Finding happiness in amber: On Germany's Baltic coast, people go hunting for the precious pieces

DAHME, Germany (AP) — Axel Kramer knows exactly where to find amber.

He walks down the boardwalk of the village of Dahme on the German Baltic coast, checks the wind and the surf, looks at the different kinds of mussels and algae that have been washed up, and points to a small bulge on the beach.

Eagerly, a dozen people who have been following his every move, jump down to the waterline, pull up seagrass and kelp, and, indeed, after a few moments one of them triumphantly holds up a little piece of shiny, honey-colored amber.

“Unbelievable. I’m 57 now and grew up on the Baltic Sea, and I’ve never found it before," says Frank Philipp. "I’m really excited about it. Now I’m digging around more and I’m hooked.”

Kramer, a 66-year-old nature guide, has been collecting amber since he was 6 years old. At some point he realized that he has talent — or just decades of experience — for discovering the coveted pieces and started offering amber collecting tours for locals and tourists alike.

People living along the Baltic Sea — from Denmark and Germany to Poland, the Baltic states, and up north to Sweden — have been collecting amber for thousands of years. They made beautiful jewelry out of it, used it in barter and placed it in graves.

Even today, amber stores line the Baltic coastal towns, and many tourists take necklaces, earrings and rings home with them as souvenirs.

Contrary to what many believe, amber, which is has also dubbed the “gold of the ocean,” is not a gemstone or a jewel, but fossilized resin.

While some kinds of amber are up to 400 million years old, Baltic amber is only around 45 million years old. It originates from the forests in Finland and Sweden and was brought to the Baltic coast by glaciers during the Ice Age. Because resin is sticky, one can sometimes find so-called inclusions of insects or plants inside amber — they were initially stuck to it when the resin dropped off the trees.

“There used to be 120 commercial grades of amber, all very different, from practically black to practically white," said Vollrath Wiese, a biologist and expert on amber. ”Bony white forms with lots and lots of bubbles inside and beautiful, almost clear amber, honey-colored."

“Whether amber is transparent or not actually depends on the number of microscopic (air) bubbles it contains," said Wiese, as he showed some of the most valuable pieces of the amber collection at the House of Nature museum in Cismar, which he runs.

The value of amber, which is called Bernstein in German, depends on its quality and runs from a few euros per gram for regular pieces to up to more than 1,000 euros ($1,170) for especially beautiful, big pieces with rare inclusions such as scorpions, small lizards or spiders.

However, for Kramer, the nature guide, the real value of amber can't really be measured in money.

“Collecting amber makes you happy,” Kramer said with a big smile. “Many people tell me that collecting amber is better than yoga. It’s pure therapy.”

He said that everyone, from children to older people, enjoys his amber collection tours tremendously and often comes back again and again.

“I’ve had CEOs who crawled around on all fours on the beach and were delighted when they found a small piece of amber,” Kramer said.

Once a newbie has found a piece, they come to Kramer and ask him to check it — to find out if it's real amber or just an ordinary stone or piece of plastic. To find out, Kramer pulls out a small glass jar with highly concentrated saltwater inside and drops the piece inside. If it sinks, it's a stone, if it swims, it's amber.

In addition to the water test, a wool cloth also does the job: dry amber becomes electrostatically charged when rubbed and attracts paper scraps.

In recent years, collectors have come up with another unique way of identifying amber. They go out at night, lighting up the beach with flashlights equipped with black light. When amber is exposed, it glows up in a bright yellow color. This way, collectors can also find tiny pieces hidden between stones and wood that they wouldn't notice in daylight because they are too small.

While many beach lovers collect amber on their own, organized collection tours, like the ones offered by Kramer, have sprung up in recent years in almost every resort town on the Baltic Sea in Germany. The walking tours cost around 10 euros to 20 euros ($11.70 to $23.50) and in addition to the amber hunt on the beach they often include lectures about folk customs surrounding amber.

In the Middle Ages, people attributed magical powers to amber and believed it protected them against witches and demons. Nowadays, many parents in Germany put amber necklaces on their babies because they are supposed to help with teething. And many jewelry stores on the Baltic Sea offer amber collars for dogs, which supposedly keep away ticks.

However, more than anything, collecting amber seems to be fulfilling, says Marion Ruprecht. The 54-year-old from the western city of Bochum, who works in the administration of a hospital, has been vacationing in Dahme for over 40 years.

