page_title: Kampen (Sylt)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Kampen (Sylt) / History
caption_attribution_description: Sylt: Kampen vom Leuchtturm gesehen, 1894
context_page_description: Kampen is a municipality and seaside resort on the island Sylt, in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is located north of the island's main town, Westerland. The municipality is part of the Amt Landschaft Sylt. The local economy is dominated by tourism.
context_section_description: The first mention of Kampen occurs in a tax registry from 1543. The village is considered to have been founded quite late, possibly as a result of people moving there from an earlier settlement destroyed by a storm.
  In 1767, the local Landvogt and some inhabitants bought land to the north of the village and established the Kampener Vogelkoje, a decoy. This was profitable over the next four decades and through 1921 yielded a total of 695,957 killed ducks.
  In 1803, Kampen consisted of 23 houses and 93 inhabitants (40 men and 53 women, of which 23 were seafarers). In 1853, King Frederick VII of Denmark ordered the construction of the Kampen Lighthouse. In 1860, the number of houses had fallen to 22 and there were still 93 inhabitants, however, just three of them were seafarers. In 1864, Kampen became Prussian.
  For centuries, until around 1900, Kampen was a rural village shaped by agriculture. Shipping and fishing as well as other industries and crafts played a relatively smaller role in the village's development. Together with Wenningstedt, the village of Kampen constituted part of the so-called "Northern Villages" (Norddörfer) of Sylt. The church and school were shared due to the low number of citizens in the respective villages – so they could only be supported through a common effort.
  Kampen, a quiet hamlet situated in a heath, was discovered by tourists quite late. Until the beginning of the 20th century the place was merely regarded an insider's tip among travellers. Only in the 1920s did Kampen's reputation as a seaside resort begin to develop. An ordinance from 1912, which is still effective today, requires that all houses in the village be built in the traditional style, i.e. brick buildings with thatched roofs.
  In July 1903, Kampen was linked by the Sylter Nordbahn to Westerland. In 1908, this was extended north to List. In 1908, the Nordseebad Kampen auf Sylt GmbH (founded in 1904) built a large two-storied octagonal wooden pavilion on the northern heath, around 400 metres from the Kurhaus (it was demolished in 1922). Even earlier, in 1906, a development plan had called for covering all of the northwestern heath with new construction.
  After World War I, the Verein Naturschutz Insel Sylt e. V. was founded. Haus Kliffende to the north of the village became a cultural and artists' meeting place in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1921, locals established the Verkehrsverein Kampen/Sylt e. V. to boost tourism.
  Beginning in 1921, writer Thomas Mann was a guest of Siegfried Jacobsohn and later often stayed at Haus Kliffende, north of the village. Many other intellectuals, musicians, writers and other artists flocked to the area. These included Max Frisch, Emil Nolde, Carl Zuckmayer, Heinrich Vogeler and Lovis Corinth. In 1923, there were 1,213 visitors to Kampen.Ferdinand Avenarius is considered as the first popularizer of Sylt. Today, a park is named after him.
  Kampen became a separate municipality on 21 March 1927, when the Norddörfer association was dissolved by the Prussian authorities, creating the Landgemeinde Kampen.
  In 1938, there were 25,0000 visitors and more than 500 Ehrenkurgäste.
  Prior to – and during – World War II camps to accommodate troops were established in Kampen by the Wehrmacht. A major camp was located near today's public camping site in the southwestern part of the village. It had been built due to the expansion of the air field in Braderup. There was, however, no direct combat action, nor did Kampen suffer any remarkable damage from the allied bombings.
  East of the village there was an anti-aircraft site with many bunkers and shelters. In the immediate post-war years, Kampen had 370 inhabitants and they were joined by 1,927 refugees from Germany's former eastern territories housed in the former military installations. In the 1950s, the Café Kupferkanne was established inside the anti-aircraft facility. The Lager Skagerak became a youth hostel.
  After World War II the village became a venue of the "rich and famous" – the tycoons of the Wirtschaftswunder. Also many celebrities of cinema and television though
caption: Kampen in 1894 as seen from atop the Kampen Lighthouse
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