The Sundische Wiesen (Sundische meadows ) near Zingst on the Darß have an eventful past, the toxic legacy of which has probably still not been completely cleared. The area is slowly recovering as a nature reserve. And in the middle of it lies a dilapidated site, once the largest green fodder drying plant in the GDR, used to supply the many thousands of young cattle that were reared there.

From 2011 to 2022, we explored it, which was still open to the public at the time, and rediscovered it as a space for art. Performances, works with the Rote Spur, readings and, of course, works with brick tiles took place there during this period, temporarily turning the lost place into a found one.

Translation of the reading

But sometimes, when you stand still, with no clicking cameras breaking the silence and the wind favoring you – then you can hear it, the mooing of the cattle. 

If you stand still, no clicking of cameras breaks the silence and the wind is favorable – then you can hear it, the murmur of the cattle.

Once upon a time, the barren soils of this area could hardly be used for agriculture. Those who nevertheless tried their luck here usually gave up quickly. Rigid grass and reedbeds were not suitable for cattle feed and boggy meadows with many water holes were not suitable for growing grain and vegetables.

However, this landscape obviously did not stand in the way of military utilisation. It may have been particularly suitable for dragging the lives of ordinary soldiers through the mud to train them for war. Far from any human settlement, they could drill and suffer here – and the dune as a natural bullet trap made major construction activities unnecessary.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the owner at the time, the city of Stralsund, sold the area to a baron who was willing to build. However, just two years after the purchase, his dream of a hunting lodge did not survive the first great stormy night. The baron fled, but sold it at a profit to a Prussian count. He speculated heavily – and lost. The island remained in one piece, the ferry connection could not be realised and the farmers, whose rent he had drastically increased, took to their heels.

Rudolf Mosse, the Berlin newspaper publisher who was spoilt for success, also failed with his plans for the Sundische Meadows. In order to no longer be dependent on paper suppliers for his ever-growing empire, he planned to plant fibre nettles there. Although nettle plants are very frugal, they need nutrient-rich soil with a good water supply in order to be harvested en masse. The latter was certainly available in the boggy meadows, but the soil lacked nutrients. If Mosse had been successful, his meadows might even have become a tourist magnet. After all, nettle plants are the preferred habitat for butterflies and clouds of colourful butterflies might then have hovered over the nettle fields. The next owner wanted to use the meadows as a base of operations from which to clear large areas between the meadows and Zingst. The Zingster eastern forest only narrowly escaped destruction.

Living space is not only in demand today. In the 1920s, Berlin’s settler community, with the evocative name “Neuland,” (new land) drained large parts of the meadows, enabled farmers to settle here and farm the land more profitably than their hapless predecessors.

But they too had to make way. In 1937, the residents were forcibly relocated and the military once again used the site. Farms and houses were used by the German military as a bombing range two years before the start of the Second World War.

After the end of the war, the The Kasernierte Volkspolizei (Barracked People’s Police) used the Hohe Düne (High Dune) area near Pramort as a shooting range. The People’s Police also joined the ranks of successful users of the meadows. From 1952 to 1991, the most of the Sundische Wiesen became a restricted military area. This time, however, its inhabitants were not forced to leave their farms – they gave up ‘voluntarily’ because it life and work became increasingly difficult. One year after reunification of the two German states, the Bundeswehr (Federal Armed Forces) cleared the area, which had also served as a launch site for Polish and Russian high-altitude missiles for more than twenty years.

But it was not only the military that successfully utilised the Sundischen Wiesen.

The LPG Müggenburg, (Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaft/ Agricultural Production Cooperative) from 1964 the state-owned estate ‘Zingst-Darß’, took no offence at its explosive neighbours and reared cattle here. What Mosse had failed to achieve in the 1920s, namely mass yields, the LPG now succeeded in doing. More than 10,000 young cattle grazed on the meadows. To feed them during the winter, the largest green fodder drying plant in the GDR was built on the site. In order to turn the surrounding grassland into a production site for cattle feed, it was intensively fertilised.

The Sundische Wiesen have a turbulent past, the toxic spills still to this day not entirely cleared. Slowly, the area is recovering as a landscape reserve. With old plants, old inhabitants are also returning. Red kites, avocets, dunlins and ruff are reclaiming their territories. The cranes, which rest here in their thousands on their treks southwards, are a favourite destination for tourists who invade the silence of the landscape with the click-clack of their cameras.

But sometimes, when you stand still, with no clicking cameras breaking the silence and the wind favoring you – then you can hear it, the mooing of the cattle. And in autumn, when the mist rising from the meadows blocks the view into the distance, you can sometimes see something in it that seems like the bearers of this voice: ghost cattle.

Marlen Wagner