Jettenhöhle
The Jettenhöhle is a gypsum cave in the nature reserve Gipskarstlandschaft Hainholz near Düna , which cannot be visited. With its corridors over 600 meters long, of which around 160 meters are accessible, it is the largest cave in the Hainholz area. Your entrance is on the edge of a large sinkhole in a wooded and intensely karst landscape.
location
The cave is located in the nature reserve Gipskarstlandschaft Hainholz, which is a representative part of the gypsum karst landscape of the southern Harz . The typical forms of a karst landscape can be found in a small space, such as sinkholes , sinkholes , streams and a number of caves. Another larger cave in the grove is the Marthahöhle .
history
The cave was first mentioned in a document from Katlenburg in 1308 as Gettenhelle ; this mention is one of the first recorded mentions of a cave. The Kurhannoversche land record of the 18th century calls them "Gettenhöhle" and also "Götzenhöhle". The name does not come from the feminine given name (nickname) Jette for Henriette , as passed down in a legend , but is a simple hallway designation in which "the cave near the Getten (holes = sinkholes") became "Gettenhelle".
Towards the end of the Second World War , the cave was intended for the underground relocation of facilities of the German armaments industry that were important to the war effort under the name U-Relocation "Ör" . For this purpose the cave was closed on December 22nd, 1944. After a renovation, the Winkel company from Göttingen was supposed to produce fine mechanical armaments equipment on 2,500 m². The project did not go beyond the planning.
description
The cave has a portal that is visible from afar on the edge of a karst valley. The flat, only 1 meter high cave entrance is 5 meters wide. The cave is very spacious and has a length of approx. 160 meters in an east-west direction and a north-south extension of up to 50 meters. The total length of the corridor with all crawling corridors is 750 meters. It is the seventh longest sulphate cave in Germany. The individual interior spaces are the 20-meter-wide Romarhalle, the 30-meter-wide and 9-meter-high Kreuzdom, the Jettenstube with a Verbruchberg and the 1.7-meter-deep Pfeilersee, the Hübichsaal, the Lauggang, the block gap and the sand gap. At the end of the height a narrow, 13 m high chimney leads to the surface of the earth. As there is a considerable risk of falling rocks inside the cave, entry is not permitted.
In the Jettenhöhle there are rare and endangered animal species that can be found mainly at the entrance and in the back of the chimney. They are newts, fire salamanders, toads and bats. There are also real cave animals such as amphibians and springtails .
Say
Origin of name
When the Swedes were in the country during the Thirty Years' War , the residents of the settlements of Düna and Hörden hid in a large cave in the wood between the two villages. A child was born and the cave was named after the mother's first name, Jette.
Dwarf legend
Dwarfs lived in the Jettenhöhle who were not popular with the farmers because they caused great damage to the crops in the area. A farmer from Hörden had a field of peas at the Jettenhöhle that had been plundered and trampled on by the dwarves. A neighbor knew that they put on fog caps and were then invisible. One day the farmer discovered an old, skinny dwarf in his field with the help of a stick. He wore a bag of pea pods around his neck. The farmer cursed and the dwarf promised to repair the damage. The farmer should be there again the next day at the same time and then a sack would be ready for him. The stolen farmer let the dwarf go and came back the next day. There was actually a full sack in front of the pea field. But the farmer was disappointed when he found only old iron in it. His joy was great when the old iron at home had turned into pure gold.
literature
- Stephan Kempe , Erich Mattern, Fritz Reinboth, Martin Seeger, Firouz Vladi : The Jettenhöhle near Düna and its surroundings , Abh. Karst and Höhlenkunde A6, 1972
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kempe, S. & A. Helbing (2000): The "size" of German plaster caves. - The Cave, 51 (1): 13-20.
- ^ Johann Georg Theodor Grasse (1866-71), Book of Legends of the Prussian State
Coordinates: 51 ° 41 ′ 3.2 ″ N , 10 ° 16 ′ 22 ″ E