History

Bansin is a small village on the island of Usedom, which was first mentioned in 1256. The original name of the village was Banzino, a Wendish name. Over the years, the town has developed into a welcoming holiday resort, known for its beautiful beaches and its proximity to the Baltic Sea. Visitors can also tour the historical buildings and monuments in Bansin, which give an insight into the long history of the place.

Gothen, along with Mellenthin, was an important estate of the Pomeranian noble family von Neuenkirchen, also known as Nienkerken. This property, which is located on the island of Usedom, was owned in 1342 by the knight Rudolf von Nienkerken, the first representative of the family to be mentioned in Pomerania.

The von Neuenkirchen family had played an important role in Pommer's history in the past. It was closely linked to the development of the region and had a major impact on the country's economy, culture and politics.

The Gothen estate was an important economic factor for the von Neuenkirchen family. It was mainly used for agriculture and mainly produced grain, fruit and livestock. These resources were important to the family and served as the basis for their economic power.

Over the centuries the property has changed and there have been many conversions and extensions. Today, however, Gothen is still a stunning example of the region's architecture and history. Visitors can experience the beauty and charm of good by strolling through the magnificent royal and beautiful gardens.

Although the von Neuenkirchen family is no longer based in Gothen today, the property remains an important part of their history and a fascinating example of the development of the Pomeranian region. It is a place full of history and culture that is worth visiting.

The village of Ahlbeck came about through the construction of a water mill on the Beek. This mill was an important economic factor for the region and served as the driving force behind the emergence of the new village. The first inhabitants of the village, a miller, a tar distiller and a fisherman with their families lived in the immediate vicinity of the mill and depended on their work.

At the beginning, the village belonged to the Mellenthin dominion. However, it was not a noble village, but a settlement of working-class families who lived near the mill. However, in 1752 a tragic event happened when the mill was destroyed in a fire. This had a major impact on the villagers, who were now left without their main source of income.

It was only in the years 1818 and 1820 that 11 more houses were built here, the plots of which were sold by the forester von Bülow to fishermen. These fishermen, who now populated the village, gave the village its name "Ahlbeck noble". Although the village was not really noble, it was an important place for fishermen to live and work.

Today, Ahlbeck is a popular holiday resort, known for its picturesque beaches and its proximity to the Baltic Sea. Visitors can also explore the history of the site and learn about the origins and development of the village. Ahlbeck noble remains a place full of history and charm that is worth visiting.

The Deutsche Baugesellschaft buys Heringsdorf with all bathing establishments, buildings and part of the forest from Countess Stollberg-Wernigerode for 115.000 thalers. The Delbrück brothers, Hugo and Adelbert, found the "Aktiengesellschaft Seebad Heringsdorf" with other Berlin bankers. Now the place is rapidly rising to become a posh seaside resort, hosting nobles and artists who can't resist the salty breeze and nautical charm.

In 1921 the public limited company Seebad Heringsdorf was bought by the municipality.

In 1875 the lifting bridge in Karnin was put into operation, the predecessor was a hand-operated swing bridge. Thanks to the Berlin-Ducherow-Heringsdorf railway line, which was open to traffic from 1876, the journey from the capital took just four hours.

Also in 1875, the businessman Albert Wendicke built the first hotel in Ahlbeck, the spa house "Wendicke's Hotel", today known as the 'Hotel Meereswelle'.

The award of the title "Seebad" is documented in an imperial decree dated June 4.6.1879, XNUMX and signed by the King of Prussia and German Emperor Wilhelm I at Babelsberg Castle. This title is of enormous importance for the up-and-coming seaside resort. The districts of Heringsdorf and Neukrug become the seaside resort of Heringsdorf. The towns of Neuhof and Gothen will remain independent.

From "Ahlbeck royal" and "Ahlbeck aristocratic" the municipality of Ahlbeck is formed.

The Berlin banker Benoit Oppenheim has one of the most beautiful spa villas in Heringsdorf built in the style of the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, embedded in a park landscape directly on the promenade. The villa became a favorite motif of the German-American painter Lyonel Feininger, to whom the view of the Heringsdorf pier from the viewing platform at the Heringsdorf rose garden is also dedicated.

The Świnoujście–Heringsdorf railway line is inaugurated on July 1st. The direct connection from Heringsdorf to the capital Berlin shortens the travel time considerably and brings the seaside resort an enormous increase in holiday guests. Heringsdorf becomes the “Bathtub of the Berliners”.

In the same year, what is probably the most fashionable house in Ahlbeck, the Ahlbecker Hof, is built. To this day, it is home to many crowned heads: from the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph to the Swedish Queen Silvia and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark.

