Gotthold mine
The "Gotthold" pit is a former lignite and gravel pit in the Elbe-Elster district in southern Brandenburg .
history
The former “Gotthold” mine is located about two kilometers west of Hohenleipisch . The Lusatian lower seam (2nd Lusatian seam horizon , Middle Miocene ) reached a thickness of 2.7 to 4.0 meters. The mine was opened on 22 March 1912, it was first in the civil engineering promoted lignite. A narrow-gauge mine railway transported the coal to the loading ramp of the Upper Lusatian gravel and sand works (OKS) in Biehla, about three kilometers away . An entry in the commercial register was made on January 17, 1913 as the "Gotthold" lignite mine . The first managing directors of the company, which is based in Elsterwerda and initially had share capital of 39,000 marks, were Paul Freitag and Franz Kotik. As early as 1913, the mine reached its largest lignite output with 20,860 tons. From 1914, in addition to civil engineering, open-cast mining also became increasingly important. In addition to the lignite, the mine also produced crystal quartz sand. A steam shovel excavator was used here from 1916 to 1919, which in 1920 was replaced by a bucket chain excavator with a max. Conveying capacity of 150 m³ / h was replaced.
The extraction of quartz sand became more and more important and eventually replaced coal entirely. In 1922, of the mine’s 23 employees, only one worker was still involved in coal mining. In the same year, the narrow-gauge railway , which repeatedly caused complaints due to its obvious safety deficiencies, was replaced by a cable car .
After almost all of the young men employed in the pit were drafted in the Second World War, French prisoners of war were initially used in the pit. From 1943, 15 Soviet prisoners of war from the Mühlberg camp worked here , and they helped out on the Hohenleipischer strawberry fields after work. In 1945 the mining operations came to a standstill and since the pumping station was no longer working, the pit slowly filled with water.
A devastating forest fire in the Liebenwerdaer Heide in 1947, in which not only a huge area of the adjacent forest burned, but also all the structures in the "Gotthold" mine and its coal seam, ultimately led to the end of mine operations.
From 1960, large parts of the adjacent forest area of the old Liebenwerdaer Amtsheide were used as a military training area for the NVA . In the course of the expansion of the square, the “Gotthold” pit was also closed. This is where water training for engineers and scouts should take place. Because of the geological characteristics of the pit, these plans were never implemented.
The site of the former lignite mine is now part of the "Forsthaus Prösa" nature reserve, which was established in 1990 .
Footnotes and individual references
- ↑ Dr. Herbert Sucher, Bettina Beyer: "Gotthold" mine in the home calendar for the Bad Liebenwerda district and the Mückenberger Ländchen . Bad Liebenwerda 1994, p. 187 to 197 .
- ↑ Dr. Herbert Sucher: From “Agnes” to “Wilhelmine” in the home calendar for the Bad Liebenwerda district and the Mückenberger Ländchen . Bad Liebenwerda 1994, p. 175 to 181 .
- ↑ Klaus Dietrich: Legend and Truth - on the history of the former military training area Liebenwerda. In: Home calendar for the old district of Bad Liebenwerda, the Mückenberger Ländchen, outskirts on Schraden and Uebigau-Falkenberg . Ed .: Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Heimatkunde eV Bad Liebenwerda. Bad Liebenwerda 2002, ISBN 3-932913-22-1 , p. 109-116 .
- ↑ Petra Wießner: “The way to the Niederlausitzer Heidelandschaft nature park” in “Local calendar for the old district of Bad Liebenwerda, the Mückenberger Ländchen, outskirts on Schraden and Uebigau-Falkenberg” . Ed .: Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Heimatkunde eV Bad Liebenwerda. Bad Liebenwerda 1997, p. 172-180 .
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ' N , 13 ° 32' E