Masurian Canal
| Masurian Canal | |
|---|---|
 Course of the Masurian Canal |
|
| location | Russia: Kaliningrad Oblast Poland: Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship |
| length | 50.4 km |
| Built | 1911 to 1914, 1918 to 1922, 1934 to 1942 |
| class | Finow measure |
| Beginning | Branch to Alle (Лава, Lawa ) |
| The End | Branch from the Mamry ( Mauersee ) |
| Descent structures | 10 locks |
| Kilometrage | from Allenburg (Дру́жба, Druzhba ) to the Mauersee km 0 to km 50.4 |
| Downhill | To the northwest |
| The canal was not completed. | |
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The Masurian Canal ( Russian Канал Мазурский , Kanal Masurski , Polish Kanał Mazurski ) is a 50.4 km long, unfinished artificial waterway , which in East Prussia is a navigable connection between the Masurian Lake District and the Baltic Sea near Königsberg (today Kaliningrad , Russian Калининин ) should produce.
The extensive construction work took place with several interruptions between 1911 and 1942, but remained unfinished due to the Second World War and its aftermath. When construction stopped, around 90% of the earthworks had been completed. The locks, which overcome a height difference of 111.4 meters, were on average 70% completed. The canal was already flooded when the Wehrmacht blew up all the road and railway bridges on the canal with one exception.
After East Prussia was divided in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement in 1946 , the 29.97 km long northern part of the canal lies in the Russian Oblast of Kaliningrad . The 20.43 km long southern part is now on Polish territory ( Warmia-Masurian Voivodeship ). The only completed lock on the Masurian Canal is located in Poland. It regulates the water level of the Jezioro Rydzówka (Eng. Rehsauer See ), which partially flows through the non-navigable and now heavily silted Masurian Canal.
Geostrategic importance
Like Danzig, Memel and Riga, Konigsberg sought a connection with the Black Sea . The route across the Masurian Canal was the shortest, and construction would probably have taken the shortest time. In addition, Koenigsberg was prepared for communication with the Ukraine through old and stable relations. Another feeder of the Masurian Canal could have been the straightening of the Pissek . As an outflow from the Masurian Lakes, it would have created a connection between Johannisburg and Novgorod . From Novgorod the waterways of the Narew and Bug to Warsaw could have been used. This waterway would have opened up the forests of the heather near Białystok and the Białowieża Primeval Forest .
course
Russia
The kilometer 0 of the Masurian Canal is located in the Kaliningrad Oblast at the mouth of the canal in the Alle (Russian Лава, Lawa ) north of the village Druzhba ( Дру́жба , dt. Allenburg ). The Alle has an average water level of 5.1 m above sea level at the mouth of the canal . NN . After the loss of the hinterland and most of the transport connections through the Russian-Polish border, the former small town of Allenburg has lost a lot of its importance since 1945 and only the church and a few houses remain. The Alle flows into the Pregel (Russian Преголя , Pregolja ) after 22.5 km at Znamensk (Знаменск, German Wehlau ). This in turn flows into the Fresh Lagoon of the Baltic Sea behind Kaliningrad .
The Masurian Canal initially runs south and, after it has passed Druzhba (Allenburg) , to the southeast. Next to the estuary sluice to Alle there is a sluice on the first section of the 1944 blasted bridge of the former Wehlau – Friedland railway line (Russian Правдинск , Prawdinsk ). The waterway crosses the Allenburger Torfbruch peat bog . Behind the Groß Allendorf lock, the place has been a nameless desert since the end of the war , the canal curves in a slightly more southerly direction.
In the also defunct site Maue Walde (russ. Некрасово , Nekrassowo ), the only road bridge received is from before 1945. This is followed by the lock Wilhelmshof (russ. Мариновка , Marinovka ) and the bridge of the unused railway line Gerdauen (Russ. Железнодорожный , Schelesnodoroschny ) - Insterburg (Russian Черняховск , Tschernjachowsk ) and the lock in Georgenfelde (Russian Озерки , Oserki ). The longest section between two locks (12.5 km) begins here. Next to the road bridge between Gerdauen and Nordenburg (Russian Крылово, Krylowo ) (former Reichsstraße 131 , today A196 ) are the remains of the former railway bridge ( railway line Königsberg – Gerdauen – Nordenburg – Angerburg ). A few hundred meters further south, at km 29.97, the Russian-Polish state border runs across the canal bed.
