Kopalnia Węgla Kamiennego Jaworzno
The Jaworzno Mine (Polish Kopalnia Węgla Kamiennego Jaworzno ) is a decommissioned hard coal mine in Jaworzno , Poland.
history
The mine with this name has a very eventful history. Initially very closely linked to the coal and steel activities of the Habsburg Empire, its history in the 20th century was shaped by its coupling to the EVO (Energieversorgung Oberschlesien) during Nazi rule and by mergers, splits and renaming after the Second World War.
The history of the mines marked in blue and green in the adjacent figure is presented in the separate articles Kopalnia Węgla Kamiennego Jan Kanty and Zakład Górniczy Sobieski , although there have been amalgamations with and splits from Jaworzno .
As early as the 18th century, private individuals operated coal mining southwest of the old border between Prussia, Russia and Austria (Galicia) using simple means in open-cast mining. The city of Krakow bought some of these mine fields before the entire area was consolidated from 1871 by the companies Max Springer and Gebrüder Gutmann , Eduard von Todesco and Schoeller & Co. and incorporated into the Gwarectwo Jaworzno union. In this also Viennese banks took part, u. a. the SCIA Vienna.
After the end of the First World War and the establishment of the Second Polish Republic, the mine was bought by Jan Kanty Steczkowski and incorporated into the Jaworzno trade union SA in 1921. The owners of this company were a. the cities of Krakow and Lviv, the Polish National Bank and the Polish Industrial Bank. The 101.49 km² field with deposits of 2 to 5 m thick seams was initially opened up by two pits, the Friedrich-August and Jacek-Rudolf mines . From 1920 the Jan Kanty colliery was added.
Friedrich-August
The Friedrich-August-Zeche ( Lage ) had two extraction shafts ("Paulina" and "Helena") and a material shaft with depths of 120 m, 156 m and 220 m. In 1902 a fire destroyed large parts of the mine and after this damage had been repaired, an uncontrollable amount of water penetrated the mine workings. It was not until 1911 that this problem was overcome by building our own power station and installing pumps.
By transporting the coal underground with Benzolloks, production could be increased to 540,000 tons in 1914. In the interwar period, 654,000 tons were mined in 1929 and 684,000 tons in 1938. The consequences of the global economic crisis were not felt as drastically here as in other mines, among other things because 30% of the coal mined was used for power generation.
Piłsudski
From 1938 the mine was Friedrich-August the name of Pilsudski , from 1945 to 1963 along with other mines the name Bierut before it as part of the composite Ruch mine I Jaworzno was.
During the Nazi occupation, the mine, like the other mines in the Jaworzno area, was operated by EVO based in Katowice. Although investments to increase production could still be made at the beginning of the Second World War, these had to be stopped from 1942. The only way to increase funding was to increase the workforce to 3,889 people (number for 1944).
Jacek-Rudolf
The Jacek-Rudolf colliery ( Lage ) is also known as Jacob-Rudolf in literature and was named Kościuszko from 1921 . Initially, the mine only had a shaft with a depth of 102 m.
Kościuszko
This colliery was initially founded under the name Jacob-Rudolf and was given the name Kościuszko in 1921 in connection with the establishment of the second Polish republic and the associated change of ownership .
From 1921 to 1929, the mine produced 200 to 300 thousand tons of coal annually on the 165 m level. For a long time, too little was invested in the ventilation, equipment and preparation of the mine in order to be able to lift and process the rich coal reserves underground.
Therefore, in 1949 the decision was made to build a new mine with an annual production of 800,000 to 900,000 tons of coal. The first work on the extension of the facility began in 1950 and the Kościuszko shaft was sunk to 292 m. The following production figures show that the investments of 506 million zlotys were successful:
- 1955 - 659,000 t
- 1957 - 954,000 t
- 1958 - 1.208 million tons
- 1960 - 1.605 million tons
This rapid increase in production was achieved on the one hand by a massive increase in overtime and on the other hand by automating the conveyance and mechanical cutting and loading. The recruitment of workers from eastern Poland also favored this development.
Mainly because of the extremely high personnel costs, the decision was made in January 1963 to merge Kościuszko with the Bierut mine under the name Jaworzno . Kościuszko became Ruch II of the new composite mine.
Jaworzno / Bierut
For the first time in 1945 the Piłsudski , Jan Kanty and Leopold mines were merged under the name Jaworzno . In 1947 Sobieski was also added. For a short time all mines with the exception of Kościuszko in the Jaworzno area, which had been administered by Gwarectwo Jaworzno since 1871, were united. The fate of all these plants is closely linked to three huge power plants that generated electricity from the coal extracted (managed by EVOS (Energieversorgung Oberschlesien) Katowice during the German occupation from 1939 to 1945) and still generate it today.
In 1953, Jan Kanty left the group together with Leopold under the name Komuna Paryska and on April 1, 1957, Sobieski was separated .
From 1947 to 1963 the colliery was called Bierut . The merger with Kościuszko in 1963 made it possible to give the facility the "de-Stalinized" name Jaworzno .
After the renewed merger with Sobieski on January 1, 1973, the mine had three main systems, Ruch Piłsudski with the "Helena" and "Karolina" shafts , Ruch II with the "Kościuszko" and "Karol" shafts and Ruch Sobieski with "Centralny" , "Sobieski" and "Traugutt".
Although considerable funds were invested in the Piłsudski and Kościuszko plants and a desulphurisation plant was built in 1994 , the production costs of the three separately working plants were too high for the mine with its almost 7,000 employees and a production of 15,000 t per day to continue economically can. Therefore, in 1998 the decision was made to outsource the Sobieski plant and to liquidate the other two plants. The latter is now operated by the TAURON Group. With the exception of the "Helena" shaft, all shafts were filled and the daytime facilities of Ruch I and II were demolished.
Since 2011 there have been fiercely opposed plans by the citizens to build a new mine in the Jaworzno area. While the initial plans were based on the assumption that Jan Kanty's plant would be brought back into operation, in 2014 the option of ensuring the continued existence of Kazimierz - Juliusz beyond 2018 by moving this mine to the south and to the north was discussed relocated to the city.
Funding figures
1900: 733,086 t; 1913: 730,566 t; 1938: 943,359 t; 1970: 3.42 million t; 1979: 5.27 million t
present
With the exception of a scaffolding over the Helena shaft, all of the Piłsudski and Kościuszko day facilities have been demolished. The premises of the Kościuszko plant near the city center of Jaworzno are being prepared for a new use.
The option discussed in 2014 to resume hard coal mining in the Jaworzno urban area does not seem to be pursued any further.
swell
- Jerzy Jaros. Słownik historyczny kopalń węgla na ziemiach polskich. Katowice 1984.
- Yearbook for the Upper Mining District Wroclaw. Phoenix Publishing House. Katowice, Breslau, Berlin. 1913. Digitized version available at www.dbc.wroc.pl (last accessed on May 5, 2015)
- Zygfryd Piątek. Coal mining in Poland in the interwar period from 1918 to 1939. In: The cut. 52nd volume, issue 1/2000.
- Werner Röhr. On the role of heavy industry in annexed Polish Upper Silesia for Germany's war economy from 1939 to 1949. Yearbook for Economic History Volume 130. Downloaded as a PDF file from www.digitalis.uni-koeln.de (last accessed on October 5, 2015).
- Siegmund Bergmann. Galicia, its cultural and economic development. oOo J.
Web links
A lot of factual information, pictures and short videos about the mines in Jaworzno and the surrounding area can be found on the website www.stacjajaworzno.c0.pl (last accessed on November 21, 2015).
Map with all coordinates: