Heligoland, Past and Present

Book excerpt: Heligoland (spelled “Helgoland†in German) consists of two small German islands in the southeast of the North Sea, some 50 kilometres from the German mainland. The main – and the only inhabited - island has a length of less than two kilometres but it is one of the top-tourist destinations of northwest Germany. This book contains the first comprehensive history of Heligoland in the English language, including: its unique geology (with its cliffs and fossils); its seals, birds and plants; its legends of saints and pirates; its wreckers, fishermen, hunters and pilots; its turbulent military history, from the Middle Ages to the Nazis; accounts of eyewitnesses from various centuries; many line drawings, some historic ones and some made by the Dutch artist Anneke de Vries.