Die Frühzeit der Bootsmotorisierung: über deutsch-skandinavische Kulturkontakte im Ostseeraum

Abstract

The folkloristic investigation of the motorisation of fishing boats and small cargo sailing vessels in the Southern Baltic region concentrates on two phases, the first from 1900 to 1914, the second from 1920 until the end of the 1930s. It reveals an incontestable preference on the part of the Germans for Nordic products (motors, accessories and tools). The explanation for this circumstance is to be found in the extremely close-knit maritime-cultural contacts that gradually began developing as early as the beginning of the nineteenth century among the "sea folk" (fishermen, seamen and shipbuilders) of the coastal regions of Germany, Denmark and Southern Sweden. Along with earlier research results concerning concurrent related activities in the aereas of shipbuilding and coastal fishing methods, the findings presented here are certain to be of interest for the general historiography of this region.