Hörnum (Sylt)

coat of arms	Germany map
	Coordinates: 54 ° 46 '  N , 8 ° 17'  E
Basic data
State :	Schleswig-Holstein
Circle :	North Friesland
Office :	Sylt landscape
Height :	4 m above sea level NHN
Area :	5.64 km 2
Residents:	893 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density :	158 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code :	25997
Area code :	04651
License plate :	NF
Community key :	01 0 54 046
Office administration address:	Andreas-Nielsen-Strasse 1 25980 Sylt
Website :	www.amtlandschaftsylt.de
Mayor :	Rolf Speth (AWGH)
Location of the municipality of Hörnum (Sylt) in the district of North Friesland

Southern tip of the island of Sylt with Hörnum, aerial photo from 2013

Abrupt edge at the southern tip of Hörnum

Hörnum (Sylt) ( North Frisian Hörnem (Söl) , Danish Hørnum (Sild) ) is a municipality in the district of North Friesland in Schleswig-Holstein . It is at the tip of the southern spit hook on the island of Sylt . The municipality of Hörnum belongs to the Sylt landscape department . Hörnum Odde is located in the municipality.

history

First settlement

Although fishermen are said to have settled in the area for the first time before 1500, it was first mentioned in 1649, at that time under the name Hornum .

The place name Hörnum, however, already knew the chronicler Muchel-Madis (* November 11, 1572 in Morsum ; † January 21, 1651), who reported in his chronicle of a shipwreck "1571 ... before Hörnum". In 1648 the area around today's location was also mentioned on a map by Johannes Mejer (1606–1674) as "Hörnum". The southern tip of the island remained uninhabited for a long time, because not only storm surges were problematic for the settlement of the place, but also the shifting dunes , which repeatedly made houses disappear under the fine sand. It was only at the end of the 18th century that this could largely be stopped by planting the dunes with beach grass. “On Hörnum”, as the entire southern peninsula of Sylt was called, initially only a few fishermen lived. From 1765 to around 1785 there was a house in the dunes near Budersand . It was used to salvage flotsam, but was soon removed by Amrumers and Rantumers . In 1787 only the foundation stones could be seen. Hörnum was then uninhabited until the beginning of the 20th century. In cases of stranding, which often occurred in this time off Hörnum, Amrum residents were often the first to be on the spot to carry out the lucrative salvage. The responsible beach bailiff lived in Rantum, 14 kilometers away, so that the people of Amrum with sailing ships often reached the stranded ship before the Syltern.

From 1900

The first permanent buildings were not built until the HAPAG jetty and the island railway were built at the beginning of the 20th century. It was about the now demolished Inselbahnhof and the former HAPAG house , later "Hotel Bettina" - most recently "Hörnumer Fischreuse".

For a long time, Hörnum had a natural harbor east of Budersand , independent of the tides , which, however, received little attention. Only after a wooden jetty was built could a regular connection from Hamburg be started on June 29, 1901 with a stopover in Cuxhaven . With this new jetty for the HAPAG seaside resort service Hamburg- Helgoland- Hörnum, a small settlement quickly developed on the Hörnum headland. This also increased its importance as a port. From now on the island railway also operated between Hörnum and Westerland . Since the island was not connected to the mainland until 1927 through the construction of the Hindenburg dam, this connection enjoyed general popularity. The island railway was in operation until 1970 and ran beyond Westerland to Germany's northernmost town, List on Sylt at the northeast end of the island. The rail route was dismantled and has been a bike path ever since.

In 1906 the Hörnum water tower was built in the "ruin design" that was popular at the time. After Hörnum was connected to the island water supply, it became superfluous and in 1967 it was demolished.

Concrete tetrapods on the beach in Hörnum are intended to protect the coast .

