As „Silver of the Sea" this fish has been traded against gold and fur in medieval times. Not only wealth but whole empires were found on this “King of fishes“. Was herrings absent those empires went down. This fish, which could also cause wars, has been celebrated in paintings and novels, plays and poems – not even modern science could reveal all his secrets. Holger Teschke, who has worked as a fisherman and can tell stories about his own experience with catching herrings, tells the natural and cultural history of this shimmering and endangered animal.
Holger Teschke, born in 1958, visited as engineer numerous fisheries on the coast before studying drama in Berlin where he worked as dramatic advisor and writer. Between 2000 and 2010 he traveled in the USA, in Australia and South Asia as a stage director. Since 2010 he teaches the history of theater and dramaturgy. He writes for TheaterderZeit and Deutschland Radio Kultur and lives in Berlin and South Hadley, Massachusetts.
By the same author(s)
"Without the tasty and very healthy herring, the history of Europe would probably have been different. More than 50 different species of this fish, which occurs in large shoals, swim in the world's oceans."
Roman Neumann, Bayern2
