Ford and within 20 Minutes we were on the main route to Fehmarn. We kept following the signs while my very confident daughter Brenda was at the wheel and never stopped. Although the main highway was under heavy construction, we got so exited when we saw the bridge going to Fehmarn. Andrew kept taking pictures with his digital camera of the big farms, the windmills and of course the Baltic Sea and the legendary “Fehmarnsund Bridge”. At an instance we were on the island, we left the main route, turned right into the village of Avendorf, I could not believe how it had changed. Then we went toward Wulfen and stopped at my old home but none of the family members were home. The village was deserted, onward to Löt but all the streets were deserted. Then we took the side road unto Burgstaaken, where we were warmly received by relatives and my sister.

All the trees were in blossom and the sun was shining. We had our own house with a separate apartment in the garden area. We also had our own parking area for our car. They had a bed for me in the living-room, it was very cozy. We had our own kitchen with a breakfast nook and bathroom. It didn’t take us very long to relax and feel perfectly at home. We received hot “Semmeln” [special buns] every morning. My sister’s house was in walking distance.

Burgstaaken is just a long street going from Burg right to the harbor. With all the friendly homes branching out along the street, forming a new community. Brenda could still speak her good German and it didn’t take Andrew very long to learn about the street signs, soon he got behind the wheel. Little Willi had a good time feeding the chickens and the pigeons, or playing around the fishpond. The 2 bigger boys enjoyed having their own little apartment in the garden where they could also play ball with little Willi.

I wanted to find out about changing my money but it didn’t take us very long to find that we didn’t get much for our American Dollars. We had already bought Euros here in the states, that is the only way to go (For when you return you get a better deal for your Euros from your bank. No matter how you do it you are loosing, our dollar is not very strong.

The restaurants were very inviting and the food was wonderful. We went to Burgtiefe and ended up in the “Haus am Strand” the owner is Gerhard Heine. The building has a genuine thatch roof flavor and the view is magnificent, situated right on the edge of the Baltic Sea.

We wanted to be able to meet with several friends and relatives and reserved a whole room in the restaurant owned by Ms. Koeln. In Burgstaaken, near the harbor for an old fashioned “Kaffee Klatsch” ‘coffee and cake’. It is best to make reservations ahead of time. We had special coffee with whipped cream, for the children coco with cream and the best variety of “Torte” fancy cakes and ice cream in a very comfortable atmosphere. Another great treat was when we visited the fancy restaurant in Katharinenhof called the “Pavillon”, situated in a wooded grove on the south-eastern coast of the island, right on the edge of the Baltic Sea and after we enjoyed the great food we went out side with the children and got a whiff of the strong breeze from the Baltic Sea. The children really enjoyed it and found many a rock to take home. Another very fancy place is the “Schützenhof” where we used to have the many ethnic celebrations, like the May-festivity with all the different games of competition for the youth and children’s ‘Reigen’ [folk dancing]. This is now a very large restaurant etc. in Burgstaaken.

We soon found out that Fehmarn is not an agricultural haven for farmers anymore, it is in many ways a real tourist trap and if you don’t know your way around, you can get stuck on a one-way road with a very soft berm. The road to the “Barchmoel” in Wulfen, - ‘Bergmuehle’ in high German  [in English it means the mill on the hill. It used to be the estate of Emil Lange, who married the daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Harms, before that it belonged to “Hofeldt”. To my disappointment that road is closed to traffic but you can still park on the farm and walk to the beach in Wulfen. All the land that once belonged to my gr. Gr. Father is now the golf club. Then they have not  an access to the “Hals” in Wulfen, unless you pay to get in. That used to be the road to the Binnensee and also the Boetstee [boat place] there the fishers repaired their nets and parked their fisher boats. We could walk all around the Hals, this was a very picturesque walk. I had no chance to go there, for it was too commercialized for my taste. For the younger generation it must be explored for the large camping area with the competition for the surfers.and the “Nakedei” [nudist colony]. Once upon a time this was paradise untouched, not anymore!