In 1894 Ahlbeck also got its first evangelical church. For more than three decades, the cantor Johann Koch collected from locals and holidaymakers for his own church in Ahlbeck. The foundation stone was laid on July 22, 1894. The neo-Gothic church was consecrated on August 29, 1895. Cantor Koch died on June 1, 1894, seven weeks before the foundation stone of the church was laid, but with the certainty that the people of Ahlbeck would get their church.

The warm baths in Ahlbeck, today the seat of the municipality of Ostseebad Heringsdorf, are built. Today the municipal administration is located in this house. Shower and sea baths are administered in large wash tubs in the warm baths.

Four visionaries - the corn surgeon Emil Wichmann from Berlin, the Sallenthin local writer Ernst Necker, the village innkeeper and the village school teacher - also want to attract guests with the construction of a bathing establishment west of Heringsdorf and found the seaside resort of Bansin. They acquire the plots of land from the public limited company Seebad Heringsdorf. At the beginning of the season, the first hotels, guesthouses and villas are ready. Bansin registers 380 guests in the first year of its existence.

The Ahlbeck pier - today the oldest surviving of its kind in Germany - is inaugurated. However, it initially consists of an open café flanked by four towers, followed by a pier.

In the same year, the Strandcasino, the official spa building, is built directly on the Heringsdorf Promenade. In addition to 18 elegant shops, it also houses a 500 m² big dance hall. In front of the casino on the promenade is the concert place. This summer, Heringsdorf counts 13.430 spa guests.

In 1946 the beach casino burned down completely and was rebuilt in 1948 by the Russian occupying forces as their own officers' casino. After their departure, the Russians donate it to the community, which uses it as a cultural center, affectionately called "Kulti" by the locals. After the reunification it was the Baltic Sea Casino until it was closed in May 2014. Today it is the Maritim Hotel Kaiserhof, which houses the Imperial Baths Hall.

In 1905, the year in which Heringsdorf received its coat of arms, which showed three silver herrings on a blue background, the spa director Hermann Hans Valentin von Bismarck passed. Bsent a letter to the public limited company Seebad Heringsdorf with the wish to build a Bismarck fire column in Heringsdorf. At a first donation festival, 515 marks are raised. The construction cost a total of 50.000 marks. The foundation stone is laid for the 42 meter high Bismarck lookout point on the President's Hill in today's Kur- und Heilwald. At the end of 1906 he was finished. A Bismarck memorial hall leads to a platform that can hold 60 visitors. Above it is a round fire bowl three meters in diameter. The inauguration took place on June 23.06.1907, 1946. In XNUMX, the Bismarck control room was blown up by a commando of the Soviet army for military reasons.

The spa complex is supplemented by the spa hotel “Atlantik”. The hotel is managed by the Hotel "Kaiserhof" Berlin, later by "Kempinski" Berlin. For a long time it was considered the most elegant and largest building on the Baltic Sea. The Free German Trade Union Confederation (FDGB) later turned the hotel into the “Solidarity” home, which was blown up in 1979. The cornerstone for the new FDGB home Solidarity is laid a year later. Today the spa clinic and the spa hotel Heringsdorf are located in the two high-rise buildings.

The spa director, Hermann Hans Valentin von Bismarck, and the director of the public limited company, Werner Delbrück, inaugurate the racetrack that was built on the way from Heringsdorf to Gothen.

In the courtyard of the Heringsdorfer Warmbades - today the right tower of the health clinic is there - a first brine source is drilled at a depth of 223 meters. The source with 2-3% iodine brine will later silt up. But in 1927, a new brine source was tapped with a 400 meter deep borehole next to the Heringsdorf pier. The four percent salt water solution contains iodine and trace elements and is used for medicinal baths. They are considered to be health-promoting for rheumatic diseases, respiratory and skin diseases.

Sensational and accompanied by all sorts of gossip: Kaiser Wilhelm II's tea visits with Elisabeth Staudt in "Haus Marimar" in Heringsdorf, to which Majesty always drives in the open convertible. They last until 1912.

In the same year, the concert site in Ahlbeck, located between the promenade and the Baltic Sea dunes, was built and a wooden music pavilion was built - one year after Ahlbeck was officially given the title of seaside resort.

While the section from Ducherow over the Karnin Bridge was a double-track main line, the extension to the Wolgast ferry was a single-track branch line. The railway line from Züssow to Wolgast Hafen was put into operation as early as 1863. At that time, travelers had to cross the Peenestrom on foot to connect, a road bridge led from one side of the bank to the other. The Peene Bridge in Wolgast, also known as the "Blue Wonder", which is equipped with a railway track, only went into operation in 2000. 