On August 8, 1907, Hörnum received a 33.5 meter high lighthouse, which was built in a so-called series construction method. Westerhever and the island of Pellworm received a lighthouse of the same type. Between 1918 and 1933, the Hörnum lighthouse also served as a school, and lessons were held at a height of 30 meters. At the end of the First World War , Hörnum had 21 residents who were co-administered by Rantum . In both world wars, Hörnum was a strategically important goal that required special defense.

Military importance in the world wars

For the soldiers of the so-called island guard , the first barracks and camps were built in the dunes north and west of the village at the beginning of 1914 . At the beginning of the First World War , island guards were set up on the islands of Sylt , Amrum and Rømø to communicate with each other by telegram. From the Lister Ellenbogen to the southern tip of Hörnum, bunkers and shelters were built in the Sylt dunes and connected to one another by telephone. Mostly elderly, local soldiers had the task of searching the horizon for enemy troops, but they never saw the enemy during the course of the war. The island was spared immediate fighting.

Hörnum lighthouse

During the Second World War , soldiers were again stationed in the place. The port below the Budersands was expanded considerably and turned into a protective port. A landing pad for seaplanes was also set up north of the refuge. In 1935 the air force equipped with a sea air base and a "military settlement Hörnum". The housing estate (architect: Ferdinand Keilmann ) is made up of two parts in terms of urban planning: the so-called “Red Housing ”, which is built in red brickwork, and the “White Housing”, whose houses are made of whitewashed bricks. The Second World War prevented the housing estates from being completed according to the plans of the National Socialists . Gaps in the settlements laid out in the style of the garden city have therefore been filled with buildings from the time after the war.

With the establishment of the Seefliegerhorst and the associated settlements, the population rose to over 1,000. Shortly afterwards there was the first electricity from the own power plant and in 1942 Hörnum was connected to the drinking water supply in Westerland.

post war period

In 1947, Hörnum offered short-term accommodation for over 2000 displaced persons from the eastern territories in the numerous empty soldiers' quarters and around 40 Heligoland families settled in Hörnum after their island was evacuated . With effect from October 1, 1948, Hörnum separated from the neighboring municipality of Rantum and became an independent municipality. Just two years later, it received the North Sea Spa rating . The influx of bathers and “new horns” began.

In 1948, a wooden hut was set up as a church with the help of donations from Norwegian European Aid . She got the name Saint Martin. After the St. Thomas Church was inaugurated in 1970, St. Martin served briefly as a kindergarten and storage room for beach chairs . This so-called Norwegian house has been the seat of the Hörnum branch of the Wadden Sea Protection Station since 1974 and the Hörnum youth club since 1989. In 1985 the wooden hut was named after the Hörnum teacher and conservationist Kuno Ehlfeldt.

In 1948 Hörnum was connected to the road network; the initially single-lane concrete slab carriageway, also known as the "street of courtesy", was expanded in 1969 by a second lane.

St. Thomas Church

In 1960, the Kersig settlement, known today for its thatched roofs, was built in the Hörnumer dunes. The Catholic St. Joseph Church followed in 1962 and the striking Protestant St. Thomas Church in 1969/1970, based on a design by the Niebüller architect Martin-Bernhard Christiansen. The latter is Schleswig-Holstein's youngest listed church. It is built in the shape of a white sail. Another special feature of this church is the votive ship , which hangs in the church interior: It is a model of the paddle steamer "Cobra" which operated on the Hamburg – Hörnum line from 1901 and, together with the Inselbahn, made a significant contribution to the development of the Hörnum area .

→ Main article : Hörnum Church of St. Thomas

Tourist development since the 1970s

The Kurmittelhaus was built in the mid-1970s (opening: 1977), and in 2002 the Hörnum harbor received a minor makeover. The Hörnumer Yacht Club and a new sales point for the Adler shipping company were created . In the years that followed, various streets were gradually renovated.

In 1994 the Pidder-Lüng-Kaserne, which had emerged from the Seefliegerhorst, was finally closed. After all barracks buildings were demolished in 2003, a natural golf course with a clubhouse and golf hotel of five-star standard was built on the site .