I wanted to mention another restaurant in Avendorf, this used to be our school, now made into a fine restaurant; but the farm across the street left such bad odor that you could instantly loose your appetite. But I would highly recommend going in for a visit and see the many decorations. There are some farms that have never changed but you can instantly recognize how they must struggle. For nobody wants to be in servitude on a farm anymore, when they can be on unemployment. This is a new problem all over the state of Germany.

We did so much driving and visiting many little villages that lie there like a fairy tale with the romantic ponds called [sols], where they used to water the animals. Many of the gigantic trees were cut down and lying on the road-side. The farmers used to have 10 to 12 men-folk helping with the managing of the animals, fields, as tilling and planting of the fields. Now the people on the island have a hard time finding dependable and reassuring employment.

I want to mention the Martin Stolz shop where you can buy everything and all merchandise, that used to be just a small shoe-store, not anymore and it is right next to the beautiful Town-Hall, there you also find ‘Niederlechner’s bookstore, by the way we found good parking there. To my regret, the St. Nicolai Church was closed for renovation but you can visit the graves at all times, they are as always the pride of the people of the island. Thank God!, for John Kostick’s superb photography we can now have the images of the graves on our computer; as you might realize the cost of a grave on the holy acre is sky rocketing.

Then you have to visit their market place with many varieties of entertainment, the cobble-stone streets are very hard on your feet if you suffer from rheumatic pain. We found the “Kartoffel Haus”, [potato house] great for delicious and variety food.

The fields were in bloom with the “Rape”, the magic plant that is made into the “Kanola” oil. We suffered an allergy from the pollen and when they prepared for the festivity they had roped off many streets which resulted in a blocking of traffic, so we never got into that traffic jam but instead we took the route to Struckamp Hook, and watched the daring surfers and anglers standing in the cold water hoping for a fish on their hook. Taking a long walk to Pütsee where the weather turned and in a short moment we saw the sky turning black, a mixture of hail and thunderstorm erupted, while the clouds turned a unique color that Andrew could grasp with his camera.

The “Rathjen” store offers the islanders fresh vegetables. To my regret I was not able to locate Mr. Rathjen, senior. He is very much involved in genealogy and speaks good English [this is a note to Mr. John Kostick!] I wanted to visit the Bügge-Mau farm in Vitzdorf; but to my regret I did not make contact. They still are in Vitzdorf. We had little chance to go to Puttgarden, it was under heavy construction. But we visited all the Light-Houses. We missed so many moments of intermit visits, because time did not permit.

We found the house of amber store in the middle of Burg; I would recommend it highly, although the price of Baltic amber used to be so low, now it has reached a proportionate height in price. Another restaurant I like to mention and highly recommend is the “Goldene Anker” right at the harbor of Burgstaaken. The many collected memorabilia that is displayed in there, the waiter was so kind to give as a tour. One can actually sense the presence of our seafaring forefathers coming there and exchanging their tall tales of adventures while enjoying the genuine drinks of strong “Köm und Bier”.

The village of Wulfen had organized a village festival in the center of the village right on the premises of “Georg Muhl’s “ large estate,where I used to play with the late twin sisters ‘Inge and Erika’, here I had the opportunity to talk to a few oldies, like Gisela Muhl and her brother Georg Muhl, jr. who is now the proprietor of the large estate, who recognized me from my days of youth. I met a Mr. Kühl from Landkirchen, and a Mrs. Maas from there also and I know we are related but only with the help of John Kostick’s ‘fehmarngenealogy’ could I realize where I fit into such a chain; but how glad I am that I have “Islander blood in my vains and how I have felt so often the ‘nostalgia’ that only islanders feel at moments. This is my last ‘fare well’ to my beloved Fehmarn. I wanted to share this with all my cousins near and far.and whoever finds me on John Kostick’s internet.

 Else Buegge-Wood

E. Buegge-Wood, 3096#1A Maryland Ave., Columbus, OH 43209