Germany 2010 24-Werder

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Brandenburg State

Vacation 2010

September 22, Germany
Werder, Brandenburg

Werder City

The small city of Werder is located just 15 miles west of Potsdam and it is as rich in history as its big neighbor. Archaeological finds suggest and old Slawonian settlement on the island.

Werder island is part of an area called Zauche, which was the first part of the land that officially became German, when Hevelli Prince Pribislav handed it to German prince Albert the Bear as a baptism gift for Albert's son in 1128.

The first official record of the town of "Werdere" dates back to 1317, and ever since, the island has been invaluable to Potsdam as a supplier of produce and fish. Today, Werder is still famous for its orchards and the annual Blossoming Season Festival is Germany's third largest festival, topped only by the Cologne Carnival and the Munich Octoberfest.

Much of Germany's rich architecture got irrecoverably lost in the bombing and artillery battles of World War II.

Werder was one of the few towns that surrendered without a fight and thus, many interesting buildings, like the 700 year-old Church of the Holy Spirit (above) and the Old Town Hall (below) were saved.

Werder Windmill

1881 1973 1993

Ever since the 1500s, a Post-Windmill has graced the town's skyline, (above left). But in 1973, the old windmill caught fire (above center) and burned down completely. Only the original millstone (below center) remained.
In response, the people of Werder did something fairly unorthodox: they searched the entire country for a mill for sale, found one 12 years later and 60 miles away, bought it and moved it piece by piece to their island.
In 1993, after 15,000 hours of volunteer work, the new windmill was completed (above right). The windmill is open
for visitors, and of course, we took a tour.

Werder Kipper

For over 1,000 years, the people living along these lakes have been known as the best fishermen far and wide.

Smoked eel, pike, perch and catfish are the county's most famous delicacies.

As a matter of fact, it was the kipper that made Jürgen and Volker stop here in the first place.
Fire wood and smoke ovens for the freshest smoked fish possible.

From Werder Island, we went straight back to Potsdam, but Jutta and Jürgen had one last surprise for us.