During our recent trip to Fehmarn (May – June 2001), Dorothy Gossel arranged for our tour group to visit the St. Petri Church in Landkirchen.  Karin Kleingarn, a local historian on the island, gave us a tour of the Church.  The following narration is the presentation she gave to our group.  We found this very interesting and wanted to share it with others through this Website.

Tressie Hughes

        Welcome to our church of Saint Petri.

A few hundred years ago the Danish King "Erik the Pommer" set foot in this church. The Organ started playing by itself and blood sweated down from the crown of Maria. What had happened?

There existed between the Danish King and the Counts of Holstein much discontent for centuries. In 1420 King Erik wanted to occupy the Isle of Fehmarn. He was unsuccessful in landing on the island twice. The inhabitants ridiculed the Danish army by standing at the coast showing their backsides and shouting: "If a cow can spin silk, then King Erik shall win our land!" Due to that, the Danish got furious. Finally, King Erik succeeded in landing on the island by using a trick. Now a terrible massacre began, People were tortured and killed, buildings were set on fire, and churches were devastated. This incident is the saddest tragedy in the history of the Isle of Fehmarn.

Even today people tell the legend of this horrible tragedy in this way: At last, while the whole island was burning, King Erik came in this church. Somehow the organ started playing by itself and Maria’s crown sweated blood, Now the King got anxious. He changed his mind and immediately stopped the massacre, he then shouted: "If there is anyone in this church, he shall stay alive." Thereupon a man came from behind the altar. His name was "Mackeprang".

The Pope excommunicated King Erik who was troubled by his bad conscience. So he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Grail in Jerusalem.

The legend tells about three people who survived the massacre: Mackeprang, Witt and Rauert.

In 1424 The Count of Holstein got Fehmarn back. The Count called for settlers. They didn't have to pay taxes for five years. Now the Count couldn't pay the soldiers at their time of dismissal. He had to borrow money from Lubeck. At this time Lubeck had been a rich town. The Count of Holstein gave the Isle of Fehmarn to Lubeck as security. This was during 1435 to 1490. Lubeck's rule over Fehmarn was very beneficial for the island trade, industry, shipping and businesses developed.

In 1580 the Danish King Friedrich II had a meeting on the isle of Funen which is a Danish island located north of Fehmarn. The King gave the Isle of Fehmarn a banner: a golden Danish crown in blue damask. Today we interpret our flag as: "Our Fehmarn is so beautiful, it's the crown of the blue Baltic Sea!"

In 1617 Count Friedrich legislated in his "Confirmation of Liberty" that the aristocracy should never be allowed to buy land or buildings on Fehmarn. He protected the privileges and freedoms of the inhabitants. Due to that legislation Fehmarn developed differently from the rest of Holstein. Fortunately, the inhabitants of Fehmarn never became serfs like inhabitants of Großenbrode.

Serfs couldn't change their jobs; they also could neither move to another place nor marry without permission of their ruler. They lived like slaves.  The Isle of Fehmarn remained free!

The ruler was the Count of Schleswig and he also was the King of Denmark.  Fehmarn was a part of Schleswig but not a Danish island. The governor (Landvogt) of Fehmarn was a representative of the Danish king who controlled taxes etc.

The administration of justice, he represented together with 3 elected honorary officials, 3 chamberlains and 18 judges. They were the top of the jurisdiction of the Isle of Fehmarn. They could even decide about life or death, together with the governor and the King's Counsel (secretary, scholar, lawyer).

Let's have a look at this plaque.  Here you can see the governor (Landvogt) Peter Witte. He was a merchant shipper. Once he was caught in a storm in the Baltic Sea. He prayed to God and vowed if God would save him, he would support to the best of his ability the people of the Isle of Fehmarn. And so he did.

Here you see another governor (Landvogt): Jurgen Gossel. He is an ancestor of Dorothee's husband.  Gossel means in German a gosling. It's the heraldic animal of the Gossel family.  I will tell you about the text. It's the life of Jurgen Gossel, born in 1606 here on the Isle of Fehmarn.  In 1635 he married Catharina Brandt. Her father was a judge and a noble merchant. They had 10 children, 6 of them died, the name of the others were Jurgen, Heinrichm, Catharina and Anna.  In 1642 he was elected a judge.  In 1645 he became governor (Landvogt). In 1651 his wife died. In 1652 he married Anna Mackeprang. Her father was Chamberlain and a big landowner. She died in 1653.  In 1654 he married for the third time to Gerdrut, widow of the judge Karsten Folff, She died in 1667.  In 1669 he married Anna Bentem. They had one daughter.

Here we look at Jakob Mackeprang. He was the son-in-law of Jurgen Gossel. He was born in 1633. In 1660 he married Catharian Gossel. In 1686 he was elected to be a judge. His son, also named Jakob, was chamberlain. He donated the altar together with his wife Emerentia, a daughter of the Landvogt Peter Witte.

