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| The Brocken | |
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 The summit of the Brocken, showing the transmitters |
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| Elevation | 1,141.1 metres |
| Location | Saxony-Anhalt, Germany |
| Range | Harz |
| Prominence | 856 m |
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| Pronunciation | [ˈbʁɔkən] |
The Brocken, or Blocksberg, is the highest peak in the Harz Mountains in Germany and also the highest peak of northern Germany; it is located between the rivers Weser and Elbe. Although its altitude (1,141 metres) is below alpine dimensions, its microclimate resembles that of mountains of 2000 m altitude. The peak tends to have a snow cover from September to May, and mists and fogs shroud it up to 300 days of the year. The mean annual temperature is only 2.9 °C. It is the easternmost mountain in North Germany; travelling East in a straight line, the next elevation would be the Ural Mountains.
The Brocken has always played a role in legends and has been connected with witches and devils; Goethe took up the legends in his Faust, in which he also referred to the mountain. The Brocken spectre is a common phenomenon on this misty mountain, where a climber's shadow cast upon fog creates eerie optical effects.
Today the Brocken is part of a national park and hosts a historic botanical garden of mountain plants, founded in 1890. A narrow gauge steam railway, the Brockenbahn (part of the Harzer Schmalspurbahn), takes visitors from Wernigerode in the north and Nordhausen in the south to the railway station at the top. The mountain features numerous hiking trails.
FM-radio and television broadcasting make major use of the Brocken. The old TV tower, the Sender Brocken, is now used as hotel and restaurant. It also has an observation deck, open to all tourists.
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20th Century history
On this mountain the world's first television tower was built in 1935; it began by broadcasting the Deutsche Reichspost. It carried the first television broadcast of the Olympic Games – from the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin. The tower continued functioning until September, 1939, when the authorities suspended broadcasting on the outbreak of World War II.
Allied forces bombed the Brocken on April 17, 1945, destroying the Brocken Hotel and the weather station, but not the television tower. American forces used the installation from 1945 to 1947. Before the Americans left the Brocken in 1947, they disabled the rebuilt weather station and the television tower.
Between 1973 to 1976 a new modern television tower was built for the second GDR-TV. Today the second German TV station (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)) uses this tower.
From 1957 the Brocken constituted a security zone, and after construction of the Berlin Wall began on August 13, 1961, East German authorities designated it as a military high-grade security zone and turned it into a fortress. Due to its high altitude the station also served to spy on communication signals from the surrounding area. Border troops took up quarters at the Brocken railway station, and the Soviet Red Army used a large portion of territory. The Stasi (East German secret police) used the television tower until 1985, when they moved to a new building – now a museum. To seal the area, the entire Brocken plateau was then surrounded by a concrete wall, built from 2,318 sections, each one 2.4 tons in weight and 3.60 metres high. The wall has since been dismantled, as have the Russian barracks and the domes of their listening posts.
Since the restricted access to the area and the unique climate provided outstanding conditions, the Brocken area is still covered with in Germany extremely rare primary forest. It provides perfect conditions for endangered and in Germany nearly extinct species like Eurasian Lynx, Wildcat and Capercaillie. Therefore, it was protected as Harz National Park commencing in 1990.
Literary mentions
- Goethe described the Brocken in his Faust (written in 1808) as the center of revelry for witches on Walpurgis Night (April 30; the eve of St Walpurga's Day on May 1).
- Now to the Brocken the witches ride;
- The stubble is gold and the corn is green;
- There is the carnival crew to be seen,
- And Squire Urianus will come to preside.
- So over the valleys our company floats,
- With witches a-farting on stinking old goats.
Goethe may have gained inspiration from two rock formations on the mountain's summit, the Teufelskanzel (Devil's Pulpit) and the Hexenaltar (Witches' Altar).
- Another famous visitor on the Brocken, author Heinrich Heine, wrote the book Harzreise ("A Harz Journey" – published in 1826). He says: "The mountain somehow appears so Germanically stoical, so understanding, so tolerant, just because it affords a view so high and wide and clear. And should such mountain open its giant eyes, it may well see more than we, who like dwarfs just trample on it, staring from stupid eyes."
- Heinrich Pröhle collected the tales, legends, Brockensagen and the etymology of the names in Harz. He carefully examined the Teufelskanzel (Devil's Pulpit) and the Hexenaltar (Witches' Altar), mentioned above.
- Slothrop and Geli Tripping experience the famous Brocken Spectre in Thomas Pynchon's novel Gravity's Rainbow, as the Harz mountains are north of Nordhausen, the home of the V2 rocket production. In David Foster Wallace's Pynchon-influenced Infinite Jest the characters Remy Marathe and Hugh Steeply also experience the Brocken spectre on a ridge in the desert outside Tucson.
The Brocken in popular culture
- The progressive metal band Fates Warning titled their debut album Night on Bröcken (note the "Heavy metal umlaut"). The title track reelects the Witches Sabbath on Walpurgis Night. The title of the band's second album -- The Spectre Within -- probably takes its inspiration from the Brocken Spectre, but the content does not allude to it directly.
- The song "Born in a Burial Gown" by Cradle of Filth (from the album Bitter Suites to Succubi) contains an allusion to the Brocken's history as a witches' gathering-place.
- The band Black Sabbath wrote a song called "Walpurgis", which talked about witches gathering to perform paganistic rituals. Later, the lyrics were changed, and the title became "War Pigs". The lyrics talk about the generals of war, and their evils. An example of the original song can be found on the Ozzy Osbourne album The Ozzman Cometh.
- The indie rock band Liars' album They Were Wrong, So We Drowned is a concept album loosely based on the tales of the gatherings of witches on The Brocken as well as witch trials.
- The novel Cloud Castles by Michael Scott Rohan features the Brocken as the home and body of Chernobog
- The Japanese manga and anime wrestling series Kinnikuman feature 2 German wrestlers with the name Brocken. The first one, Brockenman, is a brutal Nazi who dreams of world domination. His son, Brocken Jr., is also a Nazi but never portrays any Nazi beliefs and is considered a "good guy."
- In SNK's videogame World Heroes 2 there is also a German cyborg named Brocken. He might be based on Brocken and Brocken Jr. from Kinnikuman, above, and probably be a Nazi as well.
- Bibi Blocksberg, a German audio drama for children about a witch, refers to an alternate name for the Brocken (Blocksberg).
External links
See also
- Brocken spectre
- Lysa Hora ("Bald Mountain")
