Evening star., 1919-04-07
.HELGOLANDFORTS
WILL Be BLASTED
Germans Spent Millions
Fortifying Curious Little
North Sea Island. .

TUTtIyIny CuT1UuS L'tue
North Sea Island. =
LEGENDS AND MYTHS
ing the world war, now seems as
much of military white elephant as
the German battleships," says a bull
letin of tne National Geographic So
ciety which describes the North sea
Gibraltar.
The fortifica tionS. built to defend
the entrance TO the kiei canal, will be
dismantled, dispatches state, and the
English propose TO use leftoVeI aiiled
and German explosives to blast away
the towering rocks which make the
island so highly strategic.
Acquired From Great Britain in 30
little island of fairy tales and ghost
lore, with its quaint, kindly folk and
their queer customs" the bulletin con-
tinues The sea all but washed it away
brought shoals of fishes. but waited
them back across the channel. cut the
island in two, but was unk;ndest o.
all perhaps, when il planted the pia-
teau rock land to be a magnet fo1
German militarism. 1t did not take
long. after Germany acquired the
island from Great Britain, in 1890, 10
convert it into combination super
fort and Coney Island for overstou:
German tradesmen.
Thirty miles west OF the Schles-
wig -Holstein coast. less than a square
mile in area. the few thousand fisher
folk had little chance to make any
protest. Yet the sturdy islanders
for centuries had well defined ideas
about self-determinati tion-even IL the!
never heard the phrase.
Upon one memorable occa sion the
. women of the island decided its po-
litical fate About the time William
Penn was settling Pennsylvania a
Danish admiral captured the islands
fishermen one night while they were
placing their nets He threatened
TO hold them as hostages until the
island surrendered to Denmark. Wives.
an and forced the Sch.eswig gar
risen to relinqu;sh any claim upon
Helgoland to Denmark.
Green. Red and White.
Before the Hun fortificat;ons cap
ped the mainland and the and dune
was overrun by bathing houses. the
appearance of the island to the ap-
proa ching mariner was aptiy de-
scribed in the verse:
Green is the land
Red is the rock.
White is the strand
These are the colors OF Helgoland.'
From it's predominant natural COZ
i island fIii fa tS
red. white and green, contained in the
olden days of lenient Danish and
English rule. not only in flags and
On the curious postage stamps. but
exploited in house painting and wom-
ems scarfs.
Two centuries ago violent up
heaval Of the sea churned out the
connecting link between the sand
loWiand and pierced cliffs.
Fairies were supposed to 1urh above
the great staircase that mounted to
tile rocky heights. When a baby was
born its feet were buttered promptly
so the child would slip through the
fingers OF a fairy who might try to
excha nge it for the fairy's babe.
The .snost of Monks rock-the
roel. was authentic, but disappeared
long ago-was supposed to be that of
a missionary sent By the King of Den
mark TO preach Luther's doctrine.
When he would not recant the island
ers pitched him over a cliff. but many
declared they heard his voice the fol-
lowing night and many times there
after.
IN the fifteenth and sixteenth CEN
turtles Heigoland was center OF the
North sea herring fisheries. Then the
herring veered back to Scotland's
coast and the islanders handed down
a tale of the impiety By which they
forfeited the boon. Yearly they would
from in procession to march abou- the
island to invoke the coming of the
fish. One spring. when they had gone
but half the route, the herring we're
sighted. They abandoned the rite and
made for the boats. The herring never
came again.
Until a lew years ago horses were
unknown to the island. One story has
it. that when an old woman saw an
Engiishmsn ride one up the hills she
dropped dead from the shock of what
ture.
Before Germany acquired the
island and sent 1000 soldiers there
to IL an the fort the citizens were law
abiding. When there was an occa-
sional misd demeanor no need existed to
send a police lookout warning. An
islander. when arrested, would go to
the little Jail and inform the keeper
he was to be imprisoned.
Ancient Name Was Hertha.
'In ancient times the island was
called Hertha. 4 temple of Foesta,
Frisian goddess, was there. From
the tenth until the fourteenth CEN
tury it was independent. Then the
dukes of Schieswig took it over and
used il mainly as pawn for loans
until the Danes acquired it, 400 years
later. Denmark ceded it to Great
Britain early in the nineteenth cen
tury, and the British. while recog-
nizing its military Importance. forti-
fed it only for defensive purposes.
But the Germans built a great sea
wall of granite and steel. at a cost
of 3D.000.00O. and spent millions
more on turrets and big guns.
Visited by SO many nationalities.
the islanders absorbed customs and
ideas of many lands. vet seemed to
adorn each with a distinctive touch.
They even had a curious quirk in
their Satan-a wooden lcg-so painted
in a picture of the Temptation of
Christ in the historic church by khe
island artist of the seventeenth CEN