What's over here?  The name of this chest is "Landesblock". It's as old as our church, more than 700 years.  The most important and valuable documents as well as seals were garnered in here. You see three locks, each lock requiring a separate key. Each chamberlain had one key, so no one could go alone to retrieve the documents.  This was how it was done: After the prayer-bell had rung at noon, the oldest chamberlain stepped to the chest and spoke the words: "Help God!" Then all three chamberlains prayed together: "God you alone are endless. You know everything there is. God you are able to see everything that will happen."

Now let's look at the model ship.  For a long time this model ship has been hanging here. After the renovation the model was put behind glass. Through the mirror you are able to see a painting below the ship. This painting shows how people imagined life under water. This model ship represents a warship from Lubeck constructed in 1617 and was donated by the merchant shippers.

These pews belong to the "Vetterschaft der Mackeprangen und Witten". In former times there was no pension, neither health nor social insurance. Therefore families are united by nepotism. They promised to be there for each other in misery and hardship.  There were many nepotisms but the one that remains is the Mackeprang-Witt, which is placed here.

Every male by the name Mackeprang or Witt whose ancestors are from Fehmarn can become a member, but only men. At his induction he has to promise that he will give 5% of his fortune to nepotism if he dies without a legitimate heir. Formerly this money was used to support widows and orphans. Landvogt Peter Witte donated a silver tumbler to the nepotism, which still exists.

Once a year all members of the nepotism come together for a meeting. If one of them dies 4 Mackeprangs and 4 Witts will carry him to the grave.  The first chairperson is the spokesman; he is the one who knows all the rules. The nepotism is so old that in the beginning the rules used to be delivered verbally.

In the 19th century, the Danish kingdom wanted to make the dukedom Schleswig, which included Fehmarn, a part of the Danish kingdom.

In March of 1848 the inhabitants of Schleswig-Holstein decided to establish their own government in the town of Kiel. In the whole district and on Fehmarn the people rejoiced. They prepared an offensive against the Danish. Armed conflicts followed and in 1851 Danish troops occupied Fehmarn.  Patriots in the whole area of Schleswig-Holstein had to leave their homeland. Many of them immigrated to the USA.

The Danish government didn't give up its plans to take over Fehmarn. In 1864 a war began. Prussia and Austria helped Schleswig-Holstein. Prussian troops had landed on the island and took the Danish soldiers by surprise. In the end Schleswig-Holstein became a province of Prussia. Many people were very disappointed by that. They wanted a government of their own.

In 1871 the Prussian king was crowned as the emperor of the new German empire.  Some old traditions and rights of the community of the Isle of Fehmarn were lost. But most of the people were satisfied.

Presented by Karin Kleingarn in the St Petri church in Landkircken

The old Fehmarn large-scale Farmer’s house.

Niendorf, on the island Fehmarn had until 1920 an old Fehmarn large-scale farmer’s house [Fehmarn Grossbauernhaus], dating back to the 16^th century. It was located on the lot Nr. 8. - Ownership belonging in 1834 to Hans Ehler, in 1846 to H. Voderberg, in 1885 to Hinrich Wohler, in 1891 to Matthäus Kunz.  

In the periodical "Heimat" of 1937, number 12
Theodor Moeller reports the following:

One of the most charming Fehmarn large farmer’s estates [large-scale enterprise] ‘Grossbauernhaus’, stood in Niendorf, Fehmarn. After advise in 1914, to preserve the building and turn it into a museum, all offers were rejected.

Houses of the same antiquated and similar artistic value were found in Avendorf, Fehmarn. That building was erected in 1787. Much older was the property owned by Hans Bügge in Wulfen, as Building memorial exceptionally valuable; but both were torn down.

    More mention about the farm houses:

Stately buildings from the 16^th century had large and wide windows with 2 - 3 posts and many small window-panes with leaden enclosures. The two windows facing the large front entrance door, are set higher than the other windows. The outer windows are set very low.

This great variety, with peculiar effect, stems from the uneven ceiling height in the center arch or nave of the building, [compared to a cathedral ceiling].

The heavy oak beams were oiled [treated w. carbolic oils](Phenol), as to preserve and protect the wood, this caused the beams to turn very dark.

The framework [of the timber-framed-houses] were often decorated with inlaid red stone in ornate fashion.

The roofing protruded forward, the top-piece [hood] and crescent show simple well-formed moldings. Above these a row of carved fan-shaped ornamentations.   

The ornamented gable end [Giebelspiess], which mostly displays an artistically forged roof-marking with a weather vane, carved semicircular crescents, generally representing the heavenly bodies, like the sun, stars and the moon, which add to the charm of the gable.

Such houses used to be no rarity on the island Fehmarn, because over 300 years ago there were large-estate farmers ‘Grossbauern’ who invested so much in their homes, at times as majestic as estates owned by nobility in Holstein.

In the beginning it was a single house, after growing expansion, they were built larger. Later barns were built. Already in the 16^th century the Fehmarn wheat was such a preferred export commodity and shipped to France, Italy, Spain and other countries.

