Industrial area Halle-Leipzig
The Halle-Leipzig industrial area extends over an area of around 6000 km², with a population of 1.9 million. 740,000 of them live in Leipzig (around 510,000) and Halle (around 230,000). Close to historical industrial regions are the area around Chemnitz and Zwickau to the south, Magdeburg to the north and the historical manufacturing region around Dresden and Meißen to the south-east .
history
For several centuries the importance of Leipzig as an industrial location has been growing. This development was favored by various factors. For example, the central location of Leipzig in the German Empire , favorable transport connections (see Leipzig Trade Fair City), fertile loess soils and the extensive and high-quality brown coal deposits . Thanks to the loess soils, it was possible to grow more demanding crops such as wheat , barley and sugar beet early on , and the brown coal deposits allowed industrialization to advance. With around 20% of industrial production and 150,000 employees, the region was the most important industrial area in the GDR , although the area was not particularly well received by the citizens of the GDR due to the lack of modern equipment and various economic , social and ecological problems.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, 50 billion euros were invested, so that the region has one of the strongest, if not the strongest development dynamics in the new federal states. Even so, the area's most important industry, the lignite industry, has lost a lot of its importance since 1990. As a result of this development, many jobs had to be cut. Contrary to all expectations, the chances for the Halle-Leipzig area are good, because the high renovation costs have increased the technical possibilities and various fundamental political decisions have been made in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt that have "paved the way" for industrial advancement.
To the left and right of the Elbe there are around 40 billion tons of lignite , but only 25 billion tons of it are worth mining . Two fifths of this, i.e. 10 billion t, fall on the left Elbe mining areas (Central German lignite mining area) around Zeitz , Dessau , Wittenberg , Altenburg , Weißenfels , Halle and Leipzig , where 1 million tonnes of lignite are mined every day. In particular, salt, briquetting, steam and black coal are produced and mined in these areas. The latter is mainly produced in Halle and is used in the chemical industry to produce carbon dioxide and tar. Steam coal, on the other hand, is mainly used for burning in boilers and thermal power plants and is produced in Halle and Delitzsch . Because of its high salt content, the salt coal is hardly mined and the briquetting coal or simply briquettes that are produced in Bitterfeld , Wolfen and Graefenhainichen are sold on the open market, where they can be purchased to heat the apartment. It is sometimes used in the chemical industry, but this rarely happens.
Economic change in Leuna and Buna
The large chemical plants in Leuna and Buna in the middle Saale valley have existed since 1917 and 1936 respectively. Both plants were already among the most important locations in the Halle-Leipzig area. A favorable labor situation , the proximity to the rivers Saale , Geisel, Lippe and Weisse Elster and probably the most important factor, the direct location to the central German lignite mining areas, gave both companies great competitive advantages. In Leuna mainly fuels and various basic chemicals such as tar , oil , pitch and sulfur were produced.
One of the negative sides of Leuna’s history was the production of poison gas for the National Socialists during the Second World War . But the Saxony-Anhalters were not deterred and continued to work with increasingly obsolete production facilities in the GDR after the fall of the Third Reich. It was no different in Buna, where mainly rubber for the tire industry and carbide for the manufacture of chlorine and plastic products were manufactured.
In the course of reunification , there were significant changes in both production sites. Where energy-consuming machines were still used before the fall of the Wall, high-tech equipment was introduced after the fall of the Berlin Wall, which allowed workers to work on an even higher level. Modern companies such as "Leuna 2000" were founded, which was supported by the former French mineral oil company Elf Aquitaine (now Total ). Up to 5000 construction workers built the largest oil refinery in Germany on 250 hectares for 21 years. The underground pipe system alone is huge with a total length of 80 km, not to mention the total amount invested of around 2.5 billion euros. Even more was invested in Buna. One speaks here of around 7.5 billion euros, which is said to have come to Saxony-Anhalt after EU subsidies of almost 5 billion euros by the European Commission . This subsidy is the second highest that the Brussels authority has ever granted.
Similar to Leuna, the Buna- Schkopau site was also taken over by a large foreign company, namely the Dow Chemical Company from the USA . But there are also downsides to this necessary modernization. The number of workers was reduced from 20,000 to 5,200 in Buna and from 29,000 to 8,600 in Leuna in the course of the rationalization that was now possible due to the higher degree of automation.
Environmental pollution and protection
An area of 40 km² in Germany is directly and indirectly affected by lignite mining. This leads to the systematic destruction of the affected landscapes; Dump heaps and huge (residual) holes are the result. In addition, there is the high level of air pollution caused by the burning of lignite in power plants or the smoldering in the chemical industry, and dried out soils due to constant lowering of the groundwater level, which leads to crop failures. The Espenhain Schwelerei, south of Leipzig, alone produced 4.4 tonnes of hydrogen sulfide per day and pumped it into the air. The mining law of 1969 was therefore a first step in the right direction.
This demands from the state lignite mines that they backfill their charred opencast mines, create bathing lakes in the remaining holes and recultivate and reforest the soil; however, this mining law is not always enforced. In addition to the lignite processing companies, the chemical industry also pollutes the air with exhaust gases and the water with untreated waste water, which is simply discharged into rivers.
Because of all these reasons, the soil, the air and the water in the Halle-Leipzig area were very heavily polluted and the region was referred to as "Kummerland" or "environmental disaster area" of the GDR. In the meantime, however, the situation has improved and you can even go fishing again on the rivers of the industrial area Halle-Leipzig.
literature
- Germany - Schroedel Schulbuchverlag GmbH, Hanover 1991
- Seydlitz - Geography 1 - Schroedel Verlag GmbH, Hanover 1998
- GEOS - Economic Areas and Settlements 1997-Volk und Wissen Verlag
- Foundations - course topics - industry / services - Klett-Perthes Verlag GmbH, Gotha 2004
- Diercke World Atlas - Westermann Schulbuchverlag GmbH, Braunschweig 1988