Moor colonization in East Frisia
The peatland colonization in East Friesland extended over a period of several hundred years and did not come to an end until the 20th century. The region in the far north-west of Germany has been covered by extensive moors since the Holocene , which have been populated as planned - with interruptions - since the Middle Ages. The constantly improving technical requirements for colonization and different legal circumstances determined the type of colonization.
Raising settlements of the Middle Ages
The settlement in row villages resulted from the geological conditions that the settlers found. In Brookmerland at that time, raised bogs reached up to the Geestrand. To make the moors usable, the settlers built their villages in rows and then drove the drainage of the moors in such a way that they dug drainage ditches in the moors parallel to each other. Each of the settlers was entitled to a strip of bog of a previously agreed width. The length of the bog to be colonized was basically unlimited, but given the resources available at the time, the length was technically limited. The use of the moors was therefore initially limited to the edge zones. The result of this process were the row villages with their upstreeks .
“The internal colonization in East Friesland took place on 10./11. Century used in the form of an island-like settlement. In the 12./13. It will have peaked in the 19th century and slowly fade away in the 14th century. The settlement thus extended over a period of about four centuries. In Brookmerland as the catchment area of Ems- and Federgau, it took a more rapid course due to the higher population pressure prevailing there, so that here an extensive conclusion can be expected as early as the end of the 13th century, a century earlier than in the rest of the study area (i.e. the ( south-) eastern East Frisia, d. authors). "
Fehnsiedlungen
Some place names in East Friesland are formed with the generic term Fehn (or Veen , as in Dutch ). The ending -fehn indicates that it is a moor settlement . In Low German documents from the 15th century, the word Fehn initially only means “settlement in the moor”, as can be seen in the example of Veenhusen . It was only after the creation of Großefehn (1633) that the word got another, more concrete meaning in East Friesland as terminus technicus for a moor settlement that was laid out along a specially excavated canal, a Fehn Canal. Nevertheless, there were also bog settlements in the following years that were not laid out along a Fehn Canal and still have the name ending -fehn . In general, a Fehn (also: Fehnsiedlung, Fehnkolonie) in today's science is understood to be a bog colony along a canal. For a more precise distinction, however, the literature sometimes also differentiates between “real” (with a canal) and “false” horn (without a canal).
Characteristic for Fehnsiedlungen was - at least at the time of their foundation - a uniform physiognomy and building design, which can still be seen in most cases today. When feudal settlements were established, a canal was driven into the moor from the edge of the moor, on which the settlers built their houses. In the first feudal settlements, which emerged between 1633 and 1660, this canal mostly followed the natural moor edge so that it had a curvy course. From the late 17th century onwards, however, the fen entrepreneurs began to drive the canals as dead straight into the moor as possible, although in many cases slight curves were necessary because the natural moor had to be followed. Where the moor was thick enough in width, however, the Fehn canals sometimes ran dead straight for several kilometers (Großefehn Canal in Großefehn , Westrhauderfehn Canal in Rhauderfehn ).
Fehn settlements emerged in East Frisia since 1633 over a period of about 250 years. The first five feudal settlements Großefehn, Lübbertsfehn, Hüllenerfehn and Boekzetelerfehn were founded by merchants from Emden . For this purpose they got together in so-called companies to secure the financing of the development. As is often the case in the history of East Frisia , the background to the founding of these first feudal settlements is largely to be found outside the state borders. At that time, peat was the most important fuel for the East Frisians. In addition, improved drainage options and thus higher harvest yields in the march ensured the rise of the Gulfhaus , for which more clinker bricks were necessary - which in turn increased the fuel requirements of the brickworks. Although the region was rich in the raw material peat, the cities such as Emden and fertile rural areas such as the marshes obtained most of the peat from the neighboring Dutch province of Groningen , and to a lesser extent from the neighboring Saterland . In 1621, however, the Dutch government imposed a ban on the export of peat because the poorly forested country urgently needed the fuel itself. When in the confusion of the Thirty Years War the delivery of the Saterland peat stalled, Emden merchants started to ask the sovereign for permission to establish fen colonies. Emden itself was not taken during the Thirty Years War because of its recently completed fortifications , and was therefore in a very comfortable position. However, refugees from the surrounding area had moved into the city, which increased fuel requirements. The Count's House, on the other hand, was preoccupied with the consequences of billeting foreign troops and, on the other hand, the always tight financial situation made it impossible to establish fen colonies from its own resources.