Poland
In Poland, the first accessible kilometers of canals are to the west of Brzeźnica (Eng. Birkenfeld ). The route continues unchanged in a south-easterly direction. To the east lies the Jezioro Oświn ( North Burger Lake ), still on Polish territory. In the further course of the canal follow the locks Langenfeld (Polish Śluza Długopole ) and Klein Bajohren (1938 to 1945 Kleinblankenfelde , Polish Śluza Bajory Małe ). After the unfinished waterway has crossed the Marszałki (Eng. Marschallsheide ), the largest forest area in the area, it reaches the Sandhof lock (Polish Śluza Piaski ). The canal is kilometered in Poland from south to north, which is why the canal kilometer 9.5 is indicated on the building. According to historical census, the structure is at km 40.9. This only lock, which was completed before 1940, is used to regulate the water level of Jezioro Rydzówka (German Rehsauer See ). This body of water feeds the northern part of the planned waterway that crosses the lake further south.
On the south-eastern bank, the canal leaves the lake again; A few hundred meters further is the ruins of the Fürstenau lower lock (Polish Śluza Leśniewo Dolne ). The upper lock Fürstenau (Polish: Śluza Leśniewo Górne ), only 700 m southeast, was the tenth and last lock on the canal. With a height of fall of 17 m, it was supposed to be the largest lock in the canal, but was only 40% complete when construction stopped.
Then the canal crosses the Mauerwald (Polish: Mamerki ), which was the headquarters of the Army High Command between June 1941 and December 1944 . The Rastenburg (Polish: Kętrzyn ) - Angerburg railway also crosses the canal in the forest . The current bridge was opened to traffic on September 3, 1948. South of Przystań (German Pristanien , 1938 to 1945 Passdorf ) the canal flows into Jezioro Mamry (German Wall Lake ) ( 116.5 m above sea level ), the second largest lake in Poland (part of the Masurian Lake District). This feeds the southern part of the canal; its natural outflow is the Węgorapa river (Eng. Angerapp ). The Mamry itself is fed by three tributaries in the north. Important cities on the Mamry are Węgorzewo (German Angerburg ) and Giżycko (German Lötzen ).
The canal is not yet navigable again; Boats can only moor on a jetty in the mouth area at the Mauersee.
history
The Masurian Lakes served as a waterway since the Middle Ages. As early as 1379, Winrich von Kniprode , then Grand Master of the Teutonic Order , traveled by boat from Angerburg via the Rhine (Polish: Ryn ), Johannisburg (Polish: Pisz ) and the rivers Pissek (Polish: Pisa ), Narew and Vistula (Polish: Wisła ) to Marienburg .
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the canals connecting the Masurian Lakes were gradually expanded. Plans for this came from, among others, Józef Naronowicz-Naroński , a Polish engineer in the Prussian service, and his successor Samuel Suchodolec (also Suchodolski ). In order to connect the Masurian Lakes with the Pregel, the Angerapp should first be made navigable. The expansion of the river began in 1764 on the initiative of the Chamber President Johann Friedrich Domhardt . Due to financial and technical problems regulating the strongly meandering river, the project was abandoned in 1774. However, the Angerapp could still be used as a transport route for wood. During the coalition wars, the water engineering structures were destroyed and the river was no longer navigable.
planning
The first draft of a canal that was supposed to connect the Mauersee with the Alley dates back to 1849. Technically specific plans were made in 1862 under an engineer Lange. The project at the time, still known as the Allenburger Canal , coincided with the current route. The making of the alley was already made navigable in 1796 by the mill owner Döhnecke in Schippenbeil (Polish: Sępopol ) at state expense. As with Angerapp, the work proved difficult. Nevertheless, the river from Wehlau to Friedland could be regulated. In the war year 1807, the river was of great importance for the transportation of equipment and food for the troops encamped on the Allee. Since the 19th century, the water has been used in particular to transport bricks. Many brickworks had set up shop in the area around Allenburg in particular.
The planners of the waterway designed a 50 km long canal between the Mauersee and the Allee with seven barrages. Instead of locks , so-called inclined levels were to be used to overcome the height difference of more than 111 meters . The procedure had proven itself on the Oberland Canal , which had opened a few years earlier . For this purpose, the ships were loaded onto a rail car and transported to the next barrage by means of a funicular . The propulsion should be done exclusively by water power . In order to store the necessary amount of water, the Masurian Canal should be supplied with water from the Angerapp and the Pissa . The waterway was supposed to carry ships with a water displacement of 100 tons. The project, the total cost of which was estimated at nine million gold marks (currently around 67,000,000 euros), was approved by the Prussian state parliament in 1874 . However, it did not come to fruition because the transport policy focus was on expanding a railway network.