A large-scale farmer [Grossbauer], around 1610, had on the average about 21 horses, 6 cows, 20 young cattle and oxen, 25 pigs and 50 sheep. Living rooms, sleeping rooms, kitchen and chambers, built-in oven and storage chambers were located on both sides of the great hall [called Grotdöns]. On the small and lower side were the stables, where the animals were kept.

The daily living quarters, also called the smaller hall  [or Lüttdöns], had a window toward the street, also called the front room [Vörstuv]. Toward the back is the extension of the great hall called the (luettdoens), with the same width and height as the great hall.

The saal, used to be called great hall or [Grotdöns] corresponds to situation, interior decoration and used as festivity hall, as well as storage place for trunks, boxes and wardrobes, compared to the living quarters [Pesel] of the farmhouses in Dithmarschen. This shows an introduced art that may have been previously brought by emigrants from Dithmarschen to Fehmarn.

With great stubbornness did age-old custom and antiquity linger here for centuries. Not only in the farm houses, but also in the old bourgeois homes in the town of Burg. Also here we find the same suggested floor plan with great hall,[Diele], and festivity hall [Saal] or (Pesel) in the center, and living quarters on the sides.

The house in Niendorf still showed in all parts these  characteristics of the old Fehmarn single farm house. It was a large building with many different rooms, as was necessary to maintain a farm of about 44 ha (108.7284 acres). With a length of 27 Meter (88.5816 feet) and a width of 14 Meter (45.9312 feet) as to amount to about 380 square meter (4090.2820 sq. feet). Yet later such a building was not adequate anymore and barns were added.

In the only 3 Meter (9.8424 feet) wide offsides, beside the great entrance door was the small hall or [Luetdoens.] Folled by the kitchen, chambers [Kamer] with bake room and oven. The other side had several different chambers and stalls for the animals. Also next to the great hall, called [Grootdoens] were many different chambers, two on each side.

All together there were 10 rooms or chambers.

Voluminous and manifold was the economic life in the house; plain and simple were the daily living requirements, for a room of 10 square meter (107.639 sq. ft.) was adequate. The great hall [Grotdöns] had the same width as the small hall [Diele or Luettdoens] of 7 Meter (22.9656 ft.), of the 12 partitions, the length of the house, this took up 4 partitions (which amounts to 9 Meter (29.5272 ft). It was 6 times as large as the daily living room. The floor was as all other floors, made of tampered clay. This room was used for storage of many household goods, like wardrobes and trunks etc. Weddings and funeral festivities were held here.

They had rare old murals on the walls and the wooden ceilings. Concentrated halve moons, down- and upwards opening in precision. Perhaps telling of the same meaning as the carved halve crescents decorating the gable area.

The house offered a great amount of stimulations. To restore it to it’s original being, with old household goods and furniture, trunks and wardrobes and to make it into a Museum, was for Fehmarn too costly. But instead torn down, as last witness of the disappearing Middle-ages. The farmhouse, in spite of it’s age between 3 - 400 year’s, was still stable in it’s basic core. In 1920, after the tearing down of some farmhouses, some pillars and beams from the Luettdoens and the Grotdöns made long journeys, they went all the way to Hamburg as well as over the big pond [overseas] toward North America, and what wasn’t good for Fehmarn anymore, became respected, and at times decorating some Homes of a dollar-millionaire in a new form, as a Lower Saxony Hall or a Holstein Farmer’s Vestibule, [Bauernstube].

Sumitted by: Dieter Klahn

Translated into English by: Else Bügge-Wood
3096-1A Maryland Ave.
Columbus, OHIO-USA 43209 - Phone: (614) 237-4972
 

On Fehmarn during the harvest.

By: E. Bügge-Wood.

When I was a small child I remember the harvest in the small village of Wulfen. All the people from the village worked together. The children were allowed to go to the fields, where the people had shocked the wheat and all kind of grain; we would ride on the horses from one heap of sheaves to the other. The men would load the sheaves unto the wagon and another man would pack them in the right place. Grandfather would say: “Be careful, that you don’t fall off the horse. But we would be especially careful.

The horses were put into position, all the different harnesses and yokes had to be put on them. We had to learn to do that as a child. There was a little responsibility for everybody. It made you very proud when you could help at such an important job. The ladies sent some special hot cakes to the farm and everybody was invited to eat. That was so much fun. The men would drink their “Erntebeer” harvest beer and the food was plentiful.

When the last load of grain was hauled there was a celebration. The ladies made a beautiful wreath with lots of colorful ribbons. On the wagon a man with his button-Box “Quetsche” or accordion sat with other people on the last wagon of grain and they sang. When they got back to the village they hung the wreath on the barn door, so all people could see, that farmer has all his grain in the barn and the party can begin. The ladies already sent some special hot cakes to the farm and everybody is invited to eat. That was so much fun. The men would drink their “Erntebeer” harvest beer and all were welcome.

Newsletter submissions
by E-mail: kc7bal@juno.com
or mail to:
Tressie Hughes
PO Box 770
Puyallup WA 98371