Bearing tower Cape Arkona

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Bearing tower at Cape Arkona
Aerial view of Cape Arkona, the bearing tower on the left, the two lighthouses in the middle

The direction finding tower Kap Arkona refers to a former direction finding radio station of the Reichsmarine (1935-1945 Kriegsmarine ) on the Baltic Sea in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , which was used to monitor radio traffic on the southern Baltic Sea. The tower is located right next to the Jaromarsburg at Cape Arkona on the Wittow peninsula on the northern tip of the island of Rügen . The two lighthouses at Cape Arkona are within sight .

In 1927 the naval bearing tower at the foot of the Jaromarsburg was built as a five-storey round building in brick construction. Because of the predominantly military use and the secrecy that is usually associated with it, there are only a few references to the operation of this DF radio station. This is particularly true for the period 1927–1936. It was probably used for radio reconnaissance back then . On September 12, 1936, the news for seafarers announced that the Arkona DF radio station with the callsign "D B I" was going into operation. This was probably related to the re-establishment of a naval intelligence service . From 1937/38 Arkona was in the system of naval radio reconnaissance and the associated observation service , consisting of the central control center in Berlin, three other control centers and four main DF stations, one of the eight secondary DF stations along the North and Baltic Sea coasts for intercepting and deciphering radio signals from abroad Ships. Since there is no reference to an external antenna in numerous historical photos of the DF tower, it can be assumed that DF receivers with rotating frame antenna were used inside the building .

The direction finder tower was certainly not a radio beacon , although it was widely published in this way , even if the first attempts in this direction were made around 1912 within the Jaromarsburg with the Arkona radio fog signal test station . Rather, at the beginning of the 1930s, an international agreement was reached on the locations, frequencies, transmission methods and ranges of the eight radio beacons to be operated in and on the Baltic Sea. These locations were FS ( lightship ) Kiel, FS Fehmarnbelt, Warnemünde, Stubbenkammer, Swinemünde, FS Adlergrund, Jershöft and Pillau.

By 1945 at the latest, the technical facilities in the direction finding tower at Cape Arkona were removed or destroyed and the tower deteriorated into ruins, even if it was temporarily used as an antenna carrier. It was not extensively renovated until 1996. The tower is included in the list of architectural monuments in the district of Vorpommern-Rügen .

On the approximately 23 meter high tower there is a viewing platform at a height of approximately 20 meters, which can be reached via 111 steps. From this viewing platform you have a clear view over parts of the island of Rügen and the interior of the Jaromarsburg, which can no longer be entered due to the risk of further bank breaks. When the weather is clear you can see as far as the Danish island of Møn .

From 2003 to 2017, the amber studio of the Wiesbaden artist Nils Peters, who died in November 2017, was located in the glazed dome of the Peilturm . The tower has been rented to the community of Putgarten since May 2018 and has been open all year round for viewing and climbing the tower.

literature

  • Horst Auerbach: The lighthouses at Cape Arkona . Kai Homilius Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-931121-43-7 .
  • Horst Auerbach, Hans-Joachim Luttermann: Cape Arkona and its lighthouses . Busse + Seewald, 1998, ISBN 3-884-12249-5 .

Web links

Commons : Bearing tower Kap Arkona  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerhard Wiedemann (ed.), Johannes Braun, Hans Joachim Haase: The German Sea Signs - 1850-1990 between sailing and container shipping. DSV-Verlag, Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3-88412-275-4 , p. 414.
  2. ↑ Excerpt from the district monuments list - architectural monuments in Putgarten, as of August 2015
  3. ^ Memorial page by Nils Peters. November 8, 2017, accessed January 4, 2019 .

Coordinates: 54 ° 40 ′ 38.8 ″  N , 13 ° 26 ′ 8.5 ″  E