Stöberhai

Stöberhai
View of the Stöberhai (centre) from the dam on the Oder Reservoir
Highest point
Elevation	720 m above sea level (NN) (2,360 ft)
Coordinates	51°39′27″N 10°32′54″E / 51.6575°N 10.54833°E / 51.6575; 10.54833Coordinates: 51°39′27″N 10°32′54″E / 51.6575°N 10.54833°E / 51.6575; 10.54833
Geography
Stöberhai Lower Saxony, Germany
Parent range	Harz Mountains
Climbing
Access	1872–1980 Tavern and hotel 1957–1992 Military outpost 1967–2005 Surveillance tower

The Stöberhai is a mountain the Harz highlands in Central Germany, immediately south of the Oder Dam and northwest of Wieda. At a height of 720 m above sea level (NN) it is the highest mountain in the South Harz. The origin of the name is uncertain, but it is suggested, that a charcoal burner called Stöber may have had his charcoal store (Hai) here.

In 1872 the first tavern was built by a publican from Wieda on the mountain top, but it was destroyed thereafter by a fire. In 1889 the Berghotel Stöberhai was built along with an observation tower. During the Second World War it was hit by five bombs in 1943 during an air raid. In the winter of 1943/44 the German Wehrmacht troops seized it for use as a ski training centre and in the following summer it was made available for those blinded in both world wars together with their families.

After the war the inter-zone bus company of P. Kühn from Berlin bought the hotel and established a regular shuttle bus service between Berlin and the Stöberhai. At the hotel was a small animal park with native wild animals. In 1980 the now empty hotel was the victim of a major fire and was never rebuilt. Its floor plate and a few old chairs were still around as evidence of the former hotel until the mid-1980s. The area was finally cleared up and a signpost erected in the middle. A small refuge hut was also built on the edge of the summit plateau - with views of Sankt Andreasberg, the Oder valley and the mountains of Achtermann, Wurmberg and Brocken.

The Stöberhai gained a degree of fame as a result of the electronic surveillance tower built as a NATO listening post. This signals intelligence facility was used during the Cold War to listen into military radio traffic in East Germany. The facilities installed here were the equivalent of the station operated by the Stasi and Soviet Union on the Brocken.