Maxim Gorki recovers from tuberculosis in the Heringsdorf boarding house "Villa Irmgard", built in 1906, and during his stay in Heringsdorf he receives well-known artists and Russian exiles.

This means that the bathing establishments are no longer needed. The family pool in Heringsdorf, which was built in 1909/1910, becomes a beach café. This burns down in 1963.

The Harder beach chair factory, the oldest beach chair factory in the world still in production today, which was relocated from Wolgast to Heringsdorf in 1933, cannot make up for the sad story as a positive event. After the bathing permit was issued outside the bathing establishments, the need for beach chairs has grown continuously. But the elite of the empire were more drawn to Bansin, since the owners and guests in Heringsdorf were traditionally Jewish.

After all, the National Socialists' hatred of Jews did not stop at the imperial baths. The first Gauleiter of Pomerania, Peter von Heidebreck, declared Bansin the first German spa to be free of Jews. In the other two imperial baths, too, citizens of the Jewish faith were subsequently expropriated and deported to concentration camps.

The foundation stone for the Bansin church, also known as the forest church, is laid. The third youngest church on Usedom is built on the model of the Swinemünde Kreuzkirche. Unlike the other two evangelical imperial spa churches, it is not built of bricks, but is a plastered building. The church was inaugurated in 1939.

The buildings, numbering around 40, will first be handed over to the municipality and then to the Free German Trade Union Confederation (FDGB).

In the Rose campaign, hotel and pension owners are expropriated. The buildings are handed over to the FDGB holiday service, which continues to operate them as trade union holiday homes. Only with the end of the Free German Trade Union Confederation in 1990 were the hotels, guesthouses and villas returned to their owners.

In 1954 the Kaiser Wilhelm Bridge burned down on the water side, and in 1958 the entrance area and shopping street also burned down due to arson. It was not until 1995 that the current pier in Heringsdorf was built, 50 meters from its predecessor. At 508 meters, it is the longest pier in Germany.

The House of Recreation in Ahlbeck (HdE) is being built by the FDGB. The new building cost 1,5 million marks. The HdE was used as a cinema until the end of 2010. Since then it has been empty.

The observatory in Heringsdorf, also known as the "Manfred von Ardenne" public observatory, was created at the suggestion of the physicist, who equipped it with a reflecting telescope.

After almost 40 years without a pier, a new, exclusively privately financed pier is inaugurated in Heringsdorf - about 50 meters from the previous building that burned down. With its 508 meter long pier, it is the longest pier in Germany. In the glass-roofed passage building in front of the pier there are small shops and restaurants, with holiday apartments on the upper floor. The bridgehead is crowned by a pyramidal building with a restaurant. In addition to excursion boats, sailing ships also dock here.

The Usedomer Bäderbahn (UBB) also begins operations in 1995, on June 1st to be exact. Threatened with closure after reunification, the UBB developed into one of the most successful regional railways in Germany with around 3,6 million passengers a year.

The Ostsee Therme Usedom is opened at the entrance to Ahlbeck. The special feature of the thermal bath is the four percent brine, which is contained in all six pools in the bathing world. The Ostseetherme also has a sauna and wellness area, a health studio and a spa center where physiotherapeutic and medical treatments and cures prescribed by the spa doctor are administered.

Ahlbeck, Heringsdorf and Bansin can call themselves seaside health resorts. Seaside spas are special health resorts with a direct connection to the sea, where the sea climate is used for therapeutic treatments. The local presence of a spa doctor for the prescription treatments is mandatory. The infrastructure of these places must offer sufficient opportunities for recreation. Seaside spas may levy tourist taxes. The “Seeheilbad” certificate is awarded by the German Health Baths Association.

The municipalities of Ahlbeck, Heringsdorf, Bansin and the towns of Gothen, Bansin-Dorf, Alt- and Neu-Sallenthin and Sellin merge to form the municipality of Ostseebad Heringsdorf.

Since Poland joined the Schenger Agreement in December 2007, pedestrians and cyclists as well as cars and buses have been allowed to pass through the Ahlbeck Swinemünde border crossing. A year later, the railway line from Ahlbeck to Swinemünde center was also opened.

The Europapromenade from Ahlbeck to Swinemünde with open border crossing is inaugurated. From now on, cyclists and pedestrians can cycle and walk on a paved path along the dune without border formalities from Germany to Poland or vice versa. The border has become a meeting place here, which is symbolized by the bracket sculpture installed there.

As early as 1900, the coastal forest in Heringsdorf was integrated into bathing life. In addition to a coffee house and the Bismarck Observatory on the President's Mountain, a racecourse, tennis courts and a network of hiking trails were also built. Since 2016, the coastal forest has been Europe's first spa and healing forest, whose 187 hectares are deliberately used as a unique, local natural remedy.