In the 1890s, farmers re-initiated the project. The architect Hess undertook an exploration tour of the Masurian Lake District and published the brochure “The Masurian Shipping Canal in East Prussia” in 1892 , which was published by the Agricultural Central Association for Lithuania and Masuria in Insterburg. The renowned professor of hydraulic engineering Otto Intze rated the project as a success. In his "expert opinion on the utilization of considerable water power through the Masurian shipping canal" from 1894, he proposed the construction of hydropower plants at the barrages for better economic utilization of the property . The canal should also allow the drainage of around 17,000 to 19,000 hectares of meadows and swamp meadows and the drainage of excess water from the Mauersee and the Rehsauer See.
In 1898, the Prussian Parliament approved the purchase of the required building land worth 200,000 gold marks (currently equivalent to 1,000,000 euros). On May 14, 1908, the government finally decided to build the waterway. The basis was a new draft from 1906/07, which provided for the use of savings sluices and waived the use of water power. The canal was intended to stimulate trade between the Central German industrial regions and East Prussia. Agricultural and forestry products of the local region should be exchanged for coal, fertilizer, iron goods and military equipment. A touristic use of the canal and the use of passenger ships were also planned.
Construction of the Masurian Canal
In 1910, the construction of a lock 55 meters long and 9.6 meters wide began on the Alley. Construction of the Masurian Canal began a year later. The project was realized by two working groups. The administrative center was in Insterburg, the building supervision in Königsberg. Companies commissioned with the construction included Philipp Holzmann and Dyckerhoff & Widmann . The Prussian Ministry for Public Works (from 1919 Reich Ministry of Transport ) stopped the construction work after the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.
Around 1920 the construction of the canal was continued as emergency work . Many workers from western Germany came and were quartered in barracks. Some of them settled permanently in East Prussia. Work on the prestige property was successfully continued under the direction of master builder Fritz Christoph Carl Flöge. Master builder Flöge developed economical process variants and significantly improved the work on the sewer. Furthermore, the difficult hydrostatic conditions were solved by special working techniques that Baumeister Flöge used here for the first time. The technical variants of the rope hoists and wagons were also brought up again, discussed and improved by master builder Flöge. The work on the canal boosted the local economy. In 1922 the work was stopped again, this time because of the ongoing inflation .
After the National Socialists came to power , construction of the canal was continued from 1934 as part of an activation program for the East Prussian economy. In addition, the canal bed was strengthened and the existing locks and bridges were modernized. Both forced laborers and the local population were used to work. The Reich Labor Service set up a camp in Allenburg. In 1936, experts described the construction of the Masurian Canal as the second largest project in East Prussia, which was only surpassed by the major construction sites on the Reichsautobahn Berlin-Königsberg . After the outbreak of war in 1939, work on the canal was slowed down. Large parts of the material and workers were needed to build the bunkers in the Mauerwald and Wolfsschanze . In 1942, work on the canal was completely stopped. Until then, around 40 million Reichsmarks (today around 172,000,000 euros) had been invested in the construction . There are rumors that the canal was intended for the transport of submarines that should have been built or repaired in Mauerwald. However, there is no historical evidence to support these assumptions. Most of the residents of East Prussia fled before the Red Army marched in. In 1944 the Wehrmacht blew up all bridges in the Masurian Canal with one exception.
After the end of the war
Numerous devices and systems in the canal as well as building material that were still lying around were dismantled as spoils of war immediately after the invasion of the Soviet troops. On September 19, 1945 the overseer of the local waterways reported the poor condition of the Masurian Canal. The Soviet Ministry of Communications later drew attention to the heavily damaged locks, among other things. After the treaty on the demarcation of the border in the area of the former East Prussia was ratified on February 4, 1946, the Polish-Russian state border cut through the unfinished waterway.
By 1947, most of the few German residents who remained here had left what was once East Prussia. Subsequently, the Polish part of the area was settled with expelled Ukrainians and south-east Poles as part of the Akcja Wisła (German Action Vistula ) . Mainly members of the local garrisons came to Kaliningrad Oblast. In addition, people who had lost their homeland or their families in the war, but also returning soldiers and people who were obliged to settle in this region settled here. The Kaliningrad region became a restricted military area, into which even Soviet citizens could only enter with a special permit. In 1991 the area was opened to visitors as part of perestroika . Due to the still restrictive customs and border restrictions between Poland and the Kaliningrad region, the further construction of the Masurian Canal has so far been assessed as unprofitable.
