History
The formation of the highlands goes back to the last glaciation phase in northern Germany, the Weichselian Ice Age. A small offshoot of the glacier tongue pointing towards today's Little and Great Belt created the Dornbusch around 12,500 years ago. When the glaciers retreated, it remained as a push moraine and was part of a large mainland area in the south of today's Baltic Sea for around 4,000 years. During the first flooding phase of the Baltic Sea, the water did not yet reach the area around Hiddensee; it was not until around 3,900 years ago that the Littorina Sea washed around the three island cores of Dornbusch, Fährinsel and Gellen. It was only 2,900 years ago that coastal erosion (land erosion, drifting and deposition) began and the formation of the elongated shape of Hiddensee through sand alluvial deposits.
Under Wallenstein's orders, the oak and beech forest covering the entire Dornbusch was burned down between 1628 and 1630 in order to protect the Danes, with whom there were military conflicts in the area.