Beloved Leader Passes On: Sylt Häckel Mourns the Loss of Its Former Mayor

A few weeks ago, Nikolas Häckel had to leave the chair in Sylt town hall after being voted out. Now he is dead The circumstances of his death are still unclear.

The former mayor of Sylt, Nikolas Häckel (independent) has had a turbulent few months. First he was on sick leave for a long time due to a burn, then he was voted out a few weeks ago. He actually wanted to enjoy his retirement, as he said. The 50-year-old man has now died in Hamburg under circumstances that are not yet clear.

The community confirmed his death. “It is with disappointment that we have just received the news that our former mayor Nikolas Häckel has died,” said an official statement. “We are all deeply affected. Our deepest sympathies go out to the family.” A spokesman said that, out of consideration for the family, they would not engage in speculation as to the cause of death.

Hamburg police did not want to comment on the circumstances of the death. “The police can only confirm that a death investigation has been launched into the detriment of a 50-year-old man,” said a dpa spokesman. No further information could be provided in this regard. According to dpa information, investigators assume that an accident occurred.

According to a report in the “Hamburger Abendblatt”, Häckel collapsed in an apartment in Hamburg at the end of October and was taken to hospital in a life-threatening condition. According to the report, he died there at the end of last week.

Häckel was only officially put into temporary retirement at the beginning of October after months of wrangling over the office at the town hall in Westerland. It had previously been voted out at the end of September with a clear majority.

4,342 citizens of the municipality of Sylt, with its areas of Westerland, Tinnum, Rantum, Archsum, Keitum, Morsum and Munkmarsch, spoke in favor of him having to leave the executive chair in the town hall early. At least 20 percent of all eligible voters had to vote for de-selection, which equated to 2,487 votes.

Häckel has led the administration of the municipality since 2015. When he was re-elected in March 2021, the Sylter native won 68.4 percent of the votes cast in a runoff election.

This summer, local politicians on the island started a recall process against the full-time mayor. They accused Häckel of, among other things, years of budgetary misery, lack of communication, lack of trust and inadequacies in his administration.

Häckel had previously been on sick leave since February. As early as the summer of 2023, he could not perform his official duties for several weeks. After surviving, he wanted to go back to the executive chairman.

Häckel accepted his de-selection calmly outwardly. “Now I’m retiring, I’m going to enjoy my life, go on holidays, pursue hobbies – and I think starting that at 50 is a huge gift,” he said afterwards. The de-selection did not surprise him; He dealt with the results of the election early on – although of course he would have liked to continue, he said at the end of September.

Häckel was born on Sylt in 1974, where he trained as an administrative assistant and later received his diploma in administration at a technical college on the mainland. Between 2003 and 2015 he worked in Kronshagen near Kiel. Most recently, he was the head of the construction department there. After being elected mayor, he returned to Sylt.