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Changing tides. Knud Knudsen, the mudflat postman

FromHolger Rüdel Updated on Reading time: 3 Minutes
On behalf of Deutsche Post, Knud Knudsen delivers letters and packages from Pellworm to Hallig Süderoog. He travels 14 kilometers across the mudflats – often three times a week and barefoot until November.
On behalf of Deutsche Post, Knud Knudsen delivers letters and packages from Pellworm to Hallig Süderoog. He travels 14 kilometers across the mudflats – often three times a week and barefoot until November. © Holger Rüdel

Knud Knudsen – known through the press, radio, and television: He is the only mail carrier in Germany who delivers mail on foot across the mudflats. Since 2001, he has been delivering letters and packages from Pellworm to Hallig Süderoog in the North Frisian Wadden Sea, where only one family lives, as a part-time job. It's a 14-kilometer round trip, which Knud covers barefoot at a brisk pace until November. It takes him an hour and a half to complete one leg.

A thousand kilometers a year on foot through the mudflats

On behalf of Deutsche Post, Knud Knudsen delivers letters and packages from Pellworm to Hallig Süderoog. He walks 14 kilometers barefoot across the mudflats – often three times a week and well into November.
Walking briskly from Pellworm to Hallig Süderoog with letters and packages in his backpack: Wadden Sea postman Knud Knudsen on the move. © Holger Rüdel

"I've already circumnavigated halfway around the world," Knud tells me as I accompany him on his walk through the mudflats to the Hallig Süderoog and back. "I cover about 1.000 kilometers a year. I usually travel three times a week—weather permitting, of course." Years ago, the North Sea was once so thickly covered in ice that the mudflat postman, accustomed to extreme climates, couldn't set out.

On behalf of Deutsche Post, Knud Knudsen delivers letters and packages from Pellworm to Hallig Süderoog. He walks 14 kilometers barefoot across the mudflats – often three times a week and well into November.
Knud Knudsen, the mudflat postman. Wading through the gullies is strenuous and especially dangerous when the tide is rising due to the current. © Holger Rüdel

Knud Knudsen is deeply rooted in the Wadden Sea, its islands, and Hallig islands. Although he has lived in other places like Lübeck and Kiel, Pellworm is his home. "Life on an island is all about peace and space. From the dike, you can look out to the horizon or watch the sunset. I would drown in a big city," he says.

“Changing Tides – North Frisia and the Sea”

On behalf of Deutsche Post, Knud Knudsen delivers letters and packages from Pellworm to Hallig Süderoog. He walks 14 kilometers barefoot across the mudflats – often three times a week and well into November.
Endless expanse of mudflats – Knud Knudsen on his way to Hallig Süderoog. © Holger Rüdel

The photographs by Knud Knudsen are part of the photo report “Changing Tides – North Frisia and the Sea”, which I am working on on behalf of the Sparkasse Foundation Schleswig-Holstein work.

With this project, the Sparkassenstiftung would like to commemorate the previous projects “A turning point. The fishermen from Holm in Schleswig an der Schlei” and “Nomads of our time. Migrant sheep farms in Schleswig-Holstein” connect.

The photo report "Changing Tides" will culminate in an exhibition in 2026/2027, accompanied by an illustrated book. The writer and journalist Jochen Missfeldt from Schleswig-Holstein was able to be won over as a text author for this publication.

On behalf of Deutsche Post, Knud Knudsen delivers letters and packages from Pellworm to Hallig Süderoog. He walks 14 kilometers barefoot across the mudflats – often three times a week and well into November.
Arrived: Knud Knudsen on the Hallig Süderoog. "I usually only have an hour to stay before I have to return—just in time before the next flood." © Holger Rüdel

The project “Gezeitenwechsel” is – in addition to the own funds of the Sparkassenstiftung Schleswig-Holstein – significantly supported by EU funds from the State Office for Agriculture and Sustainable Rural Development and the two participating Active Regions North Frisia North and Uthlande.

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