At the beginning of August 1890, the Emperor's yacht was docked off Helgoland, a black steamer with a paddle wheel and two white smokestacks, surrounded by smaller escort ships. A dozen armored ships and several torpedo boats of the Imperial Navy are anchored at a distance. Wilhelm II takes possession of the island personally. Since July 1, 1890, Helgoland has been part of the German Empire, exchanged with the British for German colonial claims in distant Africa:Witu-Land in what is now Kenya, Buganda on Lake Victoria or areas in Southeast Africa. The British have also been promised control of Zanzibar, although the island does not belong to the Germans.
Heligoland:A barren rock of strategic importance
Although Helgoland is only a small, barren island, it is strategically important for the German Reich.A red sandstone cliff and a white dune in the sea, around 50 kilometers from the mainland:the island, which belongs to the Duchy of Schleswig, has been governed by Denmark since 1714. In 1807, the British first occupied it during the war against Napoleon and then kept it - as a naval port on the high seas.
The more than 2,000 Heligoland Frisians live mainly from fishing and beach robbery, hunt seagulls and seals. In summer, a Hapag steamer brings bathers to the island. For the Kaiser, who was pushing for German world standing and sea power, Heligoland was a strategically particularly important post. The island lies in front of the mouths of the Elbe and Weser, the traffic arteries of the commercial cities of Hamburg and Bremen. Wilhelmshaven is also close by, where the Imperial Navy has its base. And the Kiel Canal, which is currently under construction.
A profitable business for the British
For the British, however, the island is too far away and their defense too costly. Before the ships of the Royal Navy left their home ports, the Emperor's marines would have occupied the rock long ago. The Germans want him? So it's good if you can still make a worthwhile business out of it:That's what the "Treaty on the Colonies and Heligoland" regulates, which the German Chancellor Leo von Caprivi and the British Ambassador sign in Berlin on July 1, 1890.
Because the Emperor urgently needs the rocks in the North Sea, he renounces a large part of his colonial interests in Africa, so-called protected areas, spheres of influence and other plans. From then on, the empire was limited to German Southwest Africa, Togo, Cameroon and German East Africa. The British add smaller strips of land here and there, but in return they let the Germans overwrite areas that they can use to significantly expand their colonies, for example in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa:What are two square kilometers of rock compared to 2,000 square kilometers Farmland?
German colonial politicians are appalled
This is also the opinion of the colonial lobby in Berlin, which is not happy about the "recovery of the original German land," as the newspapers put it. You got a shabby trouser button for a new suit, the barren rocks of Helgoland, so goes the wrong claim, which has persisted to this day, for the much larger and richer island of Zanzibar. The hitherto successful attempts to expand the colonial empire have been frustrated. That's why they set up an association that promotes imperialist expansion and later becomes an influential reservoir for ethnic ideologues as the "All-German Association".
There's a celebration on Heligoland
However, the Kaiser, "more of the Reich in peace", as the newspapers exuberantly celebrate him, does not allow himself to be talked out of his new acquisition. On the afternoon of August 8, 1890, a Saturday, a crowd gathered on Helgoland's Queen Street with its Gründerzeit villas and wooden houses. Hapag in Hamburg has been advertising the crossing on this day for weeks, for 40 marks including meals on board (without drinks) and the return journey in a special train from Cuxhaven.
Full-bearded dignitaries stand in front of the conversation house of the seaside resort, despite the high summer heat in black tailcoats and top hats, next to ladies in white dresses and British sailors in navy blue uniforms. The fresh sea wind billows the plumes on the hats of the British governor and the German secretary of state who are making the exchange. The Brit reads the contract, then toasts are made to the Queen and Emperor. After a gun salute, soldiers hoist the black, white and red flag next to the British Union Jack.
After the service on the Oberland, the Imperial War Flag and the Emperor's standard are hoisted.On Sunday the Kaiser finally appears. The pier is decorated with flags and garlands. Here he accepts the homage of the admirals, generals and secretaries of state who have taken office. "Helgoland greets you Kaiser" is written on a large banner that flutters over the path. With cheers, he paces the crowd. School children sing the hymn "Heil Dir im Siegerkranz". 15 girls in traditional costume hand over a green, red and white flower greeting in the colors of Helgoland.
Prussian order moves in
After Helgoland was handed over to the German Reich, Queen Street became Kaiser Street.The incorporation turns out to be warlike. 3,000 sailors and members of the naval battalion, who came over from the ironclads in small boats, occupy the island. They heave eight cannons up the 188 steps to the Oberland and bring them into position, as well as two 20 meter long flagpoles, which a naval tug brought from the mainland. After a field service at the lighthouse, Wilhelm II inspects the parade of troops in the Kartoffelallee. Next to the imperial war flag flies the ruler's standard:an Iron Cross on a yellow background.
Queen Street soon became Kaiserstrasse, and Prussian discipline intervened in the tranquil life of the islanders, who had been left alone by the British for decades. However, in the "Treaty on the Colonies and Helgoland" they had some privileges written for their former subjects that were valid for a long time. Residents born before July 1, 1890 are exempt from military service, old laws and customs should remain as far as possible. The Heligolanders can also choose between German and British citizenship - only eleven become British.
The island remains contested later
It was not until 1952 that the Heligolanders evacuated during the war were allowed to return to their destroyed island.In the decades that followed, battles flared up again and again for the island. During World War I, the British sink German cruisers, torpedo boats and other warships in naval battles off Heligoland. In April 1945, the Heligolanders had to leave their island after massive bombing raids by the Royal Air Force. Two years later, the British blow up the underground bunkers of the Navy with around 100,000 bombs and grenades. After that, they use the red rock as a bomb drop site for years. They only return the island to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1952, after appeals by the expelled residents to the United Nations and the Pope.