Exploring Anklam, Usedom & Peenemünde

Anklam

A former Hanseatic town, Anklam’s erstwhile importance is revealed by its vast defensive walls, in which is set the mid-15th century city gate, Steintor.

It is worth visiting the Gothic Marien-kirche. Inside, the church’s octagonal pillars and the arches of its arcades are painted with graceful figures, which reveal a Lubeck influence. A museum recalls the life and inventions of Otto Lilienthal, born here in 1848.

After observing storks, he built a flying machine and completed his first flight in 1891. In total he created 2000 machines, none of which flew further than 350 m (1148 ft).

Usedom

The island, named after the village of Usedom and separated from the mainland by the Peenestrom, is the second largest in Germany at 445 sq km (172 sq miles). A small corner in the east was incorporated into Poland after 1945. Usedom is almost as attractive as Rugen, possessing white beaches, forests, peat bogs and bays overgrown with rushes in the south. It is linked with the mainland by two drawbridges (near Anklam and Wolgast).

The resorts follow one another like pearls on a string: Bansin, Heringsdorf and Bad Ahlbeck, known as the “three sisters”, are connected by a wide beach. At the beginning of the 20th century they evolved into elegant holiday resorts, with white villas, hotels and boarding houses, as typical of seaside resorts. Worth a visit is the industrialist Oechler’s house in Heringsdorf (Delbrurkstr. 5), which has an antique appearance with mosaics on its facade. During the past few years, the early 20th-century piers in all three spas have been rebuilt and restored. The longest, in Heringsdorf, is also the second largest in Europe, after one in Poland. The Marienkirche, one of the island’s main attractions, was erected in the 19th century.

Peenemünde

Historically the most interesting spot on the island of Usedom is the museum at Peenemunde, based on military territory. It demonstrates the evolution of space travel, pioneered at this research station since 1936. During World War II, long-distance rockets, powered by liquid fuel and known as V-2 (Vergeltungswaffe; retaliatory weapon), were produced here, which inflicted heavy damage on London and Antwerp in 1944.

After the war, the chief engineer, Wernher von Braun, worked for NASA and helped develop the Apollo rockets.