Büsum is a fishing and tourist town in northern Germany. It was first mentioned in documents in 1140. During medieval times,  Büsum was an island with three villages -  Süderdorp, Middeldorp, and Norddorp. Floods in 1362, 1436, and 1570 drowned most of the island and destroyed  Süderdorp and Middeldorp. Norddorp forms the old core of  Büsum. In 1585 the island was connected to the mainlain with the building of a dam. Sediment that was deposited by the sea created new land, which was then further secured with dikes. Flooding was still a problem. In 1634, a flood killed 168 people in  Büsum. In 1717, a village near  Büsum sank completing due to flooding. The last devastating flood was in 1825. Improved dikes have been able to protect the town from storm tides. The Kriegsmarine (Germany navy between 1935-45) used  Büsum as a base. Because of that,  Büsum was bombed several times - the last being on the same day German troops surrendered in northern Germany. In that air raid, nine people w