Juist (; ) is an island and municipality in the district of

Aurich Aurich (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Auerk'', West Frisian: ''Auwerk'', ) is a town in the East Frisian region of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Aurich and is the second largest City in East Frisia, both in popula ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The island is one of seven

East Frisian Islands The East Frisian Islands (, ; ; ) are a chain of islands in the North Sea, off the coast of East Frisia in Lower Saxony, Germany. The islands extend for some from west to east between the mouths of the Ems and Jade / Weser rivers and lie about ...

at the edge of the Lower Saxon

Wadden Sea The Wadden Sea ( ; ; or ; ; ; ) is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern continental Europe and the range of low-lying Frisian Islands, forming a shallow body of water with tida ...

in the southern

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

. It is located between

Borkum Borkum (; ) is an island and a municipality in the Leer District in Lower Saxony, northwestern Germany. It is situated east of Rottumeroog and west of Juist. Geography Borkum is bordered to the west by the Westerems strait (which forms the ...

Island (west), Memmert Island (southwest) and

Norderney Norderney (; ) is one of the seven populated East Frisian Islands off the North Sea coast of Germany. The island is , having a total area of about and is therefore Germany's ninth-largest island. Norderney's population amounts to about 5,850 ...

(east). The island is long and from to wide, depending on the tide levels. There are two villages on the island: the main village Juist, and Loog. The island is separated from Norderney by the Norderneyer Seegatt.

Overview and geography

The tallest buildings on Juist that can be seen from the North Sea are the water tower and an old hotel. There is a lighthouse on the island, but it is not in use. At the western end of the island is the Billreef, a large sandbank where birds such as

dunlin The dunlin (''Calidris alpina'') is a small wader in the genus '' Calidris''. The English name is a dialect form of "dunling", first recorded in 1531–1532. It derives from ''dun'', "dull brown", with the suffix ''-ling'', meaning a person or ...

s, grey plovers and

knot A knot is an intentional complication in Rope, cordage which may be practical or decorative, or both. Practical knots are classified by function, including List of hitch knots, hitches, List of bend knots, bends, List of loop knots, loop knots, ...

s rest during their migration. In the western part of the island, the beach and the dunes are eroded by the sea. The edge of the dunes moves about five metres south each winter. On the western third of the island is Lake Hammersee, a freshwater lake. Juist is accessible by plane or daily ferry. FLN Frisia Luftverkehr operates planes between

Norden Norden is a Scandinavian and German word, directly translated as "the North". It may refer to: Places England * Norden, Basingstoke, a ward of Basingstoke and Deane * Norden, Dorset, a hamlet near Corfe Castle * Norden, Greater Manchester, a vill ...

and Juist. Most motor vehicles are prohibited on the island, with only the fire department, the

German Red Cross The German Red Cross (GRC) ( ; DRK) is the national Red Cross Society in Germany. During the Nazi era, the German Red Cross was under the control of the Nazi Party and played a role in supporting the regime's policies, including the exclusion ...

and doctors allowed to use them. Island tractors require a special license, while most other transport is done by bike or horse-drawn carriage. It was reported by the Reuters news agency, on 24 September 2014, that an unmanned " parcelcopter" will commence delivery of urgent drugs and supplies to the island by DHL. It will be the first time an unmanned aircraft had been authorised to deliver goods in Europe and the first time that automated drones have been used to deliver medicines anywhere in the world. The flight at an altitude of 50 m and at a speed of up to 18 m/s will be automated but monitored in Norddeich.

Economy

Tourism is the main source of income for Juist's economy. Almost all the buildings on the island feature guestrooms, with several hotels and a youth hostel also on the island. There used to be an island partnership between Juist and

Hiddensee Hiddensee () is a Auto-free zone, car-free island in the Baltic Sea, located west of Germany's largest island, Rügen, on the Germany, German coast. The island has about 1,000 inhabitants. It was a holiday destination for East Germany, East Germ ...

in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

between 1990 and 2000.

History

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Juist was cut in two parts by several

storm tide A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the ...

s (see St. Peter's Flood). Around the year 1770 people started to close the 2 km wide burst at the southern side by a dune dike. As recently as 1928 the northern side was repaired. By that time, the water in Lake Hammersee had turned from saltwater to freshwater. On September 9, 2001, Juist citizens voted for their mayor directly for the first time, with Karl-Josef Wederhake winning the election. He was re-elected in September 2006.

Notable people

* Curt Bruns (1915–1945) was a war criminal who was executed for the murders of two American-Jewish POWs. He was one of the first Nazi war criminals to be executed in

Allied-occupied Germany The entirety of Germany was occupied and administered by the Allies of World War II, from the Berlin Declaration on 5 June 1945 to the establishment of West Germany on 23 May 1949. Unlike occupied Japan, Nazi Germany was stripped of its sov ...

. * Martin Luserke (1880–1968) founded ''Stiftung Schule am Meer'' in 1924 and ''

Schule am Meer Schule am Meer (, ), also known as ''S.a.M.'' or ''SaM'', was a private boarding school on the East Frisian Islands, East Frisian island of Juist in the Free State of Prussia of the Weimar Republic, located between Wadden Sea and North Sea. ...

'' in 1925 on Juist. * Ma Anand Sheela (1949-) lived in Juist after leaving Rajneeshpuram in

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

References

{{Authority control East Frisian Islands Towns and villages in East Frisia Car-free islands of Europe Aurich (district) Islands of Lower Saxony