Aktiengesellschaft Sächsische Werke
The joint stock company Sächsische Werke ( AG Sächsische Werke or just ASW ) was a company in Saxony whose operations worked in the field of lignite extraction and its utilization for energy production and in the carbon chemical industry . ASW, which was founded in 1923, went into liquidation in 1947 after its operations had become Soviet property in 1946 .
history
The mining director Hermann Eugen Müller (1877–1967) formulated the idea of a state-owned Saxon energy supply as early as 1904 , which should be based on the conversion of domestic lignite into electricity. However, this was initially rejected because of the difficulty of implementation. At that time, Müller was the manager of a lignite underground mine in Espenhain and in 1907 moved to a company in Lower Lusatia.
Even before the beginning of the First World War , the Saxon government had recognized that small-scale power generation and distribution, as had come about with numerous private and municipal small power plants, could not be the model of the future.
King Friedrich August III. stated in his speech from the throne at the opening of the 36th state parliament on November 15, 1915:
- " The country's electrical energy supply ... urgently needs a more solid summary and standardization. Such a general, country-wide task is most appropriately and best performed by the state itself. My government has therefore decided to take the great work, which is significant for the entire domestic economy, into its own hands . "
In the meantime, Müller's suggestion from 1904 had resulted in a largely secure project, and this man was brought to Dresden to realize it. In 1916 Müller switched to civil service and became the first mining director of the Royal Saxon Brown Coal Works (BEDIR). On the electricity side, the Royal Directorate of the State Electricity Works (ELDIR, Director Friedrich Wöhrle) was established on January 1, 1917 . In 1917 the two directorates merged to form the state coal and electricity company under the management of HE Müller. The first activities started in the east of Saxony. In 1917, the royal state-owned company acquired the Herkules lignite plant and the Hirschfelde power plant built by the AEG group from 1909 to 1911, as well as the facilities of the Oberlausitz electricity works in Zittau . As early as 1918, construction of the large Hirschfelde II power plant began in the immediate vicinity of the Hirschfeld power plant, which in 1925 formed the "heart" of the state power supply.
In western Saxony, attention was focused on the large brown coal deposits south of Leipzig. The Saxon coal mining law of June 1918 had separated the underground coal deposits from the property and thus prevented land speculation. In a ministerial order of February 1919, the special permit for the development of coal-mining areas was regulated. On this basis, under HE Müller's direction, the preparation of the Böhlen opencast mine and the planning of a connected counter-pressure power plant could begin, which could be put into operation in 1924 and 1925 respectively.
At that time, various Saxon state governments were considering nationalizing or “socializing” the coal industry. Müller recognized that a government coal and electricity company managed purely under civil service law could ultimately not lead to success due to constant new regulatory obstacles. He was aiming for a company under private law, for example on the basis of a stock corporation . Benefiting from inflation and the introduction of the Rentenmark , Müller and the SPD state government at the time took the initiative and launched the Sächsische Werke (ASW) joint stock company on November 13, 1923. The Free State of Saxony was the sole shareholder . Hermann Eugen Müller became its first general director. The company headquarters was in the former Hotel Grand Union at Dresden Central Station.
After its establishment, the ASW displaced coal unions and smaller mining companies from Saxon mining areas. The Free State of Saxony brought in its coal and electricity companies, including extensive land holdings, for future coal mining. The company's goals included the generation and supply of electricity and gas as well as the sale of the coal extracted and the products made from it.
According to the company's assets, a share capital of 150 million marks was established in 1924 with the equivalent of 40 million gold marks . The prerequisites for raising funds on the capital market for realizing further investments were thus in place, but this did not lead to success in Germany. In contrast, after intensive American auditing at the National City Bank, two bonds of 15 million dollars (1925) and 18 million dollars (1926) were obtained, the securities of which were immediately sold.
On the basis of the two dollar bonds, the counterpressure power plant of the lignite works in Böhlen under Müller's direction was expanded from 1926 to 1928 into the large power plant west of the Saxon electricity supply. Examples of further investments made by ASW are: several 100 kV lines for electricity distribution, in particular the line between the Hirschfelde and Böhlen power plants, the Niederwartha pumped storage plant , the Lehnmühle dam in the Eastern Ore Mountains , which, in addition to generating electricity, is used for drinking water supply and flood protection . Other energy supply companies in West Saxony and Vogtland were taken over. By 1929, ASW brought 65% of Saxony's electricity supply into state hands and a substantial part of the country's gas supply.
In 1934 the ASW became a founding member of the Braunkohle-Petrol AG (BRABAG). In Altenberg in the Eastern Ore Mountains, the “Raupennest” recreation home was built at this time, in which employees and their families could relax for 20 pfennigs a day with free arrival and departure.
In the course of the 1930s, the ASW became one of the largest and most important stock corporations for preparing for war under National Socialism. The shares were intermittently traded on New York's Wall Street . The expansion of the ASW continued until 1944. From 1937, the open pit mine and the construction of the large Espenhain power station followed. In Hirsch field, and Böhlen were Schwelereien and the bulk gas Böhlen (10 generators) put into operation. The production of synthetic gasoline began in Böhlen. The Free State of Saxony remained the sole shareholder until 1945 .
