The coastal inhabitants built dikes, reclaimed land, and vowed to fear the North Sea. The settlers in the rugged moor areas struggled against hardship and cultivated their living space over generations into a fertile landscape. They began in the midst of the Thirty Years' War - right in East Frisia. Large parts of East Frisia were covered with moors. There, pioneers ventured who dreamed of a better future. How many colonists moved into the moor, how often they plunged their spades into the muck, and how much earth they moved - that is history. From this history also comes the saying that describes the fate of the people in the moor like no other: "The first one meets death, the second has his trouble, and the third has his bread." Only over time did the inhabitants of the peat bogs achieve prosperity, and the peat colonies developed into vibrant places.