Beach bailiff

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Strandvogt is the name for a person who has special rights and obligations on land near the coast . The legal bases, tasks and social classification have changed frequently and differentiated overall over the centuries and depending on the location.

In the past, the spelling Strandvoigt was also used for official functions, and it is still used for streets, buildings and facilities in the Baltic Sea in particular . Beach officers sometimes also performed the duties of a dyke governor .

history

In the Middle Ages, at the latest, the Hanseatic League had an interest in securing seafaring on the one hand by curbing piracy and on the other hand by improving navigation with the help of church towers as day markers, beacons and beacons that were initially hung in baskets on tall buildings. Perhaps the first of these beacons was one near Lübeck in 1316 . At the same time, however, people were still convinced for a long time that distress at sea was fate. The shipwreck - with subsequent death in the waves - was considered an occupational risk, often even a “hint from God”, helping from the land was not an obligation. Until the 19th century, flotsam belonged to the finder without restriction, beach law appeared as the law of the fist , the term beach robbery was unknown. Taking possession of the cargo from stranded ships was seen as an emergency right, not as looting, and the appropriation of beach property was not seen as theft. Because the coastal sections on the North and Baltic Seas were economically underdeveloped for a long time, and poverty was often high. Flotsam was therefore an important source of income not only for the locals, but also for beach officers. The king formally granted some English port cities the right to have stranded beach debris passed into their possession after a year, and stranded ships could even be plundered immediately. Then there was the step of stranding ships by misleading navigation, which was already difficult at the time when visibility was poor, by covering up the correct beacons or attaching the wrong beacons, a very effective measure. For a similar reason, for example, in the 17th century on Heligoland, people resisted the island's first lighthouse for a long time . In such circumstances, in 1705, the Danish king felt compelled to introduce the death penalty for “false fire signs”. Similarly, it is known from the municipality of Den Helder on the Dutch North Sea coast that false beacons used to be placed there on stormy nights in order to beach ships.

Beach bailiffs, insofar as they were appointed by the authorities, were in a difficult position. They stood in the field of tension between official requirements, expectations of fellow citizens (especially in times of need), their own needs and threats from pirates . Sometimes there were deadly clashes. The beach bailiffs were often left alone in the figurative sense, in some cases also in the literal sense, as they were sometimes the only permanent residents of an island, a Hallig , a terp or a Koog .

All in all, beach robbery and piracy were a considerable problem on German coasts until the strength of the nation states and the beginning of tourism in the second half of the 19th century. In Germany, the Amrum and Rügen coasts were particularly dangerous. Numerous anecdotes about how beach bailiffs dealt with this situation have been passed down in the vernacular, in legends and memories, and it becomes clear that the behavior of the beach bailiffs was not entirely free of blame in all cases:

On Pellworm , the pirate Cord Widderich entered the village church around 1420 not only out of piety. Rather, from the church tower he looked for passing merchant ships, used the bells to call his colleagues and lit false beacons. He then gave part of the booty to the grateful community.

About 300 years later, the beach bailiff on Amrum had a conflict with the locals, as it kept occurring:

“When a beach bailiff on Amrum once did not allow the beach walkers there, but wanted to have all the flotsam to himself, and was also of the opinion that they would be doing great injustice if they entered the beach against his will and therefore had to improve themselves , on the contrary, they were of a different opinion "

In Nieblum on Föhr at the same time a boatman had to go to jail for five days with bread and water because he had behaved improperly towards the beach bailiff.

The portrayal of a particularly terrible fate of a beach bailiff comes from the island of Sylt in the 16th century: the well-fortified islanders were initially able to drive the notorious pirate Lang Peter away:

“Dat geit'er nato with all men, with bass, steel and forks. He doesn’t want to fight here, that’s well the right cork. "

Then of eight of the pirates captured in the house of beach bailiff Erk Mannis in Westerland , seven were hanged up on the gallows hill north of the village of Keitham. The eighth, however, who was spared and released for the sake of his youth, avenged the death of his comrades by landing anew on the island after a few years and infecting the beach bailiff's house at night and burning it.

In 1806 the beach bailiff, who was appointed to Baltrum under Prussian sovereignty, issued a "Seal of the Royal Prussian Beach Bailiffs Baltrum". In 1874 a beach bailiff was appointed on the Morsumkoog in front of the north beach .

Even the city of Hamburg had temporarily a beach Vogt: He was at the mouth of the Elbe on to Hamburg belonging island Neuwerk stationed.

There were also beach bailiffs on the Baltic Sea: In Rostock in the Middle Ages, for example, the port there was called “beach”, which was accessible via twelve beach gates and a beach bailiff was appointed to oversee it.

According to tradition, a beach bailiff himself deviated from the path of virtue on Rømø : he tried to mislead the boatmen by tying a burning lantern to the tail of his horse and riding over the dunes on the beach side on stormy nights.

The beach bailiffs who were employed as so-called beach administrators on the beaches of the Baltic Sea had a special task : They had to calculate the income from amber collected on the beach and to collect the tax due.

The Strandvogt von Jasmund , a story from the time of the Napoleonic Wars about a Strandvogt on the Jasmund peninsula near Rügen, became literarily famous .