The ASW was a member of the Central German Brown Coal Syndicate until 1945 . After the end of the Second World War, the operations of the ASW passed into Soviet ownership and were managed by Soviet joint-stock companies (SAG). The ASW was in liquidation from March 11, 1947. On January 1, 1954, the companies came under the ownership of the GDR .
The most important operations of the ASW
Lignite and large-scale power station Hirschfelde
The Hirschfelde power plant, which went into operation in 1911 and was supplied from the Türchau opencast mine east of the Neisse, was able to quickly increase its initial output from 3.2 MW to 14.1 MW in 1914 and 25.5 MW in 1916 by commissioning additional boilers and turbo units Construction of Plant II began. After full expansion, a power of 156 MW was achieved in 1937 with 30 boilers (some with pulverized coal firing) and six steam turbines.
The planned demolition in 1945 could be prevented. After the transition from Soviet to GDR ownership, coal was supplied to the operation, now known as the “Peace Frontier Power Plant”, from the Polish Turów opencast mine until 1982 , then from the neighboring Olbersdorf and Berzdorf opencast mines .
In 1992, Hirschfelde, the longest-serving brown coal power plant, went out of operation. The machine house of Plant II with its technical systems and the administration building was placed under monument protection and is now used as a museum.
Lignite and large power station Böhlen
In 1920 the opening of the Böhlen opencast mine began , from which lignite was extracted from 1924. In 1925 the briquette factory and the power station were put into operation. The power plant was initially only equipped with counter-pressure turbines because the exhaust steam was needed to dry coal in the briquette factory . It was expanded into a large power station from 1926. In the years 1936 to 1941 the dephenolation, the gas works and the sulfur production followed . There were briquettes , steam, electric power and gas, and phenoxide, tar , light oil , industrial coke and produces sulfur. In 1944/45 the facilities were badly destroyed in air raids .
On August 1, 1946, it became the property of the USSR as Germany's reparation . The management of the opencast mine, briquette factories, smoldering plants and gas works was taken over by the Soviet joint stock company of the fuel industry in Germany Kombinat Böhlen and that of the power plant by the Soviet joint stock company for power plants . Back in German hands, after 1954 the Otto Grotewohl combine was established , which in 1967 also started processing crude oil and was wound up after the fall of the Wall. Located on the site today is a refinery of Dow Olefinverbund and the Lippendorf power plant .
Espenhain lignite and large-scale power plant
In 1937 the development of an open-cast lignite mine began north of Espenhain . To the south of the village, an industrial complex was built with a briquette factory, smelting plant and facilities for tar processing and sulfur extraction. A large power plant as well as administration buildings and infrastructure facilities , including medical facilities, were also built. The construction was essentially completed in 1942. Because of the enormous investment costs, ASW and the German Reich founded the stock corporation for fuel systems (AKA) in Dresden in 1940, from which it subsequently leased the systems.
On August 1, 1946, the factory passed into Soviet ownership. The mining sector was taken over by SAG for the fuel industry in Germany and operated under the name Kombinat Espenhain . The power plant came to SAG for power plants . Both went into public ownership in 1954 as the Espenhain Combine. After the fall of the Wall, the company was shut down.
literature
- Fritz Hönsch: Hermann Eugen Müller - a little-known pioneer of the state lignite and energy industry in Saxony . in: Sächsische Heimatblätter 59 (2013) 4, pp. 352–356
- Fritz Hönsch: The Sächsische Werke corporation and its general director Hermann Müller . in: Sächsische Heimatblätter 60 (2014) 1, pp. 82–92
Web links
- AG Sächsische Werke (ASW). In: sachsen.de / archives. Retrieved December 4, 2016 .
- The AG Sächsische Werke - ASW 1923–1947. In: The development of the Espenhain opencast mine. Retrieved December 8, 2016 .
- Annual reports and newspaper articles on the Sächsische Werke corporation in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
Individual evidence
- ↑ The structure and development of the supraregional electrical energy supply in Saxony up to 1945. Accessed on December 8, 2016 .
- ^ F. Hönsch: Hermann Eugen Müller - ... , p. 354
- ^ Johann Gerdes: The disappearance of jobs. Where is the workforce? Two case studies from the new federal states. University of Rostock, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, 1997, p. 60.
- ^ The AG Sächsische Werke - ASW 1923 -1947 opencast mine Espenhain, accessed on June 16, 2019
- ^ AG Sächsische Werke (ASW). Retrieved December 4, 2016 .
- ^ F. Hönsch: Die Aktiengesellschaft Sächsische Werke ... , p. 86
- ↑ Where deserts grew yesterday, oases should bloom tomorrow. The world, accessed on June 15, 2019
- ↑ Hirschfelde power station. Retrieved December 12, 2016 .
- ^ Fritz Hönsch: The Böhlen industrial complex , dissertation Potsdam 1968 (Reprint: Engelsdorfer Verlag, Leipzig 2011).