East Frisian Islands

The chain of the East Frisian Islands off the coast of Lower Saxony

The following table contains basic information about the islands and sand flats (Sandplaten). The uninhabited and unparished sand flats are highlighted in yellow.

Coat of arms	Island/Sand flat	Municipality	District	Area in km² (2004[1]/05[2])	Distance to the mainland in km (2004)[1]	Population as at: 31 December 2008	Population density per km²
	Borkum	Town of Borkum	Leer	30.74[2]	10.5	5,186	169
	Kachelotplate	not municipalised		no data		uninhabited	−
	Lütje Hörn	Island of Lütje Hörn¹	Leer	0.1[1]	12.5	uninhabited	−
	Memmert	North Sea island of Memmert¹	Aurich	4.3[1]	13	uninhabited	−
	Juist	Juist	Aurich	16.43[2]	8	1,696	103
	Norderney	Town of Norderney	Aurich	26.29[2]	3	5,810	221
	Baltrum	Baltrum	Aurich	6.5[2]	4.5	488	75
	Langeoog	Langeoog	Wittmund	19.67[2]	5	1,953	99
	Spiekeroog	Spiekeroog	Wittmund	18.25[2]	6.5	781	43
	Wangerooge	Wangerooge	Friesland	7.94[2]	6,5	923	116
	Minsener Oog artificially dredged	Butjadingen²	Wesermarsch	2.2[1]	3.5	uninhabited	−
	Mellum³	Butjadingen²	Wesermarsch	4.9[1]	6	uninhabited	−
East Frisian Islands				134.35[2]	−	16,837	129
¹ unparished area ² former parish of Langwarden, which was incorporated in 1974 into Butjadingen (today the Gemarkung of Langwarden) ³ east of the outer Jade, after the boundary revision by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation no longer part of the East Frisian Islands, but belongs to the mudflats in the Elbe-Weser Triangle Watten im Elbe-Weser-Dreieck.[3]

Norderney is the remaining part of Buise, which was almost entirely engulfed by the sea in the 17th century. Lütje Hörn east of Borkum is in constant danger of being washed away. In 2003 the German Coastal Defence (NLWK) announced that the sandbank Kachelotplate can now be called an island too, because it is no longer regularly flooded by high tide. However, it is not larger than 2 km² and will remain unsettled. Kachelotplate is located north of the mouth of the Ems river.

Most of the islands do not allow cars. The exceptions are Borkum and Norderney, which are also the most crowded islands. There are no bridges connecting the mainland with the islands. Each island is accessible by ferry.

Borkum and Norderney, the Nazi labour camps on Alderney, were named after the islands.

The islands and the surrounding sea are part of the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park.

Aerial view of Wangerooge

Even though today they are established islands, some of them continue to be in motion. On the East Frisian island of Juist for example, since the year 1650 there are five different proven sites for the church, as the spot for rebuilding the church had to keep pace with the ever-moving island. At times, Juist even consisted of two islands, which eventually grew back together. The neighbouring island of Wangerooge in the last 300 years has moved a distance equivalent to its own length to the east, its church tower, destroyed at the outbreak of World War I apparently moving from east to west.[4]

In this process, land is slowly eroded on the western coasts, while sediments are deposited on the eastern coasts. As a result, western coasts are increasingly protected by human action. The canals between the islands serve as passages for the tides, so that in these places the scouring action of current prevents the islands gradually joining one to another.

A German invasion fleet masses in the Frisian Islands in the pre-World War I invasion thriller Riddle of the Sands.

German students memorize the names of the seven inhabited islands by using a mnemonic device:

Welcher Seemann liegt bei Nanni im Bett?

At a first glance, the question for Nanni's company for the night does not seem to make a lot of sense. In the German original, however, the very first letter of every individual word represents the first letter of the name of the island geographically occupying the same position in the chain of islands (in east-to-west-direction) that the respective word occupies within the chain of words, i.e. the sentence.

The device: Welcher — Seemann — liegt — bei — Nanni — im — Bett?

In English: Which — seaman — lies — by — Nanni — in [the] — bed? (Here, the word "bei", literally "by", means "next to", "with")

Representing Wangerooge, Spiekeroog, Langeoog, Baltrum, Norderney, Juist '*' and Borkum, in order.

'*' The old German alphabet at the time of the creation of the mnemonic did not yet differ between "i" and "j"

• Frisia
  • West Frisian Islands
• Frisian languages
• Frisians
• East Frisian Low Saxon
• List of islands of Germany
• List of ferry boats of the East Frisian Islands

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for East Frisian Islands.

• Basic information on geography and ecology of some of the smaller islands