History of the Imperial Baths

First mentioned as Salentyn. The place came into the possession of the Grobe Premonstratensian monastery near Usedom as an object of exchange. The monastery exchanged its property near Gützkow with that of the knight Tamme von Horn on Usedom. The document was issued on December 13, 1254 in Wolgast by Duke Barnim I of Pomerania.

First mentioned as Banzyno. Banzyno was a small Wendish settlement on Lake Gothen. It was a Lehndorf of Herbertus Romele von Lessan. With the permission of Duke Barnim I of Pomerania, his widow exchanged it with the Grobe Monastery for another village. In the document about this Banzyno was officially mentioned for the first time.

First mentioned as Zelenyn. Zelenyn, a small village on the Schmollensee inhabited by fishermen, was donated to the Grobe Monastery by Duke Barnim I of Pomerania "since divine omnipotence wants it".

The Grobe Premonstratensian monastery near Usedom was relocated to Pudglowe (Pudagla) in 1309. Duke Barnim I of Pomerania also donated this village to the monastery in 1273 "to blot out his sins and the sins of his ancestors".

First mentioned as Nyge Krog. In a document issued by Duke Wartislaw IV of Wolgast about the extent of Pudagla's property, Neukrug was named as Tavern Nyge Krog as the eastern border on the Baltic Sea beach.

First mentioned as Chotin. The Pudagla Monastery and the city of Usedom had agreed on their ownership after a long dispute. A document on this was issued on April 7, 1342. One of the witnesses was "dominus Rodolfus miles dictus de Chotin (Mr. Rodolfus knight named von Chotin)".

Under the Pomeranian dukes Philip I of Wolgast and Barnim IX. Stettin decided to introduce the Reformation.

In 1535 the monastery of Pudagla was secularized and became a ducal domain. In 1574, Duke Ernst Ludwig of Pomerania Wolgast had a widow's seat built for his mother on the monastery grounds.

As a result of the peace negotiations in Münster and Osnabrück, Pomerania was divided between Sweden and Brandenburg. Sweden received Western Pomerania with Stettin, Usedom, Rügen and a strip of land east of the Oder.

In the Swedish land register (cadastre of the Swedish government) a "noble sack farm" named Neuhof was recorded, which belonged to the manor Mellenthin.

A watermill was built on the western side of the Beek. The land belonged to the manor of Mellenthin. The first settlers were a miller, a tar distiller and a fisherman with their families. In reference to the eel fishing practiced in the Beek, the settlement was called Ahlbeck.

At the end of the Great Northern War in the Peace of Stockholm, Prussia acquired the island of Usedom and Western Pomerania up to the Peene. Western Pomerania north of the Peene remained with Sweden.

After the Great Northern War, the country was economically devastated, and reconstruction was the priority. This also included the amelioration (reclaiming of wasteland, increase in value of the land) of the Thurbruch and the draining of the meadows on the Beek, with which Frederick II of Prussia had commissioned the Privy Finance Councilor Franz Balthasar von Brenkenhoff. In order not to jeopardize its success, colonists were settled on the eastern bank of the Beek, i.e. on domain territory. They were tasked with keeping the Beek clean. The settlement was called Ahlbeck royal share to distinguish it from the settlement on the western side of the Beek - Ahlbeck noble.

The efforts of the residents of Ahlbeck royal were not enough. The areas on the Beek continued to be flooded. Now, at the instigation of Brenkenhoff's Privy Finance Council, the water mill on the Beek has been dismantled in order to finally stop waterlogging the land.

In 1780, the name Ahlbeck "noble share" and Ahlbeck "royal share" officially came into use for both villages.

The village of Gothen, which belonged to the Mellenthin estates, was converted into an outwork, and the farmers were resettled in Neuhof.

The Congress of Vienna marked the end of the wars of liberation against Napoleonic rule and brought Swedish Pomerania to Prussia as New Western Pomerania.

The brothers Ernst Gottfried von Bülow-Cummerow and Georg Bernhard von Bülow-Rieth bought the Gothen estate from the bankrupt estate of the Mellenthin manor. These included the farming village of Neuhof, the fishing colony of Neukrug and the fishing village of Ahlbeck aristocratic. They began scouring the coastal forest and discovered the beauty of the landscape. From 1818 they began to allocate small plots of land near the beach to cottagers (small-scale owners with their own house). They were probably the ones who started fishing for herring here.

The drainage of the Thurbruch via the Aal-Beek still proved to be insufficient. The new chief president of the province of Pomerania, Johann August Sack, ordered the construction of a canal that would lead from the northern shore of Lake Gothen via the silted-up eastern Schloonsee to the Baltic Sea. Sack had bought the strip of land required for this from the owners of the Gothen estate – the von Bülow brothers – for 5.800 thalers, of which 4.940 thalers had been taken over by the state treasury. The canal was named after its builder. It still serves its purpose today.

The founding of Neu Sallenthin goes back to a decree by the Royal Prussian government in Stettin in February 1818. According to this, farmers in the village of Sallenthin were supposed to own most of the land they had previously cultivated and be freed from services and burdens - a result of the Stein-Hardenberg reforms. The affected farmers had to give up areas on the two Krebssees, which were divided into small plots. Interested parties were able to purchase them on August 20, 1818 at an auction from the Pudagla state domain.

The naming of Heringsdorf is closely related to a trip by King Friedrich Wilhelm III. of Prussia together. He had planned his inaugural visit to Neu Vorpommern, which had been assigned to Prussia in the Congress of Vienna, for June. It was intended that the king should inspect Herr von Bülow's herring fishery, the Sack Canal and the afforestation of the Streckelsberg. On June 5, 1820, Princes Wilhelm and Carl took the path along the beach in front of the king and inspected the herring packing plant. In their presence, a plaque with the name "Heringsdorff" was erected in front of the packing house. The king, who came on June 7th, approved of this name. The place name was officially confirmed in the Official Gazette of the Royal Government of Szczecin No. 30 of July 31, 1820.

The so-called Engelhardt'sche map was published. It was the first time that Heringsdorf was on a map. Both Ahlbeck (noble and royal) on the left and right of the Beek can also be found on the map.

The neighboring town of Świnoujście had become a bathing resort and there was also building activity in Heringsdorf, which formed the basis for the emergence of a seaside resort. Georg Bernhard von Bülow had a ladies' and a men's pool built and a community center on the 34 m high Kulm. This contained a hall in which more than 60 people could dine. This was followed by a lodging house that could accommodate four families. Various private individuals built their own houses in Heringsdorf, where they spent the summer. Local fishermen also rented rooms to bathers. Heringsdorf flourished and in 1831 already had 12 houses with 67 permanent residents

Heringsdorf, which had developed into a well-known seaside resort, did not have a church. The increasing number of guests as well as the residents expressed the desire for their own church. The founder of the village, Georg Bernhard von Bülow, provided a suitable piece of land in the forest on the Kulm. The Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV also supported the idea and commissioned the Royal Court Architect Ludwig Persius to design it. This could not realize the construction. He died in 1845. The civil engineer Otto Baensch took over the execution. The neo-Gothic brick building was inaugurated in 1848.

In the middle of the 19th century there were already almost 500 inhabitants on both sides of the Aal-Beek. There were still two places, but gradually they grew together. The Ahlbeck teacher Johann Koch hosted the first guests in 1852. They were the children of the tenant farmer Holz from Stolpe with their governess. This visit marked the beginning of a long tradition as a seaside resort.