Aschersleber Lake

Aschersleber lake depicted in a map from 1734

The Aschersleber See is a lake in the Harz foreland and borders the urban area of Aschersleben . In earlier years it was also known as Gatersleber See or Wilsleber See , and since the Second World War it has also been called Junkerssee by the residents of Aschersleben , as it was directly adjacent to a Junkers aircraft and engine factory .

history

Before the beginning of our era there was a wide expanse of water northwest of Aschersleben, which reached as far as Gatersleben and shortly before Quedlinburg and from whose marshy surface islands and peninsulas protruded. The abundance of fish and game, as well as the abundant reeds on the shores of the lake, attracted settlers to the lake thousands of years ago.

The county of Anhalt, map by Peter Schenk (1710)

The increasing siltation of the lake over the course of time prompted Bishop Burchard von Halberstadt to fill “the lake” with fresh water in 1446. He had a high wall built near Gatersleben and thus drove the waters of the Selke into the lake basin. The aim of the bishop was through this measure to supply the many monasteries around the lake with the popular fasting dish of fish. As a result, large areas of land were sacrificed to the water, including the villages of Haseldorf and Hargersdorf . The right to fish in the Aschersleber area belonged to the council in Aschersleben. The fish trade flourished in Aschersleben and the surrounding area for centuries.

Nevertheless, there was a long-standing dispute over fishing rights on the lake, in which the abbess of Gernrode Abbey Elisabeth von Weida played a decisive role. When the new lake was to be used, the Halberstadt diocese and Gernrode monastery each claimed the fishing rights for themselves. The people of Halberstadt stated that they had regenerated the lake, whereas the Gernröder said that the lake was largely located on the Frose monastery and that the abbess of Gernrode was in charge of supervision. In addition, Frose complained to the abbess about the collegiate sacks and meadows flooded by the lake. On December 20, 1510 the settlement was concluded. The abbess renounced all rights to the lake in favor of the bishop of Halberstadt and the council of the city of Aschersleben.

At the Aschersleber See

At the Wilsleber See

Around 1700 the Prussian King Friedrich I had been proposed to drain the water of the lake and thereby gain large stretches of fertile land. Despite massive resistance from Aschersleben, the king ordered the lake to be drained. In 1703 the drainage of the lake began on the Gatersleber side and two years later on the Aschersleber side. The Aschersleber Council had to cover the costs. In 1709 the land was reclaimed by means of drainage ditches . With the upcoming distribution of the land, the city of Aschersleben was given barely a quarter of the area to which it was entitled. At that time the places Friedrichsaue and Königsaue , which were named in honor of the king, also emerged. Some of the lake lands have been used for peat extraction for a long time .

After Hugo Sholto Graf von Douglas discovered lignite deposits in the Aschersleben area , lignite mining began in civil engineering in the Georg mine in 1828. The necessary dewatering measures resulted in a large-scale lowering of the groundwater in line with the development of the open pit. During the mining of brown coal, for example, water ingresses into the tunnels because the groundwater level was pressing on the tunnels. In 1920 the Aschersleber lignite mining ended when the underground cavities collapsed, the water table rose again and today's “Aschersleber” or “Wilsleber See” was created.

In 1928 and later in 1964, the towns of Nachterstedt and Königsaue had to give way partially or completely to coal mining. In the area of the large Aschersleber Lake, the Concordia Lake near Nachterstedt and the smaller Königsauer Lake have been created since 1996 by flooding two remaining open-cast mining holes .

nature

There are numerous amphibians and reptiles in the area of the lake. Are among the most commonly occurring amphibians newt ( Lissotriton vulgaris ), Alpine newt ( Ichthyosaura alpestris ), common toad ( Bufo bufo ) Toad ( Bufotes viridis ) and spadefoot ( Pelobates fuscus ), common frog ( Rana temporaria ) Moor frog ( Rana arvalis ), edible frog ( Pelophylax esculentus ) and sea frog ( Pelophylax ridibundus ).

A special feature is the occurrence of 4 types of lizard in a narrow space, which is unique in Saxony-Anhalt. To live within the NSG "Wilsleber Lake" the slow-worm ( Anguis fragilis ), the wall lizard ( Podarcis muralis ), the forest lizard ( Zootoca vivipara ) and the sand lizard ( Lacerta agilis argus ).

The wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) as a non-native species, goes back to the introduction by humans.

The warm climate in Aschersleben also favors the occurrence of other heat-loving species in the immediate vicinity of the lake. A stable population of the European praying mantis ( Mantis religiosa) has existed since at least 2011 .

Furthermore , the wet nurse's thorn finger ( Cheiracanthium punctorium ), the wasp spider ( Argiope bruennichi ) and the blue-winged wasteland insect ( Oedipoda caerulescens ) live in the meadows around the lake.