As soon as the first rays of sunshine appear, guests spend their time on Borkum beach. While some just lie on the sand with a towel, others make themselves comfortable in the numerous beach tents and baskets that are traditionally set up at the local north and south baths. Today guests can choose between a basket or a tent, but many years ago it was different - there was only one choice.

Which came first: the chicken or the egg? Humanity has been asking itself this rather philosophical question for generations - only to ultimately come to the realization that this is more of a figure of speech to which there will never be a clear answer. So here's another question that might be a little easier to answer: What came first - and who prevailed in the end: the beach tent or the beach chair?

If you take a closer look at the coasts and islands of the Baltic and North Seas, you will find beach chairs a dime a dozen. They are undoubtedly part of the usual picture here, so an answer to the above question is actually obvious. If it weren't for the island of Borkum, whose beaches - true to the motto "Everything is different on Borkum" - were populated exclusively by colorful beach tents for many decades. These are secretly considered a Borkum invention - and over time they have developed into a real landmark of the largest East Frisian island.

In the beginning there was the basket
However, if you take a closer look at the origin story, you quickly come to the realization that in the beginning there was actually the basket. Accordingly, the first woven wicker armchairs were used as early as the 16th century - but at that time they initially only served as protection from the cold in large, cold rooms. Since the production of these “pieces of furniture” was probably not cheap at that time, they decided not to put them outside and expose them to the weather. Only with the emergence of seaside resorts did baskets appear more and more on beaches.
This was primarily thanks to the Rostock court basket master Wilhelm Bartelmann, who, on behalf of a wealthy bather from Warnemünde suffering from rheumatism, made the first beach chair made of wicker in 1882, which offered protection from wind and strong sunlight. However, this looked a little different than it does today - and was initially a simple basket construction that could only accommodate one person.
The designs with folding backrests we know today were only built around 1900. In the years that followed, the simple baskets quickly spread to the North and Baltic Seas - and eventually found their way to Borkum. During this time, the island developed into a popular seaside resort, which attracted more and more guests - thanks, among other things, to the construction of magnificent hotels and the commissioning of the island railway.

Beach tents are taking over
While old postcards and lithographs from the early 1890s still show how polite society almost exclusively used beach chairs, the picture was to change completely within 10 years.
Unfortunately, there are no exact records of the appearance of the colorful beach tents, but if you trust the publication dates of the postcards that were already published at the time, it can be assumed that they “took over power on the beach” from around 1896.
Accordingly, the beach chairs had largely disappeared by 1899/1900 and the island's beaches were already a colorful sea of ​​tents - the number of which grew steadily in parallel with the increasing number of guests.
Last but not least, this was also because the beach tents were very practical - and offered a lot of advantages over simple baskets. For example, two people could sit in them at once, they offered almost perfect protection from wind and rain showers, they allowed undisturbed changing, and dry storage of clothes - and because of their different colors they served as a guide for many children on the extensive beach. In addition, the construction of the beach tents, which has hardly changed to this day, proves that the Borkum invention must have been almost perfect from the start.

Beach tent rental as a living
While islanders initially saw tent rentals as just a way to bridge unemployment caused by the summer season, beach tent rentals gradually developed into permanent employment.
Beach tent rental families emerged, so that the respective tents were mostly passed on to the sons or sons-in-law - but in some cases were also sold on to strangers. Until the late 1950s, the striped beach tents were still crowned with attractive wooden buttons, the colors and shapes of which referred to the respective beach tent rental company.
However, since they were very expensive to maintain and the wooden buttons often damaged neighboring tents during storms, the landlords ultimately decided not to use them. An impressive collection of these historical wooden buttons with references to the landlord families can still be found today in the “Dykhus” local history museum at the foot of what is proven to be the first dike that was built on Borkum.

Renaissance of beach chairs
The first modern beach chairs only started appearing on the island again in the 1980s. Due to their cozy, elegant and robust nature, they quickly spread to North and South Baden, so that baskets and tents are now in balance. While they were initially classic white - similar to elsewhere on the German coast - the baskets can now be found in various bright colors. Borkum remains true to itself - and with its joy of colors it once again proves that everything is still a little different here.
As a result, guests now have a free choice and can decide for themselves whether they would like to rent the traditional beach tent or the comfortable beach chair. It is not uncommon to see tourists here who seem to find the decision so difficult that they simply rent both and set them up next to each other. And for those who still have to decide between a tent and a basket, you can be guaranteed that you can enjoy a relaxing holiday in both. It doesn't matter what came first - and whether it was the chicken or the egg that started.