Before the Burchardi flood in 1634 there were three houses on the island, one of which was inhabited by the beach lookout (Strandvogt).

Today the Hallig has an area of 62 hectares (150 acres) and is currently farmed organically by a husband and wife.

It was continued after his death by his wife, Gunvor, and in 1960, converted into a foundation, whose aim was "on the basis of Hermann Neuton Paulsen's work and in the interests of international understanding, to give young people from different countries the opportunity to meet on the island of Süderoog in an atmosphere of freedom borne out of responsibility, to get to know one another as friends, and to live together in ways that are to match the development of psychology and pedagogy at any time.

Difficult sanitary conditions, which could not be sufficiently improved, and damage caused by the flood of 1962 led to the gradual decline of Süderoog's holiday work.

The Hallig that had been in the private ownership of the Paulsen family for centuries was finally sold in 1971 to the state of Schleswig-Holstein.