Taken from the on-site information board:
THE SECRET OF THE ‘VITZDORF STONE CIST’.
You are standing in front of a replica of a so-called ‘longbed’ from the Neolithic period, which was around 4000 BC. The first farming population in Schleswig-Holstein built these structures and buried their dead in the stone chambers inside. Long beds or megalithic tombs are also called ‘giants tombs’ because it was believed that giants were buried in them. Some original remains of these megalithic tombs can still be found on Fehmarn today, including the ‘Vitzdorfer Steinkiste’ near Katharinenhof. As this tomb is located on private property, it is unfortunately not freely accessible to interested visitors, but the story surrounding this grave is one you must know, but please don’t be alarmed:
It was in 1420 when the Danish king Erik of Pomerania wanted to annex the strategically important Baltic island of Fehmarn, landed here with a sizeable army after several unsuccessful attempts, mercilessly wiped out all living things – 2,500 Fehmarans are said to have died – and from then on placed the attractive island under the rule of the Danish crown. Only very few Fehrnarans escaped the bloodbath, including a certain Christian Rauert, who hid in the Vitzdorf stone cist, the aforementioned megalithic tomb, namely in the bone chamber from which he was rescued after the Battle of Fehmarn. from which he emerged unscathed after the Battle of Fehmarn.
According to tradition, two other Fehmaran men survived, so that the three men made up the male population of the island, which was later interpreted to mean that all Fehmarans were inevitably related to each other and therefore only ‘nepotism’ prevailed here. It is commonly said that ‘faith moves mountains’ and if this is true, then it’s no wonder that Fehmarn is so flat.
HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF ERNST-LUDWIG KIRCHNER?
He was a famous German expressionist painter who lived on Fehmarn for a long time and whose works were considered ‘degenerate’ during the terrible Nazi era. A museum was built in his honour; the Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Documentation in Burg.
Here you can admire some of his most beautiful works.