History of the Kaiserbäder

On July 1, the Swinemünde–Heringsdorf railway line was inaugurated. The direct connection between Heringsdorf and the capital, Berlin, significantly shortened travel time and brought an enormous increase in vacationers to the seaside resort.

For more than three decades, cantor Johann Koch raised funds from locals and vacationers to build a church in Ahlbeck. The cornerstone was laid on July 22, 1894. The church, built in the Neo-Gothic style, was consecrated on August 29, 1895.

It was a visitor from Berlin and the Alt Sallenthin writer Ernst Necker who had closely followed the development of the seaside resorts and took the initiative to found the seaside resort of Bansin. They joined forces with other interested parties to form a founding association, which applied to the Swinemünde Harbor Authority for permission to build bathing facilities and, upon receiving approval, immediately had two wooden bathhouses and four thatched huts constructed as resting places.

The guests, who were arriving in ever-increasing numbers at Bansin Beach, didn’t just want to go swimming. They asked about accommodations, the construction of which had begun as early as 1896. By the start of the 1897 season, the first houses were ready for occupancy and were already accommodating 308 guests.

Two wooden structures facing each other were built on the wooden platform, which was constructed in 1882. They served as a restaurant and a stage. The platform was also extended to include a pier for docking boats.

The Strandcasino was built in 1898 right on the Heringsdorf promenade—a “masterpiece of modern iron construction, complete with an observation tower,” as described in a 1932 chronicle. Initially, it also served as the official spa house. In addition to 18 elegant shops, it housed a 500 m² ballroom. By the summer of 1898, Heringsdorf already had 13,430 spa guests.

After Hugo Delbrück's death in 1900, his son Werner Delbrück became director of the Seebad Heringsdorf Corporation and continued his father's work. The passionate balloonist died on April 3, 1910, in a crash off the coast of the island of Rügen at the age of 43.

A monumental square tower made of boulders and bricks was built on the 45-meter-high Präsidentenberg. In the inner hall stood a 3.5-meter-tall bronze statue of Bismarck, created by the renowned sculptor Ernst Gustav Herter. This was in keeping with the trend at the time to honor the former Chancellor of the Reich. The tower was crowned by a huge fire bowl. The dedication ceremony took place in 1907. However, on the orders of the Soviet Army, the Bismarck-Warte was blown up in 1946. Today, only a few remnants of the tower’s foundation remain.

On the road from Heringsdorf to Gothen, the Seebad Heringsdorf stock company had a horse racing track built modeled after the famous Karlshorst trotting track. Situated on a hillside, the spectators had a sweeping view of the expansive grounds. A highlight of the 1909 season must have been the air show put on by the Wright brothers, who flew laps here in their “Kitty Hawk.” The racetrack remained in operation only until 1914. Today, nothing remains of the once-so-glamorous facility.

There is a brine spring near Heringsdorf from which brine has been extracted since 1896. In 1927–28, well driller Hermann Loeck drilled a new 408-meter-deep well near the Heringsdorf pier, from which brine is still extracted today. It has a salt content of 4 percent.

Hans Werner Richter was born on November 12, 1908, in Neu Sallenthin. He was a German writer and also gained great recognition as the founder of “Gruppe 47,” the most important postwar writers’ group in West Germany. In his books *Geschichten aus Bansin* and *Spuren im Sand*, he recounted his childhood in Bansin. He died on March 23, 1993, and was buried in the Bansin Cemetery.

Emperor Wilhelm II’s tea visits to the widow Elisabeth Staudt at “Haus Miramar” in Heringsdorf caused quite a stir and were accompanied by all sorts of gossip. The emperor always arrived in an open-top convertible.

The extension of the line beyond Heringsdorf to the Wolgast ferry proved necessary and was designed as a single-track branch line. However, a straight route from Heringsdorf to Bansin conflicted with the interests of the Heringsdorf Stock Company. The company justified its opposition by citing the well-being of its guests, who could not be expected to tolerate the noise and soot from the trains. The new railroad line had to be routed in a curve around the Präsidentenberg. It was inaugurated with a festive ceremony on June 1, 1911.

Since 1910, Emperor Wilhelm II had been considering building a children’s vacation home on Usedom where boys and girls from Berlin’s working-class neighborhoods could recuperate amid the fresh forest and sea air. Functional wooden structures were erected at the eastern end of Ahlbeck. In May 1913, the first young guests arrived. The Emperor himself presided over the official inauguration on June 14, 1913. A total of 150 boys and girls were able to leave the big city behind for four weeks at a time from May through October.

Devastating storm surges have repeatedly struck—and continue to strike—the island of Usedom in the winter. As a representative example, we mention here the storm surge of December 29, 1913, which particularly affected Bansin. With elemental force, the floodwaters destroyed the new bathing facilities, the dunes, the fishermen’s huts, and most of the promenade.

Until then, swimming on the beaches of Usedom had been permitted only within the boundaries of the bathing establishments. Anyone who violated this rule had to pay a fine. After swimming outside the designated bathing areas had already been permitted in some towns of the Stralsund administrative district as early as 1923, a police ordinance appeared in the Official Gazette of the Prussian Government in Stettin on June 14, 1924, permitting open-air swimming from beach chairs or the dunes even in the seaside resorts of this administrative district—but only in swimsuits made of opaque fabric and during specified times.

The area between the pier and the Strandcasino was redesigned in 1929. A new concert garden with a bandstand and fountain complemented the overall complex—comprising the Kurhaus, the “Atlantic” Hotel, the Strandcasino, the family swimming area, the pier, and the saltwater fountain house—making it one of the most impressive spa complexes of its time.

On Pentecost Sunday, 1932, what is arguably the most beautiful bandstand on the island of Usedom was inaugurated on the beach promenade in Bansin.