シェムダの天然記念物・トップ19

A quiet and pleasant path

The Gieselbarg, a place of death and destruction. A dark chapter in the history of Westerwolde.

The story of the 21 "witches" sentenced to death touched me. When I look at the suffering of civilians in Ukraine and Palestine, not everything has changed for the better in the last 400 years.

On a modest hill between Wedde and Wessinghuizen lies the Giezelbaarg, a place with a dark history. At the end of the 16th century, at least 21 alleged witches were burned at the stake here, a tragic result of fear and suspicion. Today, a memorial stone commemorates this time and the landscape invites you to contemplate. A historical place that makes you quiet and makes you think.

The Giezelbaarg is a 2.5 meter high sand hill (from the last ice age) on which alleged witches were burned alive in the Middle Ages. A memorial plaque commemorates these people today. Furthermore, court sentences from the nearby Wedde Castle were carried out there until the beginning of the 19th century. *Source: google

Countless seals lay here and some directly behind the dyke. :-)

Beautiful, the seals are often seen here.

Check the tides to spot the seals. The wall can be busy, so be patient and be kind and polite to give everyone a look.