Rediscovery of the peat brandy culture
Although the moor brandy culture was already known in northwest Germany in the 16th century, it was obviously forgotten in East Frisia in the course of the 17th century. From the early 18th century, the moor brand culture was reintroduced in East Friesland from Hatshausen . The pastor Anton Christian Bolenius, who worked in Hatshausen from 1707 to 1716, reintroduced the method from the Netherlands in East Frisia.
The agricultural basis of the bog colonies was the bog fire culture. Small trenches were dug in the summer to drain a piece of bog. In autumn, the Moor was chopped into flakes, which by freezing in winter and the following spring harrowed were. In late spring, the colonists set fire to the marshes that had been worked in this way and placed seeds of (mostly) buckwheat in the ashes. Buckwheat grows very quickly and could therefore be harvested after a few weeks. The buckwheat, a knotweed plant , was then processed. Potatoes, rye and oats were also grown. However, the bog soil was depleted after a few years by this form of cultivation, so that the yields fell. With only a few exceptions, the bog colonies therefore became emergency areas.
Prussian peatland colonization
After the death of the last East Frisian prince, Carl Edzard , East Frisia fell to Prussia. The modalities for this were laid down in the Emden Convention . Among other things, the estates should retain the right to levy taxes. In return, they undertook to pay the Prussian king 24,000 thalers a year in contributions as well as a further tax of 16,000 thalers, with which East Frisia was exempted from military obligations and billeting. In order to secure further income, Frederick II of Prussia issued the land reclamation edict on July 22, 1765 . In it he declared all moor areas, provided they were not privately owned, to be the property of the Prussian crown. The centuries-old right to erect was thus invalid and the way was free for a settlement controlled by the Prussian state. The desert, undeveloped heath fields and moors were subsequently divided up by the Prussian administration and given to those willing to settle for the purpose of cultivation. In contrast to other projects of the internal colonization of the Prussians, the settlement in the new colonies happened very unprepared. While in the feudal settlements, for example, drainage was provided by canals and thus an important prerequisite for rapid cultivation was created, the first settlers in the new bog villages were left to their fate and in most cases any state aid was refused. Often the plots assigned to the settlers were far too small to feed them.
The state authorities also showed no great interest in the selection of the settlers. Among the first colonists were many penniless day laborers or hirers from the surrounding area who tried to escape the overpopulation there. The majority of the settlers (70 percent) came from East Frisia, the others from the provinces of Oldenburg and Hanover as well as the rest of Germany . In addition, there were disused soldiers from the king's army, of whom only two remained permanently in Moordorf. They were lured with the hope of finding their own land.
In addition, the unproductive soil was quickly depleted by the peat fire culture . So the long lease could no longer be paid. Almost all of the bog colonies in East Frisia sank into poverty. The misery was greatest in Moordorf , Plaggenburg and Leezdorf .
The main causes of misery are the largely haphazard settlement without state control, the far too small colonies , the lack of infrastructural measures such as the construction of canals in the moor (see also Fehnsiedlungen ), the lack of settler selection and the incessant influx of penniless settlers. Nevertheless, the inner colonization of the moorland East Frisia in the 18th / 19th Century became a worthwhile project for Prussia and the annual income of the Prussians in the sixties of the 19th century amounted to 200,000 thalers with little investment. Colonates continued to be identified.
The situation of the colonists only gradually improved. This is particularly evident in the history of construction. This took place in four stages: while the first settlers lived in Moorsoden or Plaggenhütten , these were gradually replaced by clay buildings. These shaped the appearance of the colonies well into the 19th century (in Moordorf into the 20th century). Around 1850 the building type of the colonist house came up. Mud huts were walled with bricks that came from demolished houses. The youngest type of building is the farm workers' house, which was mainly built from bricks, round timber, hand-formed clay pans and thatch. Often they were built on the model of the Gulfhöfe , but had much smaller dimensions.
German raised bog culture
Based on Justus von Liebig's findings and the development of agrochemistry , new methods for the cultivation of peatland have been developed in the state peat research institutes in Bremen , which has entered science as the German raised bog culture. In addition to the use of fertilizer, the decisive difference to earlier forms of peat cultivation was the fact that the peat was only removed superficially and no longer deeply. In earlier centuries the deepest layer, the black peat, played the most prominent role as fuel, this was not the case due to the increased use of coal as heating material. The German raised bog culture therefore refrained from extracting black peat from the outset, but left it in the ground. Only the uppermost 20 centimeters of white peat was removed, mixed with fertilizers such as calcium , phosphorus , kainite , Chile nitrate and peat litter and then put back onto the soil, which was then to be used for agriculture.
