Windmill, Havetoft, Germany

Mark Zanzig

UNDATED – The historic windmill of Havetoft in Germany overtowers the main street. Photo © Th. Thomsen/Flensburg, Scan © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com

The story behind the image

This undated historic postcard image shows the windmill of Havetoft, a small village in Northern Germany. Havetoft is located in Angeln which is the area between Schleswig, Flensburg, and the Baltic Sea. Several of my ancesters had lived in the area, which is why I was interested in this postcard in the first place.

Now, I think this is a powerful image. Not only do we get to see an (almost) authentic image of how Havetoft presented itself in the past. It also can serve as an example of how to investigate the content. Which is important if we want to understand what we see. The postcard does not show the name of the photographer or the publisher, and it has not been sent, so there is no official date to be seen anywhere.

However, when searching for the mill in Havetoft, I came across an excellent site by Gerd Tams who puts out little quiz questions every now and then. In April 2015 he asked in Quiz # 69 about the location of a certain photo. It turned out that his readers not only knew the answer but contributed several photos and a lot of information on the village of Havetoft. Wow!

One comment – by Susanne Römer – explained the history of the windmill:

“The water mill had been mentioned already in 1557. In 1842, the miller Kornelius Petersen got the concession to build a windmill next to the water mill. The windmill was operational until 1908, but got torn down after the top of the mill collapsed.“

The windmill is in good shape, so it is likely to have been shot in or before 1908. The explanation is accompanied by an image that is surprisingly similar to my postcard.

A historic postcard shows the main street of Havetoft in Northern Germany on or before 1908. Photo: Collection Gerd Tams
Stone watercolor illustration of the main street of Havetoft by Th. Thomsen. Photo: Collection Mark Zanzig

I realized that my postcard had been heavily edited by the photographer while Mr. Tams’ postcard shows the original image. What changes, you ask?

  • The original image has been cropped to show less street.
  • The old gentleman standing at the corner of the street has been removed.
  • The wall of the farm building on the right has been covered using a dark pencil.
  • The space at the bottom has been darkened for the caption.
  • The clouds are visible on the left but invisible on the right.
A side-by-side comparison of two almost identical postcards of Havekost in Northern Germany reveals that several edits have been made to the shot shown on the right.

Sadly, Mr. Tams’ site will soon be offline, but he’s got a new page already.

Oh, and how does the place look today? A Google Streetview image from May 2022 shows the corner of Pastor-Witt-Straße and Mühlenstraße. The buildings shown in the original shot are still present but have gotten several new neighbors. Of course, the windmill is gone.

Streetview images show that Havetoft has slightly changed since 1908. This photo was taken from approximately the same location as the image shot more than a century ago. Photo taken May 2022. © 2022 Google Maps

The high resolution image

Capture Date1908, or before
PhotographerTh. Thomsen, Flensburg
LocationHavetoft, Germany
Image Source13.6 x 8.8 cm postcard
Digital Image SourceEPSON Perfection 4870 Photo
Digital Image Source FormatTIFF, 48 bits/pixel, sRGB
Edited Image FormatJPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB
Edited Image Dimensions6082 x 3623 Pixels
CopyrightPhoto © Th. Thomsen/Flensburg
Scan © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com

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