itatorin: "Ik hang an di mien Läbenlang, mien leewet Ammerland".
F: The words solemnly carved above the great door are two verses in Low German that would be immediately familiar to every Ammerland local – because they're the first words of the "Ammerland song" by local poet Wilhelm Geiler.
M: It carries on like this:
Zitatorin: „Ik will di bringen mien Gesang,
woll plattdütsch is mien Leederklang
doch tro mien Hart und Hand.“
M: Wilhelm Geiler was born in 1819 in Westerstede, where the Ammerland district administration is based. Apart from going to university in Oldenburg, he spent his entire life in his home town. As an official auctioneer, he was one of the town's dignitaries. After the decision to run the newly established Oldenburg-Leer railway line past Westerstede, he campaigned for the construction of a narrow-gauge railway line linking Ocholt and Westerstede.
F: Geiler revered the German Reich Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, and once sent him a birthday present: an Ammerland ham and a poem he'd written – in Low German, of course.
M: That Geiler's Ammerlandlied is carved above the great door is no coincidence, but rather a statement. It symbolises the pride of the Ammerland farming community and their close ties with their home region.
Fotos: © Tanja Heinemann
