You Are Refugees and Live in Germany Now. North Frisia Is a Special Place
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You are refugees and live in Germany now. North Frisia is a special place in Germany. Englisch - 1 North Frisia is a region and also an administrative district. On the map of Germany you can find it in the upper left corner, south of the Danish border. North Frisia has a population of approximately 162.000. At first glance, what separates North Frisia from the rest of Germany? All the license-plates on the cars begin with the letters “NF” and most of the people say “Moin” instead of “Guten Tag”. Husum is the largest town in North Frisia and is the district’s capital. It is the center of administration. The parts of North Frisia are the North Sea islands Sylt, Föhr, Amrum and Pellworm, the Nordstrand peninsula, the Eiderstedt peninsula and the ten Wadden Sea “Halligen”. Halligen are small islands which are flooded over by the sea several times a year. When that happens, only the houses on top of high, man-made mounds can 2 - Englisch be seen “floating” on the water. Halligen are unique to North Frisia, and cannot be found anywhere else. The North Sea plays an important role for North Frisia. For hundreds of years the North Frisians have been fighting against its forces. The North Sea tide comes in and goes out twice a day. When the tide comes in, we call it “Flut” and when it goes out, it leaves a dry strip of sea bed, which we call “Ebbe”. During the “Ebbe”, large areas of the seafloor near the coast fall dry, and you can walk on them. But make sure to leave these areas and go back to the mainland before the tide comes in again, because otherwise you will be in a life-threatening situation, in which you could drown! By the constant change of “Ebbe” and “Flut”, from dry ground to flooded ground, a unique landscape has Englisch - 3 been formed: the North Frisian Wadden Sea. Today, the Wadden Sea is a national park and on the list of World Natural Heritage and it is an attraction for tourists, locals and nature lovers. During the past few centuries, the North Frisians have been involved in building dikes. Dikes are earthen flood barriers, designed to keep the sea from flooding coastal areas, while reclaiming fertile farmland on the newly exposed seabed. While the Frisians work endlessly to reclaim the sea, sometimes it is the sea which reclaims land. The most destructive floods occurred in 1362 and 1634, when tens of thousands of people drowned and great parts of their land were lost to the sea forever. There are many “Köge” in North Frisia. A “Koog” is land protected from the sea by a dike. To be able to build the “Köge”, the North Frisians had to join and work together. They were not supported by the state in the past, therefore the North Frisians have old traditions of self-government and communal responsibility. Today, reclaiming new land has stopped in our region, but the dikes must constantly be repaired or replaced, otherwise the “Köge” would be reclaimed by the sea again. In modern times, the German government has overtaken the responsibility of building and maintaining the dikes. Tourism has been known and popular in North Frisia for 200 years. Many people from all parts of Germany 4 - Englisch come to North Frisia every year, because they love the landscape, the sea, the nature, the old thatched houses and the North Frisian culture. Most of the tourists go to Sankt Peter-Ording and to the island of Sylt, where many rich people from other parts of Germany own summer residences. Many old Frisian houses have been bought and nicely renovated by people from Hamburg, Berlin and elsewhere. Most of the North Frisians are proud of the beautiful old houses. North Frisia is traditional and modern at the same time. In this region there is more wind than there is anywhere else in Germany, which is shown by the vast amount of wind power plants which generate electricity. Englisch - 5 Sometimes, access to uncommon goods or services, such as a medical specialist or specialized stores etc. can be complicated, because those facilities may be situated far from the place, where you live. The driving distance between Rodenäs, a village near the German- Danish border, and Sankt Peter-Ording is more than 100 kilometers (ca. 62 miles), and it is a 3-hours-journey from Husum to the island of Amrum, because most of the islands and Halligen can only reached by ferry. The women in North Frisia have a reputation for being very independent, even more so than the women in the rest of Germany. There is an old tale that once during a battle the North Frisian women helped their husbands regain courage to fight by throwing hot groats at their enemies. When 200-300 years ago many of the North Frisian men were at sea nearly all the year round, the women had to manage on their own and thus developed great self- awareness. Before North Frisia became part of a German state about 150 years ago, it belonged to Denmark for centuries. After 1864, wars between Germany and Denmark concerning this border were not fought any more. In the border region, Germans, Danes, and Frisians are living together in peace now. In 1920, the course of the present-day German-Danish border was determined. It was heavily 6 - Englisch discussed then, but for more than 150 years it has never been a reason for violence amongst the people. In World War 2 Denmark was occupied by the Germans, but the border was not moved then. After World War 2 many people in North Frisia wanted their home region to be part of Denmark again, but then, too, there was no aggression involved, and today most of the people are content with the German-Danish border. There is a Danish minority in Germany and a German minority in Denmark. Most of the North Frisians were multi-lingual in the past. They spoke Frisian, Low German and High German, sometimes Danish, Low Danish, Dutch or other languages, too. Today, all the Frisians speak German and sometimes other languages, but about 10.000 people still speak North Frisian – one of Germany’s minority languages. The Frisian ethnic group is legally supported by the state. They have special national costumes and customs. The best-known custom is “Biikebrennen”. Large bonfires, the “Biiken”, are lit along the North Frisian coast on 21 February. The North Frisians never planned to establish their own state, but it has always been important for them to preserve their own language and culture. North Frisia really is a special place in Germany, because it has a very special nature, a very special culture and a unique language which you will only find here: Frisian. In Frisian, we have two principles: Englisch - 7 Leewer duad üüs slaaw (Better dead than a slave) Rüm hart, klaar kiming (Wide heart, clear horizon) Nordfriisk Instituut Süderstr. 30, 25821 Bräist/Bredstedt, NF Tel. 04671-6012-0, Fax: 04671-1333 [email protected] www.nordfriiskinstituut.de In Zusammenarbeit mit dem Kreis Nordfriesland 8 - Englisch.