Ringkøbing Fjord

Neben diesen historischen Fakten gibt es noch eine
Vielzahl von Erzählungen, Überlieferungen und auch
Sagen und Mythen. Einige der Dünen entlang der Küste
werden als „Dødemandsbjerge“ (Toter-Mann-Berge)
bezeichnet, weil dort fremde Seeleute, die bei Schiffsunglücken
ertranken und an den Strand gespült wurden, in
den Dünen begraben liegen, da man zum einen nicht so
viele „Fremde“ auf dem Friedhof haben wollte und es zum
anderen leichter war, als sie den ganzen Weg zum Friedhof
zu transportieren.
Es gibt Vorwarnungen über Begräbniszüge, die so lang waren,
dass man nicht mehr auf den Straßen fahren konnte,
Geschichten über Strandvögte, die Särge in der Scheune
stehen „sahen“ und vorhersagen konnten, dass bald ein
Schiff untergehen würde, wobei genauso viele Menschen
ertrinken würden, wie Särge in der Scheune standen, die
Erzählung von einem „Lumpenweib“, das außerhalb des
Friedhofes begraben wurde, weil man mehrere Kinderleichen
bei ihr gefunden hatte, und die erst später auf
„geweihte“ Erde umgebettet wurde, und die Geschichte
einer besonderen Grabstätte auf dem Friedhof von Skjern,
auf deren Stein zu lesen ist:
Hier liegen die Gebeine
von
Christian Jensen
ehemals Liverpool
Er wurde 1822 in Skjern geboren, ließ sich als Schiffsbaumeister
in Liverpool nieder und kehrte an seinen Geburtsort
zurück, wo er 1895 starb und ein Testament hinterließ,
in dem stand: „Mein Begräbnis wünsche ich so einfach
und billig wie möglich. Als Grabschrift nur: Hier liegt die
Gebeine von C.J.“
All diese Geschichten sind ein Teil der Identität der Gegend
und werden in den lokalen Gemeinschaften weitergegeben.
e n g l i s h
Much of our local history is linked to the churches, and
there are lots of them – almost 50 around the fjord. Many
of them are very old – from the 11th-12th centuries – but
others, e.g. those at Holmsland Klit, are much younger.
Lyngvig and Haurvig churches are from the late 1800s,
while Helligåndskirken in Hvide Sande was built in 1953-
54. Hover has one of the oldest stone churches in the
country, and it stands unchanged from the time when it
was built. It has no tower, and the bell is suspended from a
yoke on the chancel gable. The church is registered in the
Danish Ministry of Culture’s Danish Culture canon as one
of the most original churches in Denmark and typical of its
period. Ringkøbing church has a modern altarpiece by Arne
Haugen Sørensen, and Stadil church has one of the seven
famous golden altars in Denmark.
But there are many other interesting, amusing and sad and
thought-provoking stories to be told. Thus the memorial
at the drainage lock in Hvide Sande reminds us of a
rescue mission in 1951, when five lifeboat men lost their
lives, and in the forest at Dejbjerg is a memorial to Enrico
Dalgas, who was the driving force behind the reclamation
of the Jutland heathlands. The graves of RAF air crews may
be seen both at the tiny township of Hemmet outside
Tarm and at Stadilø, northeast of Søndervig. The graves
in Hemmet hold the remains of British pilots, and Stadilø
is the resting place of an air crew of eight Australians
shot down in their Lancaster on a bombing raid to Berlin
in 1943. Memorials are still held for these men, most
recently in 2011, when Australian relatives came to Stadilø
and an old Lancaster plane from England flew low over the
area. At Dejbjerg east of the fjord, two Iron Age carts were
found by peat diggers in the 1880s. They are now exhibited
at the National Museum in Copenhagen (but a copy
may be seen at Bundsbæk Mølle, a part of Ringkøbing-
Skjern Museum).
And again, besides all these historical events, the region
is rich in local stories, oral traditions, legends and even
myths. Several of the coastal dunes are called “Dødemandsbjerg”
(Dead Man’s Mountain) because foreign
seamen who drowned in shipwrecks and were beached
were buried in the dunes, because the local people didn’t
care to have too many “strangers” in their churchyards, and
because it was easier than transporting them all the way to
a churchyard.
Warnings have survived of funeral processions so long that
the roads were blocked, stories about old wreck masters
who ”saw” coffins in the barn and knew that a ship would
soon be wrecked, and as many would drown as there
were coffins in the barn. There is the story of the hussy
who was buried outside the churchyard after several bodies
of dead babies had been found in her home, and how
she had only later been moved into consecrated ground;
and there is the story of a special grave in Skjern churchyard
with the inscription:
Here lies the carcass
of
Christian Jensen
Formerly of Liverpool
He was born in Skjern in 1822, lived in Liverpool, and
was a ship’s builder in England. Having returned to his
birthplace, he died there in 1895 leaving a last will and
testament which read “I want my funeral to be as simple
and cheap as possible. For inscription only: Here lies the
carcass of C.J.”
All these stories are part of the region’s identity, and they
can be found in the various local history societies.
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k i r k e r/hi sto r i e r · ki r c h e n/gesc h i c h t e n · ch u r c h e s/sto r i e s