The first moor colony in East Frisia in which this procedure was implemented was Marcardsmoor in what is now the city of Wiesmoor . Decisive for the choice of location was not only that the Wiesmoor, which at that time still comprised around 10,000 hectares of uncultivated moor, had the corresponding area reserves. The construction of the Ems-Jade Canal between 1880 and 1888 also spoke in favor of this: Marcardsmoor was founded as a colony on the south side of the canal, which offered good drainage possibilities, which later became possible through the further construction of the Nordgeorgsfehn Canal up to the Ems-Jade Canal should be further improved. Although the canal was actually continued to Marcardsmoor later, this no longer played a decisive role in the development of Marcardsmoor. The settlement plots in Marcardsmoor were about 750 to 800 meters wide and 125 to 140 meters long.
Industrial potting
Industrial potting began in Wiesmoor in East Frisia . The development of large machines such as excavators and peat presses, and later also locomobiles , made a significant contribution to simplifying and quicker the development, which was previously laboriously carried out with muscle power and spades. The company Kemna from Breslau was in charge .
The history of moor colonization in Rhauderfehn came to an end with the inclusion of the Klostermoor district in the Emsland plan (1951). Rhauderfehn is the only municipality in East Friesland that participated in this plan. After the mechanical cultivation of the raised bog with the help of gigantic plows , numerous full-time farm positions were created. A housing estate with a school and kindergarten was added from the 1960s. The number of inhabitants grew correspondingly quickly: while only 520 people lived in Klostermoor before the war, the number had more than doubled to 1,162 by 1970.
Remains of the moors and nature conservation
Currently, peat is only extracted in a few places in East Frisia. These places included the Berumerfehner Moor (until 2013) in the district of the same name in the municipality of Großheide and Wiesmoor. As of 2013, a decision has not yet been made on an application from a peat extraction company to mine large areas of peat in the Klostermoor district in the municipality of Rhauderfehn.
Remnants of formerly original moor areas have been preserved here and there. Most of these areas are now under nature protection . These include moors in which the original flora and fauna have been partially preserved, such as in the Kollrunger Moor (districts Aurich and Wittmund), in parts of the moor area around the Eternal Sea (district Wittmund) or in the Wymeer high moor (district Leer ). In other protected areas such as Wiesmoor blade or Brock Zeteler Moor (both district Aurich), the Moore after the peat rewetted .
References and comments
- ^ Ekkehard Wassermann: Aufstrecksiedlungen in Ostfriesland. A contribution to the study of medieval bog colonization. (Treatises and lectures on the history of Ostfriesland, Volume 61; also Göttingen Geographical Treatises, Volume 80), Verlag Ostfriesische Landschaft, Aurich 1985, p. 119.
- ↑ a b Arend Remmers : From Aaltukerei to Zwischenmooren. The settlement names between Dollart and Jade. Verlag Schuster, Leer 2004, ISBN 3-7963-0359-5 , p. 257.
- ↑ Jürgen Bünstorf: The East Frisian Fehnsiedlung as a regional type of settlement and carrier of socio-functional professional tradition. (Treatises and lectures on the history of East Frisia, Volume 45; also Göttingen geographical treatises, volume 37), self-published by the Geographical Institute of the University of Göttingen, Göttingen 1966, without ISBN, p. ...). "
- ↑ Bernd Kappelhoff: History of the city of Emden from 1611 to 1749. Emden as a quasi-autonomous city republic. Verlag Rautenberg, Leer 1994, ISBN 3-7921-0545-4 , p. 349. (Ostfriesland in the protection of the dyke, vol. 11)
- ↑ Helmut Sanders: Wiesmoor - His cultivation and settlement from the peripheral communities . Verlag Mettcker & Söhne, Jever 1990, ISBN 3-87542-006-3 , p. 22.
- ↑ Marina Bohlen (local chronicle of the East Frisian landscape): Hatshausen / Ayenwolde (PDF file; 31.5 kB), accessed on February 15, 2012.
- ↑ Helmut Sanders: Wiesmoor - His cultivation and settlement from the peripheral communities . Verlag Mettcker & Söhne, Jever 1990, ISBN 3-87542-006-3 , p. 22 ff.
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frees: Wiesmoor. The long way from the moor to the flower city. Rautenberg, Leer 2005. p. 90.
- ^ Karl-Heinz Frees: Wiesmoor. The long way from the moor to the flower city. Rautenberg, Leer 2005. p. 96.