The Baltic resort of Bansin

The North-East wind blows through the crowns of pine trees in Bansin. In bizarre contortions, they have stubbornly defied sea storms over the centuries in the dunes. Nowhere else in the Kaiser resorts are the villas built in resort architecture style so closely juxtaposed with the Baltic as here.

Nestling between the Baltic Sea and the lake Schloonsee, life on the streets and in Bansin’s many small bars is lively and young, which is not surprising as Bansin is the youngest of the three Kaiser resorts. Founded in 1897 as a seaside resort, here, too, the visitor is struck by the elegant villas and the fine old wooden chalets. These are built with gaps between them along the promenade. So even from the balconies and verandas in houses of the second row there is a clear view of the Baltic. Bergstraße is unique worldwide. Nowhere else will you find so many well preserved villas built in the resort architecture style in one place as there.

In 1923, Bansin was the first German seaside resort to receive a "free bathing permit". From that point on, bathers were permitted to stroll straight from the breakfast table of their boarding house along the promenade to their beach chair and bathe in Baltic waves in a fashionable one-piece swimming suit. Previously, ladies and gentlemen had to bathe on separate sections of the beach and were drawn in a bathing machine into the Baltic. Even today, the old bathing machines can be seen to the left and right of the Bansin open air concert stage.

Bansin, was the favourite resort of the great film stars from the UFA studios. Actors like Heinz Rühmann or Willi Fritsch liked to meet in the Café Asgard or in the exclusive "Meeresstrand" hotel. Without, the most famous son of the resort is the writer, Hans Werner Richter. A monument to the founder of "47 Group", which included Heinrich Böll, Siegfried Lenz, Marcel Reich-Ranicki and Günter Grass, has been erected by Bansiners in the former fire station. The author spend his childhood close by. "Villa" and "Paula" are inscribed in blue letters on the two gables of his parents’ home, under below the saying in the local Low German dialect "Ob Ost, ob West, to hus is best" [Whether East or West, home is best]. Maybe that’s why Richter maintained a close connection to his hometown all his life.

Source: www.kaiserbaeder-auf-usedom.de

Tourist Information Ostseebad Bansin
An der Seebrücke | 17429 Seebad Bansin
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eMail: bansin@kaiserbaeder-auf-usedom.de
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