History of the Haffmuseum

Today's Ueckermünde Haffmuseum owes its existence to two citizens who were deeply attached to their home town, Mr Albert Hellmundt ( † 1963) from Hintersee, and Mr Werner Becken (†1965) from Ueckermünde. Both passionately interested in local history and culture, they arranged and equipped a small local history showroom in a room in the tower of the Ueckermünde palace in August 1950. The room displayed exhibits from the pre- and early history and devices, books, and certificates about local history as well as articles from the development of the craftsmen's guilds.

It is only in 1972 that a date is worthwhile mentioning in the history of the museum again. In this year, an expansion of the local history showroom became possible. A room near the stair turret which then housed the local planning department and building control office was surrendered to the museum for further use. And at that time some people were won for the honorary job of supervising the exhibition during its opening hours .

The Beginnings as Heimatstube

On 10th January, 1978, Heinz Grosskopf made the first move for the renovation and expansion of the museum. In travel guides, he had often found hints on the existence of a museum of local history and culture in the palace but could not accept the quality of the exhibition to be suitable. After consulting the then mayor, Mr Grosskopf was allowed to independently rearrange and revise the exhibition whose displayed items were partly described incorrectly and lacked clarity. For this job, he could also win the support of Hans-Albert van der Heyden, who had worked in the museum as early as in his school days, and of a relative of the latter, Ulrich van der Heyden. In the years 1978/79 they spent numerous leisure hours on rearranging and extending the museum

On 25th January, 1979, a "Club of Friends of the Local History Museum" (Freundeskreis Heimatmuseum) was set up within the Kulturbund (cultural association) and a museum work team was constituted led by Heinz Grosskopf. Through intensive public relations work, Ulrich van der Heyden succeeded in saving the local history museum from a state of torpor.

On 1st July, 1980, Mrs Renate Hahn was appointed full-time director of the museum by the town of Ueckermünde. A lot of positive ideas implemented in co-operation with the museum work team brought about an ample amount of improvements in several rooms. Eventually, the embrasures could be closed by windows, a new staircase was built to reach the lower part of the tower and the lights were improved. During that time, a large number of special exhibitions attracted more and more visitors. In 1980, as many as 3,000 people came to see the museum. Due to changes in the career of her husband, Mrs Hahn left Ueckermünde in August 1983.

On 1st May, 1985, Hans-Albert van der Heyden became director of the museum. It was a dream coming true for him for he could make a career out of his hobby. With enthusiasm and for a period of more than five years he was head of the museum whose development he had essentially co-outlined for some seven years before already. His extraordinary perseverance ensured the museum further exhibits and the spreading of its name far beyond the regional level.

Since 1990 the museum has carried the name "Haffmuseum". With the number of visitors exceeding 5,000, the local history showroom finally turned into a museum. After Hans-Albert van der Heyden's retirement in August 1990, the Haffmuseum was directed by Dr Karola Stark. On 1st April, 1991, Mrs Hannelore Reinhardt joined the museum staff. She was named director of this facility in March 1993 after the retirement of Dr. Stark. After the political changes in East Germany, the status of Haffmuseum rose to be that of an important cultural facility of the town of Ueckermünde and you can no longer imagine the picture of tourism without it. The steady rise in the number of visitors provides clear evidence for this fact.

In 1996, Haffmuseum counted more than 10,000 visitors for the first time in its history. Owing to the increasing significance of the museum for the town of Ueckermünde, substantial financial means have been supplied in the last years. They facilitated the attractive painting of the tower ascent and some exhibition rooms next to it. The approval of further financial means allowed to purchase new showcases for the exhibition rooms in 1995. Continued positive development was outlined for Haffmuseum. On suggestion of the museum work team, the course was set in 1996 to develop the so far unused 1,830 square feet garret of the palace as additional exhibition space for the museum.

Since the construction work went according to time schedule, this project was completed by the end of 1998. The additional exhibition space was used to present Pomeranian history in connection with the palace of Ueckermünde by showing existing documents and exhibits in one large exhibition hall.

A special highlight for the museum was the 450th anniversary celebration of the palace in 1996. On occasion of this anniversary, the museum organized a comprehensive special exhibition on Pomeranian history. Visitors could admire valuable loans surrendered by the West Pomeranian State Archives of Greifswald (Vorpommersches Landesarchiv), by the museum of the Hanseatic town and the University of Greifswald as well as by the National Museum of Stettin. 2,500 people visited this special exhibition on occasion of the palace festival.