Tuesday, December 30, 2014

new Helgoland harbor, Germany, circa 1900


Helgoland is a group of islands in the North Sea, spelt Heligoland in English with a present day population of about 1,400.  It was briefly a Danish possession, then a British possession from 1814 to 1890 when it was given back to Germany.  During WW2 the islands were a regular target of the Royal Air Force and the population was evacuated in 1945.  They didn't return until 1952; in the meantime the RAF continued to use the islands as target practice, changing the shape of the coastlines.  Today it attracts tourists not least because of the tax exempt status.

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