Johann-Günther König, Bremen author and Klein-Siemen resident by choice, has researched the history of the village intensively and reads from his book about the lord of the manor Johann Gildemeister, who impressively describes farming and living conditions on a Mecklenburg feudal estate in his letters.
For almost half a century - from 1810 to 1857 - the feudal estate Klein Siemen near Kröpelin was owned by the Gildemeister family from Bremen. The letters of the landowner Johann Gildemeister, born in Bremen in 1784, are a unique and outstanding contemporary document for Mecklenburg. They provide a revealing insight into the thoughts and actions of a bourgeois landowner in the early 19th century. Gildemeister, who farmed Klein Siemen until 1826, not only describes agricultural practices, but also the living conditions and coexistence of the day laborers, maids, farmhands, housekeepers, Dutchmen and clerks. His letters also contain statements about the local landlords and relevant dignitaries.