Expansion and dimensions
Typical cross-section of the canal
The canal was laid out with a depth of 2.5 to 3.0 m, a width of 23 m at the water level and 13 m at the bottom. The embankment, inclined at a ratio of 1: 2.5, and the bottom of the canal were covered over the entire length with a 20 cm thick layer of stone in order to prevent the process water from seeping away and erosion from currents and waves. Since the canal bed runs through water-permeable peat soil in some sections, the canal floor was reinforced with concrete in places. The canal has a smallest radius of curvature of 400 m. Today's water level varies between 1.40 and 1.80 m; the bank is mostly silted up.
Rule ships
The canal was intended for so-called Finow Maß barges with a length of 40.20 m, a width of 4.60 m and a draft of 1.40 m. This corresponded to a water displacement of more than 250 t.
Locks
The total of ten locks of the Masurian Canal were built using reinforced concrete . They each have a 45 m long, 7.70 m wide and 2.50 m deep lock basin. The drop heights of the locks, nine of which were designed as economy locks, are between 5.80 and 17.0 m. The heads of seven locks were designed as lift gates , three locks only have single double gates due to the low drop height. All shooters were made of riveted steel. The helicopter should be operated electrically. Manual operation by four people was planned in an emergency. Some locks already had lock keeper's houses before 1940, some of which are still unchanged.
| Surname | Canal kilometers | Queue length (km) | Height (m above sea level ) | Height of fall (m) | Completed to (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allenburg I lock (Russian Дру́жба Druschba , mouth lock ) | 1.2 | 1.0 | 12.0 | 6.9 | 90 |
| Allenburg II lock (Russian Дру́жба Druschba ) (station lock ) | 2.2 | 5.8 | 20.0 | 8.0 | 80 |
| Groß Allendorf lock (desert) | 8.0 | 6.4 | 32.0 | 12.0 | 90 |
| Wilhelmshof lock (Russian Мариновка Marinowka ) | 14.4 | 5.4 | 39.5 | 7.5 | 85 |
| Georgenfelde lock (Russian Озерки Oserki ) | 19.8 | 12.5 | 55.0 | 15.5 | 95 |
| Langenfeld lock (Polish Śluza Długopole ) | 32.3 | 3.5 | 60.8 | 5.8 | 20th |
| Klein Bajohren lock (1938 to 1945 Kleinblankenfelde , Polish Śluza Bajory Małe ) | 35.8 | 5.1 | 72.0 | 11.2 | 70 |
| Sandhof lock (Polish Śluza Piaski ) | 40.9 | 4.45 | 83.3 | 11.3 | 100 |
| Fürstenau lower lock (Polish Śluza Leśniewo Dolne ) | 45.35 | 0.7 | 99.5 | 16.2 | 15th |
| Fürstenau upper lock (Polish Śluza Leśniewo Górne ) | 46.05 | 4.35 | 116.5 | 17.0 | 40 |
Water balance
The process water should mainly come from the Mauersee and the Rehsauer See . For this purpose, the Mauersee should increasingly be supplied with water through the Sapina from the Goldapgarsee (also Goldapger See, Polish Gołdopiwo ). For this purpose, a lock was built in the village of Wiesental (Przerwanki) . In addition, numerous smaller watercourses were channeled into the canal. Several so-called compulsory reliefs (overflows) have been installed so that water can run off in a controlled manner when the inflow is too high. The excess water could drain off through flat spots in the embankment. 36 passages for the waters that cross the canal run under the canal bed . The complex construction of trough bridges was not necessary.
In addition to its function as a waterway, the canal was also intended to discharge excess water from the Masurian Lakes. The Fürstenau upper lock was to regulate the water level of the Mauersee, the Sandhof lock the level of the Rehsauer See. A manual roller weir was built between the locks and the mouths to the lakes in order to be able to relieve the respective locks in the event of high water.
The Sandhof lock ( Śluza Piaski in Polish ), which was the only one to be completed, and the roller weir on Lake Rehsauer See fulfill these tasks to this day. The river Rawda (dt. Rafda ) rises in the Rehsauer See and is the only tributary that feeds the Jezioro Oświn (dt. Nordenburger See ). Since the latter is at great risk of silting up, the Sandhof lock makes an important contribution to preserving the water. The roller weir on Mamry is currently out of order and has been replaced by two cofferdams .
In front of longer sections of the canal with its up to nine meters high dams there were so-called safety gates . In the event of a leak, for example through a breach of a dam, this could be closed with plate gates to prevent the entire section of the sewer from leaking. The security gates were only located on bridges that were blown up later, which is why none of them has survived.
bridges
Up to 1944 there were 25 further road or road bridges on the waterway under construction in addition to the bridges at the locks, only two of which were built as two-lane road bridges. There were also four railway bridges. All bridges, with one road bridge as an exception, were blown up by the Wehrmacht when the Red Army marched in in 1944. The only surviving bridge from before 1944 is in the Mauenwalde desert (Russian: Некрасово, Nekrassowo ). After the war, most of the road bridges on Russian territory were not rebuilt. Two of the formerly four railway lines that crossed the canal are partially in operation.