In 1999 the old spa facility, the so-called house of the spa guest , closed because it no longer corresponded to a modern spa business and also worked deficitly. A hotel complex for the Swiss Hapimag Group was built at the same location from the end of April 2007 . The hotel and restaurant opened on February 27, 2009. A new restaurant has since opened on the dune at the main beach entrance.

View of Hörnum with the lighthouse

politics

Community representation

Of the twelve seats, the constituency AWGH had six since 2008, the CDU and the SPD two each, and the constituency FBGH and SSW each one.

In the local elections on May 26, 2013, the AWGH received 57.9 percent and seven seats, the CDU 35.9 percent and four seats. Eleven seats were awarded and the turnout was 58.4 percent.

coat of arms

Blazon : "Above a blue shield base, inside a golden conch shell turned to the left, in gold a red lighthouse with a silver middle section, from whose lantern lightning signals in the form of four-pointed red stars emanate."

Tourism and sightseeing

Gray seal Willi in the harbor basin

Promenade on Hörnum Beach

Originally only fishing was carried out from Hörnum, and later whaling as well, today tourism is the main source of income. The beaches on the east and west side of the place, as well as the port and the dune landscape represent the tourist capital of the place. A popular route for mudflat walks leads along the east side of the island to Rantum. The Wadden Sea Conservation Station , which has a branch in Hörnum - since 2013 the Wadden Sea Arche National Park exhibition in the secular St. Josefs Church - organizes information events about the Wadden Sea and the salt marshes and sensitizes tourists to the protection of this landscape. Another attraction of the place is the circular hike around the Hörnum-Odde , the southern tip of the island of Sylt, which is constantly shrinking due to erosion . After the Erwin storm in winter / spring 2005, the Hörnum-Odde lost another 20 meters. From the southern tip, if the visibility is good, the visitor has a view of the neighboring islands of Föhr and Amrum to the south-east .

The female gray seal "Willi" has been a regular visitor to the harbor basin since 1991 and is fed herring by tourists.

The sea ​​rescue boat Horst Heiner Kneten of the DGzRS is located at the Hörnum station .

Book and antique markets are held regularly in the port area. Every year, on the first weekend in August, the harbor festival takes place, with the highlight being a large fireworks display.

Say

The Chronicle of Hörnum is accompanied by numerous legends. Again and again there is talk of witches who danced on the dunes, but also of the ghosts of former shipwrecked people who had been slain by sea and beach robbers, above all the so-called Dikjendälmann .

Web links

Commons : Hörnum  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikivoyage: Hörnum  - travel guide

• Hörnum municipality (Sylt) at the Sylt landscape office
• Hörnum Tourism Service

Individual evidence

1. ↑ North Statistics Office - Population of the municipalities in Schleswig-Holstein 4th quarter 2019 (XLSX file) (update based on the 2011 census) ( help on this ).
2. ↑ Schleswig-Holstein topography. Vol. 5: Holt - Krokau . 1st edition Flying-Kiwi-Verl. Junge, Flensburg 2005, ISBN 978-3-926055-79-8 , pp. 24 ( dnb.de [accessed on July 18, 2020]).
3. ↑ http://www.wsv.de/wsa-toe/bauwerke/hafen_hoernum/index.html
4. ↑ Hörnum. In: Nordfriesland-Datenbank.de. Nordfriisk Instituut, archived from the original on November 18, 2010 ; Retrieved June 23, 2013 . 
5. ↑ Georg Quedens : Ship on the beach! Amrum beachfalls. 2nd Edition. Jens Quedens Verlag, Amrum 2002, ISBN 3-924422-69-9 , pp. 26-27
6. ↑ Web editing: Results of the Hörnum municipal election 2013. (No longer available online.) In: www.gemeinde-sylt.de. Sylt municipality, archived from the original on June 8, 2013 ; Retrieved June 23, 2013 . 
7. ↑ Schleswig-Holstein's municipal coat of arms
8. ↑ Hörnum Harbor Festival