A Strandburg, which is German for “beach castle,” used to be an integral part of every German beach holiday. It is distinctly different from a sand castle. While the latter is intricately designed, the Strandburg is only a low, circular wall of sand that surrounds another German invention, the Strandkorb, or beach basket. The beach basket serves as the vacationer’s home away from home, and since it swivels, it also provides an excellent windbreak. The Strandburg demarcates the territory. Whenever you happen upon a Strandburg, you can be sure to find a German inside.
Typical Strandburg (Beach Castle) at the Baltic Sea around 1950. Photo © J. Elke Ertle. www.walled-in-berlin.com
History of the Strandburg
Until the end of the 19th century, only the elite could afford to vacation at the beach. However, these upper-class lords and ladies did not stretch out in the sun or frolic in the waves. Instead, they stepped into a bathing cart, a contraption akin to a cabin on rollers, which was pulled into the water by a horse. Once knee-deep in the ocean, a servant opened the cabin door, and the beach goer jumped into the water. After a few strokes, he or she got back into the cart and was wheeled back onto the strand.
Once the general public could afford a beach holiday, the beach culture changed, and the entire family vacationed together. Now mother, father, and child spent all day at the beach. Upon arrival, the family rented a beach basket for the duration of their vacation. It didn’t take long before, the patriarch got bored with sitting in the Strandkorb with nothing to do. That’s when he reached for a spade and built a wall around his family’s beach basket. A new trend was born.
The decline of the Beach Castle
Until the 1960s, the building of a Strandburg remained a cherished pursuit. Children gathered sea shells, tiny rocks, and seaweed and decorated their beach castle. Sometimes, they adorned it’s rim with small paper flags. Spa towns sponsored contests, and the prettiest Strandburg won a prize. The beaches along the Baltic and North Sea soon looked like a moonscape due to the countless castles dotting the beach. While the building of a Strandburg was prevalent throughout the 1960’s, its popularity diminished in the 70’ and 80’s. By the 1990s, it had become a rarity. These days, no more than 5% of beach goers in Germany build a beach castle. Even fewer decorate it. Beach castles have become a rare gem on German beaches.
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Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