Flora and fauna
Due to its remote location, there are many nature reserves in the immediate vicinity of the canal. The Polish section is characterized on the one hand by the hilly landscape of the northern Masurian Lake District. Cormorants , gray herons , goosers , golden ducks and bitterns, among others , settle on the numerous protected islands and in the shores of the Jezioro Mamry (Wall Lake) and the Jezioro Rydzówka (Rehsauer Lake) .
To the south of the state border, the canal crosses the 216 hectare nature reserve Bajory , which mainly consists of an oak and hornbeam forest . Here many rare birds like living black storks , Gadwall , cranes , Green Sandpiper , Gray woodpecker , white-backed woodpeckers , black kites , marsh harriers and lesser spotted eagles , osprey and eagles . The mammals found here include European beavers , otters , deer , elk , foxes , badgers and wolves .
The landscape in the Russian section of the channel is of slightly wavy plains with glacial hills , fields and forest dominated. In addition, the canal also crosses some moors here. In contrast to the Polish side, there are no larger lakes there. A specialty is the Zehlau break (Russian Zapowiednik Osierski ), also called the Zehlau , about 10 to 15 km northwest of Druzhba (German Allenburg ) . Military exercises take place in what was formerly the only still growing raised bog in Germany with an area of 23 km². In the future it is to become part of a nature reserve with a total area of 130 km². The up to eight meters high moor is surrounded on three sides by the former Frisching Forest (Russian: Les Osierski ) in the north . In the south it borders on an unwooded plain. Russian biologists have found 19 plant species and six animal species on the raised bog that are on the Red List of Endangered Species .
literature
- Paul Blunk : The half-finished Masurian Canal. State printing works, Königsberg 1929.
- Cornelius Kutschke : The feeders of the port - a) The inland waterways. In: Königsberg as a port city . Königsberg 1930, pp. 34-45.
- Robert Sarnowski: Kanał Mazurski. Masurian Canal (Polish and German guide). Regionalista publishing house, Olsztyn 2010, ISBN 978-83-927282-5-2 .
See also
Web links
- Masurian Canal from Mauer Lake to Alle. 100 years of the Masurian Canal. (Polish)
- kanalmazurski.pl (Polish)
Historical maps
- Masurian Canal from Allenburg (1931) (top right). Retrieved May 1, 2015 .
- Masurian Canal up to the Sandhof lock (1934) (left half of the picture). Retrieved May 1, 2015 .
- Masurian Canal from Allenburg (1942) (from top left to top right)
- Masurian Canal to Georgenfelde (1942) (left half of the picture)
- Masurian Canal to Birkenhof (1933) (center)
- Masurian Canal to Passdorf (1938) (from top left to bottom right)
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Individual evidence
- ↑ C. Kutschke: The feeders of the port - a) The inland waterways. In: Königsberg as a port city . Königsberg 1930, p. 43 f.
- ↑ The River Alle. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
- ↑ a b c d e f g Robert Sarnowski: Kanał Mazurski. Masurian Canal. (Polish and German travel guide). Regionalista publishing house, Olsztyn 2010, ISBN 978-83-927282-5-2 .
- ↑ August Hess: The Masurian Shipping Canal in East Prussia. On behalf of the Agricultural Central Association for Lithuania and Mazury in Insterburg. Braun & Weber, Koenigsberg i. Pr. 1894.
- ↑ Otto Intze : Expert opinion on the utilization of considerable water power through the Masurian shipping canal. Heymanns, Berlin 1894.
- ↑ Oskar Teubert: The inland navigation. A manual for everyone involved. 1912, p. 219. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
- ^ Otto Schadewinkel: Memories of my birth and hometown Allenburg. (PDF; 1.58 MB). In: Wehlauer Heimatbrief. 13th episode, June 1975, p. 6ff. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
- ^ A b Ernst Grünwald: Two wars put a stop to a large project. (PDF; 2.18 MB) In: Ostpreußenblatt . 12/1972.
- ↑ Information on the Fürstenau upper lock (Polish: Śluza Leśniewo Górne ). ( Memento of August 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved August 1, 2011.
Coordinates: 54 ° 19 ′ 16 ″ N , 21 ° 28 ′ 34 ″ E