Legal basis

Since the 12th century, the traditional beach law has increasingly been replaced by church and state norms in the public interest. The appointment of beach bailiffs also served to implement this new law . For the German Empire from 1871 the beaching order of May 17, 1874 was important. According to it, beach authorities were to be set up, to which beach authorities with a beach captain as head and beach bailiffs were subordinate, both were officials of the state government concerned. Her tasks included the rescue and recovery of people and goods in distress at sea . The beach bailiffs were authorized to issue instructions and to use the vehicles and equipment required to save human lives and to use any access to the beach.

Also in consideration of international law (especially the international agreement of 1989 on salvage, as well as standard private law contracts such as Lloyd's Open Form ), these stranding regulations have been repeatedly changed into German federal law:

The law on the revision of the law of salvage in sea and inland shipping defines the mutual rights and obligations of the captain, ship's crew, owner, charterer, outfitter, shipowner and salvor. In the Introductory Act to the Criminal Code, it is punishable if someone fails to report a shipwreck or flotsam, enters a stranded ship or removes objects from it without the permission of the beach bailiff. The beach bailiffs are appointed by the associated regional authority , but also by regional associations , landscape associations or offices .

The respective beach bailiff carries out his or her job as a volunteer or through his own positions as an employee in secondary employment or part-time work or as part of a full-time job. In the past, however, the employment as a civil servant predominated. If the beach bailiff receives special rights, he is sworn in to comply with his duties .

tasks

The beach Vogt - formerly more common than in recent years - primarily responsible for the enforcement of the beach right that the sea coasts and estuaries , as in controls shipwrecks rescued accident people and ship goods contained or by the flow is landetes flotsam be salvaged. According to this law, the rescue, identification and burial of drowned persons also fall within the remit of the beach bailiff. Especially after storm surges and other storms, the beach bailiff undertakes patrols in the coastal areas of his area. He has to report to the responsible authorities on all objects and documents found. Such beach officers have police power and at the same time safeguard customs interests .

Another important task of the beach bailiffs can be the inspection of the outer and inner dykes , barrages and sluices , at regular intervals and additionally during storms and storm surges.

Official reference to Strandvogt -stelle, Sande, around 1977

More recently, however, the beach bailiff has more of a tourism- related job . He is supposed to ensure compliance with the municipal regulations , especially the beach statutes of the municipalities, close to the coast at camping sites, bathing beaches and areas used for water sports . He does not take on sovereign or police tasks himself, but should rather appeal to reason and decency and call for order, but can call on the police in the event of a conflict. Typical cases are dangerous behavior by land vehicles and water sports equipment, violation of the dress code ( nudist vs. textile beach), impairment of the landscape and coastal protection (storage in protected areas, destabilizing dunes) or non-compliance with hygiene guidelines (bringing dogs). In addition, the beach guard serves as a preventive and promotional contact person and contact person for vacationers and service providers .

In the course of a summer a lot comes together, as a report by the local advisory board of the Warnemünde seaside resort shows for 2010:

  • Cyclists expelled from the promenade: 1,613
  • Dog owners expelled from the beach: 1,052
  • increased degree of contamination on d. Fire pits
  • Replaced wooden posts from the dune boundary
  • Kite surfers and windsurfers are increasingly endangered by surfing in the bathing area
  • Complaints about nudists on the textile beach and vice versa
  • 7 rescue towers occupied
  • 3 fatal swimming accidents

Examples of communities that have recently appointed beach officers are the Baltic seaside resort Sehlendorfer Strand in Hohwacht Bay , the community of Sande (Friesland) and the seaside resort of Warnemünde .

Transition to a nationally organized sea rescue

At the beginning of the 19th century, attitudes towards shipwrecked people began to change in Germany, and the first rescue stations were set up. When the residents of Spiekeroog, when the emigrant ship Johanne sank in front of their island in 1854, cared for the surviving castaways in a self-sacrificing manner in a way that was previously not customary, this met with great attention and approval throughout the country. In 1865, the German Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked People was finally founded. What the beach bailiffs had to try on their own with all too little resources was transferred to a constantly expanding and technically improved national organization.

Individual evidence

  1. Heligoland rejected the lighthouse, the Danish king imposed the death penalty for false lights [1]
  2. Use of the church on Pellworm by pirates Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.buesum-hotel.de
  3. Strandvogt anecdotes from Sylt and Amrum, memories of Knudt Jungbohn Clement (1778–1854) [2]
  4. Strandvogt anecdotes from Sylt and Amrum, captain's diary Rauert Cöster (1740-1820) [3]
  5. Prussian beach bailiff on Baltrum [4]
  6. Report on a delinquent beach guard on Rømø [5]
  7. The Strandvogt von Jasmund, life picture during the Rügen occupation by the French (1807 to 1813), Leipzig, 1859, ISBN 3-00-001804-2
  8. International Convention of 1989 on Rescue, Federal Law Gazette 2001 II p. 510
  9. ^ Law on the revision of the law of salvage in sea and inland waterway transport - Third Law Amendment Act - 2001
  10. Introductory Act to the Criminal Code (EGStGB) Art. 284
  11. Minutes of the Diedrichshagen 2010 meeting with the Strandvogt's activity report Archived copy ( memento of the original from February 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / 195.37.188.171
  12. Strandvogt 2010 in Warnemünde [6]
  • Economic Encyclopedia (1773-1858) by JG Krünitz online version
  • Meyers Konversationslexikon (4th edition. 1888–1890): Beach authority, beach vogt [7]