#amrum

Norddorf, Amrum, Germany - all photos mine

I got to watch Fatih Akin's new film Amrum in the cinema today - my first time in an actual cinema since Covid started.

The film is based on the autobiographical novel of the same name by Hark Bohm and is set on the North Sea island of the same name.

I was admittedly likely to have a soft spot for this regardless - I know the island pretty well, I am originally from that approximate region of Germany and we don't often get international publicity for our little part of the world - but I genuinely think it's an incredible film.

It's a historical drama about the last days of WWII in one of the most remote corners of the crumbling Third Reich, with a population that has chiefly always viewed itself as from Amrum first and German maybe a very distant second, if at all. We follow 12-year-old Nanning as he tries to make sure his family has enough to eat, while torn between love for his fervent Nazi mother and trying to belong on an island where that is only one of the things making him an outsider.

The child actor Jasper Billerbeck is astonishing in this role.

but why would you travel to the seaside in winter, they said. what would you even be doing there. go for a walk, i said. but it's winter, they said. they didn't understand at all.

Hark or Harck Olufs was born in July 1708 in Süddorf on Amrum. At that time, the island of Amrum was under Danish rule, a time when the island was always fought over and regularly changed crowns.

Now Hark's father was "Captain Oluf Jensen" and as a sought-after North German captain he owned several ships, including "die Hoffnung /the Hope", on which he sent his son Hark Olufs on board as a sailor in 1721. Three years later, what many sailors of that time truly feared happened. When Hark was on his way from Nantes to Hamburg, two of his cousins and the crew fell into the hands of the notorious Barbary pirates and were taken as slaves to Algiers to extort ransom.

Front of Hark Oluf’s talking gravestone (x)

"Here lies the great war hero, resting gently on Amrom Christenfeld. The blessed Harck Olufs was born there on Amrum in 1708, 19 July. Soon afterwards, in his younger years, he was taken prisoner by the Turkish pirates in Algiers on 24 March 1724. In such imprisonment, however, he served the Turkish Bey of Constantine as a casnadaje for 11 and a quarter years, until this Bey finally gave him his freedom in 1735 on 31 October out of kindness to him, since he then happily returned here the following year as A[nn]o 1736 on 25 April. April, he happily arrived here again on his fatherland, and thus in A[nn]o 1737 entered into holy matrimony with Antje Harken, who is now in a sad widowhood together with 5 children. In such marriage, however, they have begotten a son and 4 daughters. Thus they must all feel the death of their father, since he died in 1754 on 13 October, and brought his life to 46 years and 13 weeks.

Of course, Hark's desperate family tried to buy him free, but simply could not raise the enormously large sum demanded, although large fundraising campaigns were initiated. But Hark and his cousins were not the only ones, and since each of them was asked for about 6,000 marks, it was almost impossible to raise this amount. But his family did not give up and even turned to the Danish government, which had a special department for kidnapped sailors. But now there was a problem. The Hope was not sailing under the Danish flag, but under the free flag of Hamburg (the reason why his father was also allowed to call himself Captain, because this title was only allowed to Hamburger merchant Captains, others were only Commanders) whereupon Hark Olufs' application for release was rejected. As if this were not dramatic enough, the Olufs family was further dogged by bad luck. When Hark's father finally had the required sum of money together, he arranged for his son to be ransomed. And indeed, a Hark Olufs was also ransomed, but not his son, just someone else with the same name. All hope for the real Hark Olufs seemed lost and with each passing day, the hope of seeing him alive again faded. But Hark was lucky -

The following text is written on the back of the gravestone: (x)

"May God grant the body a joyful resurrection on the last day.

To my own I call back from the grave these lines for remembrance: Alas, in my younger years I must go to the robbery of the Algiers And hold almost twelve years the Slaverey. But God made me free by his hand. Therefore I say again: I know, my God, I must now die. I will, but one thing I ask. Let not mine own perish. Keep the widow's house. Oh God, because I cannot provide, take thee wife and children."

After being sold as a slave, he worked as a servant to the Beys of Constantine until 1728. On behalf of his owner, he killed many people and gained the trust of his master. Thus Hark not only rose to the position of treasurer, but between 1724 and 1732 he became commander of the bodyguard. Incidentally, he also took part in a pilgrimage to Mecca, from which it can be concluded that he converted to Islam. After Hark had helped in the conquest of Tunis in 1735, he was released in gratitude on 31 October and returned home to Amrum in 1736 as a very wealthy man.

However, he did not seem to leave voluntarily, because shortly after he was released, the Bey died. And with that, Hark lost his protector and leader, which threatened his own life again, and so he returned.

Title page of the first edition of Hark Olufs' Autobiography, 1747 (x)

When he returned to Amrum, he stayed there. He only married after a thorough examination by the pastor and the elders, but after proving that he was still a Christian, he was baptised and accepted back into the church and community. Once and for all fed up with dangerous seafaring, he held several offices on Amrum and even met the Danish King Christian VI. He told him his story and in 1747 his own autobiography was published. Hark Olufs died in Süddorf on Amrum on 13 October 1754. Even today his gravestone, which is one of the talking stones, stands in Nebel in the cemetery at St Clement's Church.