The Stöberhai (720 m above sea level) is the highest mountain in the southern Harz and is located between Wieda and the Oder dam.
In 1872 the first single-storey inn was built on the hilltop, for which seven acres of forest were cleared. The first innkeeper was Karl Mast from the family of what later became the Jägermeister dynasty.
After fire damage, the "Berghotel Stöberhai" was built with a lookout tower in 1889 as the highest hotel in the Harz Mountains after the Brocken. The lookout tower, on whose platform 60 people had space, offered a panoramic view of all parts of the Harz Mountains up to the Kyffhäuser and Thuringian Forest. In 1922, the hotel host introduced the celebration of Walpurgis Night on the Stöberhai, based on the model of the Brocken.
After the war, the hotel got into financial difficulties because the numerous guests from Saxony, Thuringia and Berlin stayed away.
In the fall of 1951, an interzone bus operator from Berlin bought the hotel, had it renovated and created a small animal park with local animals on the property. The purchaser set up a regular shuttle bus service from Berlin to the Stöberhai with accommodation and meals at the Berghotel. The hotel owner got the Südharz-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (SHE) to set up the Stöberhai station in the middle of the forest during the construction of the Walkenried–Braunlage/Tanne narrow-gauge railway in 1899 in order to facilitate excursions to the hotel. At his insistence, the railway company opened a small station building there in October 1900 for day trippers. Although the train station in Weinglastal was only around 1.3 km from the hotel at the time, there was still a difference in altitude of around 260 m between it and the hotel.
After several changes of ownership, the management of the hotel was discontinued in 1975 and it fell victim to a major fire in 1980.
In 1967, the Bundeswehr erected a 75 m high reconnaissance tower on the Stöberhai, which on sixteen floors and 750 m² contained antenna supports, detection stations, operating rooms, but also offices, accommodation and a trade fair.
The radio monitoring system was used during the Cold War to monitor military radio traffic in the GDR. Its facilities are the counterpart to the station on the Brocken operated by the Ministry for State Security of the GDR and the Soviet Union.
Only in 2005, fifteen years after the reunification of Germany, was the tower brought down by controlled demolition. This was preceded by a long dispute over the cost of removing the listening post.
The Stöberhai can be reached from Wieda, Bad Lauterberg, Bad Sachsa and the Odertalsperre via signposted hiking trails. A good starting point is the former Stöberhai station, which you can reach via the road between Wieda and Braunlage.
Translated by Google •
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