{"id":3278,"date":"2026-07-11T19:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T17:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/stradower-book-scale\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T14:46:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T12:46:16","slug":"stradower-book-scale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/stradower-book-scale\/","title":{"rendered":"Stradower Book Scale"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sibylle Martschei (left) and Inge Behnke<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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In Stradow, a neighborhood of Vetschau, books aren’t weighed(!) on the scale, as the sign on the little hut might suggest\u2014you get them at(!) the scale. The small building, which dates back to the GDR era and is currently hardly used at all, stood practically empty and was a prime candidate for an alternative use. Sibylle Martschei and Inge Behnke took up the idea\u2014which had been suggested at a Women’s Day celebration in 2024\u2014to create a space for exchanging books. This should be enjoyed not only by locals but also by vacationers.<\/p>\n

Ideas are always easy to come by, but putting them into practice requires a great deal of energy and perseverance. With the support of the Stradow Heritage Association and numerous other supporters from the village, the two women managed to renovate the old weigh house for this purpose. A great deal of time and effort had to be spent navigating the approval process. The local heritage association entered into a usage agreement with the owner, the town of Vetschau, initially limited to five years.<\/p>\n

Getting the books was then a piece of cake, because many families were now willing and able to downsize their collections or trade in a book or two this way. The children from the nearby playground, in particular, keep peeking into the little house to see what new book\u2014or even game\u2014is available. Sibylle Martschei and Inge Behnke take turns on a weekly basis, opening up in the morning, closing up in the evening, and making sure everything is in order. \u201cAt first, we were worried about vandalism, such as graffiti and damage, but so far we\u2019ve been pleasantly surprised\u2014let\u2019s hope it stays that way,\u201d says Inge Behnke.<\/p>\n

Visitors to the B\u00fccherwaage also learn about how the little house works. Sibylle Martschei: \u201cWe\u2019ve posted informational signs explaining how it works, along with a note asking people not to use the scale, since it\u2019s still needed from time to time.\u201d Vacationers cycling to the Stradow Ponds, in particular, like to get off their bikes here and browse through books in the shade of the old oak trees.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>

Peter Becker, July 11, 26<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sibylle Martschei (left) and Inge Behnke In Stradow, a neighborhood of Vetschau, books aren’t weighed(!) on the scale, as the sign on the little hut might suggest\u2014you get them at(!) the scale. The small building, which dates back to the GDR era and is currently hardly used at all, stood practically empty and was a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kb_optimizer_status":0,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","slim_seo":{"title":"Stradower Book Scale - Spreewald\u00addorf Lehde","description":"Sibylle Martschei (left) and Inge Behnke In Stradow, a neighborhood of Vetschau, books aren't weighed(!) on the scale, as the sign on the little hut might sugge"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nicht-kategorisiert"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":1,"label":"Nicht kategorisiert"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4544-020726C2A9PeterBecker-1024x683-1RnOU1.jpg",1024,683,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"sven-hofmann","author_link":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/author\/881ce4191d54ed84\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":1,"name":"Nicht kategorisiert","slug":"nicht-kategorisiert","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":255,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":1,"category_count":255,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Nicht kategorisiert","category_nicename":"nicht-kategorisiert","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3278"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3280,"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3278\/revisions\/3280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}