Hardtkopf (Elbenberg)
| Hardtkopf | ||
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 View from the northeast of the Hardtkopf with Elberberg Castle on the transition area to Steinbühl |
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| height | 363.8 m above sea level NHN | |
| location | near Elbenberg ; District of Kassel , Hessen ( Germany ) | |
| Mountains | Ostwaldecker Randsenken , West Hessian mountains | |
| Coordinates | 51 ° 13 '33 " N , 9 ° 12' 37" E | |
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| particularities | Nazi large tunnel system Saphir im Berg | |
The Hardtkopf is 363.8 m above sea level. NHN high mountain near Elbenberg , a south-eastern district of Naumburg in the north Hessian district of Kassel . It is one of the Ostwaldecker peripheral depressions in the West Hessian highlands .
geography
location
The Hardtkopf is located in the Habichtswald Nature Park . It extends from the village of Elbenberg to the south-southeast along the left (eastern) bank of the Eder tributary, the Elbe . The Ems tributary Stellbach rises in the transition area to the northeastern Kuhberg ( 403.9 m ) . On the transition area to Steinbühl to the north ( 355.4 m ), Elberberg Castle stands east-southeast above the historic center of Elbenberg .
Natural allocation
The Hardtkopf belongs to the natural spatial main unit West Hessisches Bergland (No. 34) in the main unit Ostwaldecker Randsenken (341) and in the subunit Naumburger Senken und Ridge (341.4) to the natural area Elberberger Heights (341.42). Its western slope falls into the natural area Elbergrund (341.41) with the Elbe. To the east the landscape leads into the natural area Fritzlarer Börde (343.23) with the Ems, which belongs to the subunit Hessengau (343.2) in the main unit West Hessian Basin (343) .
Rock cellar
In 1852 the local landlords and owners of Elberberg Castle , the lords of Buttlar , had the Hardtmühle on the Elbe converted from a sawmill into a brewery . To keep the beer safe and cool, they had a rock cellar blown up on the western slope of the Hardtkopf on the bank of the Elbe. The upstream portal with platform and balustrade and a nearby bowling alley were the site of many festivals and celebrations for the von Buttlar family and the village population.
Today the rock cellar serves as a storage room for the local sports club. It is located directly on the sports field, which was built on the excavation of the tunnel system driven into the Hardtkopf during the Second World War .
Large tunnel system Saphir
During the Second World War, when the underground relocation of war-essential factories to underground facilities began in autumn 1943 , the Todt Organization began building a large tunnel system next to the old rock cellar. Like all new tunnel systems, this one was given a geological name as an alias: "Saphir". The plan was to move parts of the manufacturing plant for aircraft engines from the Kassel company Henschel and its subsidiary Henschel Flugmotorenbau GmbH from Altenbauna in a bomb-proof manner . The construction companies were Richter and Cronibus from Kassel, and the mining company Hibernia provided the necessary miners. The main work was carried out by forced laborers and prisoners of war from Eastern Europe, mostly Russians, who were housed in a barrack camp on the right bank of the Elbe on the way to Altendorf . From September 1944, German-Jewish women from the Elben women's camp also had to work there. There were 4 entrances with tunnels 6 meters wide and 3 meters high. Until the invasion of American troops in the village on March 31, 1945 studs m of a total length of nearly 1,000 and a sole surface of 4120 m² arranged. The excavation was poured between the mountain and the stream and formed the basis for today's sports field. The tunnel system was never completed, and engines were never produced.
Most of the tunnels and the up to 5 m high vaulted chambers have been preserved, but some are under up to 30 cm of water. Production facilities or parts of them no longer exist, even if they were once there. Until the late 1970s, children and adolescents crawled through sacked openings in the slope into the corridors, played there and even rode their bikes around in them. During the Schleyer kidnapping in the autumn of 1977, the tunnels of the rock cellar next to it were searched by police because they were a potential hiding place. A little later the entrances were dredged up and the access through the rock cellar walled up. The only access today is through a massive portal and a small, securely locked metal hatch. The system is not open to the public; the keys are held by the Federal Property Office. However, bats have found their way into the mountain and now live in the old tunnels.
In 1988, as part of the local jubilee, historical information boards were set up, including at the rock cellar and at the clay hole, where the women's camp had stood.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Map services of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation ( information )
- ↑ Martin Bürgener: Geographical Land Survey: The natural spatial units on sheet 111 Arolsen. Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Bad Godesberg 1963. → Online map (PDF; 4.1 MB)
- ↑ a b c Volker Knöppel, Elberberg House Chronicle , Kassel, 2012
- ↑ Henschel Flugmotorenbau code name Saphir ( large tunnel system Saphir) , on lostareas.de
- ↑ In search of RAF terrorists, the police searched the Hardtmühle and the Felsenkeller in the Elbenberg district of the city of Naumburg, December 1977. Contemporary history in Hesse. (As of March 16, 2019). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
Web links
- Henschel Flugmotorenbau code name Saphir ( large tunnel system Saphir) , on lostareas.de
- A village awakens in the hoarfrost , painting with Elbenberg and the Hardtkopf by Burkhard Niebert (2008), on heimatgemaelde.de