“I find it absolutely thrilling, exciting, and also a lot of fun," she said, as she proudly held up two pieces she had found during a night tour with Kramer. “I just think there’s nothing better to do in the evening — it is relaxing and slows me down.”

Tourist couple Guenter Hildebrandt, left, and Giesela Hildebrandt search for amber during a guided amber hunt for tourists at the beach of the Baltic Sea resort of Dahme, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Axel Kramer a tourist guide and amber expert poses for a photo during a guided amber hunt for tourists on the beach of the Baltic resort of Dahme, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Participants hold a glass of salt water and a black light lamp in their hands to examine amber during a guided amber hunt for tourists on the beach of the Baltic Sea resort of Dahme, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Vollrath Wiese shows a piece of amber with insects trapped inside, at the "Nature House" museum in the village of Cismar near the Baltic Sea resort of Dahme, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Participants search with a black light lamps in their hands for amber during a guided amber hunt for tourists on the beach of the Baltic Sea resort of Dahme, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison Friday in the first verdict from eight criminal trials over the martial law debacle that forced him out of office and other allegations.

Yoon was impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for his ouster.

The most significant criminal charge against him alleges that his martial law enforcement amounted to a rebellion, and the independent counsel has requested the death sentence in the case that is to be decided in a ruling next month.

Yoon has maintained he didn’t intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was only meant to inform the people about the danger of the liberal-controlled parliament obstructing his agenda. But investigators have viewed Yoon’s decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offenses.

In Friday’s case, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon for defying attempts to detain him, fabricating the martial law proclamation, and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting and thus depriving some Cabinet members who were not convened of their due rights to deliberate on his decree.

Judge Baek Dae-hyun said in the televised ruling that imposing “a grave punishment” was necessary because Yoon hasn’t shown remorse and has only repeated “hard-to-comprehend excuses.” The judge also restoring legal systems damaged by Yoon’s action was necessary.

Yoon’s defense team said they will appeal the ruling, which they believe was “politicized” and reflected “the unliberal arguments by the independent counsel.” Yoon’s defense team argued the ruling “oversimplified the boundary between the exercise of the president’s constitutional powers and criminal liability.”

Prison sentences in the multiple, smaller trials Yoon faces would matter if he is spared the death penalty or life imprisonment at the rebellion trial.

Park SungBae, a lawyer who specializes in criminal law, said there is little chance the court would decide Yoon should face the death penalty in the rebellion case. He said the court will likely issue a life sentence or a sentence of 30 years or more in prison.

South Korea has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 1997 and courts rarely hand down death sentences. Park said the court would take into account that Yoon’s decree didn’t cause casualties and didn’t last long, although Yoon hasn’t shown genuine remorse for his action.

South Korea has a history of pardoning former presidents who were jailed over diverse crimes in the name of promoting national unity. Those pardoned include strongman Chun Doo-hwan, who received the death penalty at a district court over his 1979 coup, the bloody 1980 crackdowns of pro-democracy protests that killed about 200 people, and other crimes.

Some observers say Yoon will likely retain a defiant attitude in the ongoing trials to maintain his support base in the belief that he cannot avoid a lengthy sentence but could be pardoned in the future.

On the night of Dec. 3, 2024, Yoon abruptly declared martial law in a televised speech, saying he would eliminate “anti-state forces” and protect “the constitutional democratic order.” Yoon sent troops and police officers to encircle the National Assembly, but many apparently didn’t aggressively cordon off the area, allowing enough lawmakers to get into an assembly hall to vote down Yoon’s decree.

No major violence occurred, but Yoon's stunt caused the biggest political crisis in South Korea and rattled its diplomacy and financial markets. For many, his decree, the first of its kind in more than four decades in South Korea, brought back harrowing memories of past dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s, when military-backed leaders used martial law and emergency measures to deploy soldiers and tanks on the streets to suppress demonstrations.

After Yoon's ouster, his liberal rival Lee Jae Myung became president via a snap election last June. After taking office, Lee appointed three independent counsels to look into allegations involving Yoon, his wife and associates.

Yoon's other trials deal with charges like ordering drone flights over North Korea to deliberately inflame animosities to look for a pretext to declare martial law. Other charges accuse Yoon of manipulating the investigation into a marine’s drowning in 2023 and receiving free opinion surveys from an election broker in return for a political favor.

A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shouts slogans outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol waits for a bus carrying former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs as police officers stand guard outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A picture of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is placed on a board as supporters gather outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)