Salt production in southwest Mecklenburg after the Second World War
After the Second World War and the collapse of Hitler's Germany, there was a great shortage of salt in the Soviet occupation zone, and thus also in the state of Mecklenburg. Presumably entsannen Conower citizens first, that the grounds of the former potash and rock salt mine Conow the old remnants slag heap were available. This dump, mostly consisting of the rock salt heap extracted from the shaft , has now been extracted and sold by hand to alleviate the “salt shortage”. Customers came from near and far and left their mark in the truest sense of the word.
The representative of the state government for salt production
The Department of Economics of the state government of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania entrusted the mine director Fritz Prinz from Malliß u. a. with the following task: "[...] As the representative of the state administration, Mr. Prinz takes over the entire salt production and sale from the old rock salt dumps of the former potash works in Conow i. Mecklenburg. A transfer of rock salt to third parties is only carried out by the agent. through the organs appointed by him ”. At the same time, in this certificate "[...] the members of the Red Army and the Allied Armies as well as all authorities asked to work and pass him unhindered and to give him every support to carry out his tasks". The population was informed about the purchase of salt through notices.
The display of salt production at the mining authority
Prinz notifies the competent mining authority in Staßfurt that a "[...] salt production company to control the salt shortage under the company 'Landesverwaltung Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Salzgewinnung' " has been founded under his leadership.
In the "operating plan for 1945/1946 of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state administration, salt extraction 'Malliß i / M." Of January 29, 1946, the two rock salt dumps are 50 m and 31 m long and 46 m and 24 m wide and an average height of 3.20 m and 3 m respectively.
Difficulties with the Soviet occupation forces
Salt production was to begin on September 14, 1945. Prinz wrote the following handwritten report about it, which should be reproduced here in full as typical of the time:
“ Report on the difficulties with the Russian Wehrmacht .
On Friday, 9/14/45 I wanted to start operations on the dump. When I came to the dump again on Thursday, it was cordoned off by Russian guards who would not let me through. I then negotiated with the Russian unit commander in Conow, who told me that I had to show him a certificate from the fortress commander in fortress Dömitz that the dump should be released for civilian purposes. I drove on Saturday, September 15th. to Dömitz, negotiated with the fortress commander. However, he did not know to whom to address the certificate, as he did not know the unit in Conow. At my urging, he sent me with a non-commissioned officer , whom he instructed in detail, to the commandant there in Conow. The discussion resulted in full agreement that the heap will be removed from Monday, September 17. would be given free for us. I now ordered eight men to work. When we on Monday 8 0 came to stockpile [8:00], it was still busy, they refused us admission. After consulting with the local commandant, he stated that he must have a written declaration from the Dömitz fortress commandant. I drove to Dömitz and managed to have him give a corresponding certificate on my power of attorney . I presented this to the local commander in Conow and received the permit on Thursday, September 18. to start work. On Thursday there was no longer a guard and work started.When I was at lunch, at 1.30 p.m., a drunk officer appeared and chased everyone from the dump, and forbade anyone to enter it. A major had come drunk to inspect the troops, who ordered the ban. In the afternoon I spoke to this major, presented him with my authorization, referred to the approval of the fortress commander and asked for the ban to be lifted. The major declared that only Lieutenant Colonel Begu (h) n in Eldena would be responsible for this. The fortress commander had nothing to say in this district.
On September 19 Drive to Eldena. There by 11 0 -19 0 waiting [11-19]. Beguhn could not be spoken to.
On September 20 I was with an interpreter in Beguhn's apartment. At 11 a.m. drive to the heap. There it was agreed that the left, larger heap should be worked on by the Russians, the right, smaller one by us. Beguhn asked for supervision and processing of the dump from the bottom, which I promised him. He wanted to give the interpreter a written statement. signed) Prinz [sic] "
The mining of salt piles
Not much is known about the actual mining of the salt dump. The circumstances must have been quite chaotic, because on May 27, 1946 , Prinz wrote to his superior authority, the fuel industry department of the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania :
"[...] It is true that in the months of October, November (1945), with the large number of people collecting the goods themselves, people often went cross-country. This mainly took place on the pavement that was trodden and used by the Russian crew who lay in the houses on the salt dump. My supervisor Breezmann advised both the policeman and the mayor to put a sign saying 'Forbidden Path' at this point. This did not happen, but the community collected a fine from the people, initially RM 1.- later also RM 3.- per person, which gave them a very good income. In any case, she was able to pay for the relatively minor damage to the land with this income . I admit that the road from Conow to the salt dump was used more than usual by the salt carts and cars, which resulted in repair costs for the community ”. [sic]
I propose that the municipality be paid a one-off amount of RM 500 to RM 1000 as compensation for this damage, which covers all claims ”. [sic]
The answer from the Fuel Industry Department is dated June 5, 1946 and is:
"[...] 1.) I agree that the municipality of Conow will be paid a one-time compensation of RM 500, - from the money collected from the salt production for driving and transporting the Conow site.
2.) The Department of Economy is not aware of any sale of the area to Mr. Morgenthal. I would ask you to arrange for Mr. Morgenthal to immediately make the documents available to us for inspection ”. [sic]
Thereupon, Prince informed the economics and finance department of the state administration that, according to a statement by Mr. Morgenthal, he had bought the former mine site on March 1, 1946 from the economics department of the state administration. Previously it belonged to the last operator of the Conow potash works, Erwin v. Boremski , whose property had been confiscated by the occupying forces .
| Orderer | delivery date | quantity delivered |
|---|---|---|
| Mountains | November 21, 1945 | 14030 |
| Kröpelin , Bützow | November 27, 1945 | 13456 |
| Lehesten | December 22, 1945 | 20620 |
| Goldberg | December 30, 1945 | 16910 |
| Barth | January 7, 1946 | 11990 |
| Altentreptow | January 10, 1946 | 5700 |
| Dobbertin | January 10, 1946 | 15900 |
| Lychen | January 12, 1946 | 28700 |
| Lychen | January 22, 1946 | 14800 |
| Strasburg | January 22, 1946 | 15849 |
| Was in | January 23, 1946 | 8630 |
| Malchow | January 23, 1946 | 9100 |
| Altentreptow / Templin | January 26, 1946 | 14640 |
The alleged legal claims morning valley on the salt pile were the mining office Staßfurt letter dated March 7, 1946, referring to a decision by the mining authority Hall - "... in accordance with § 1 of the Mining Act of Mecklenburg from March 2, 1922 include. a. Salts excluded from the landowner's right of disposal ”- discarded.
And it goes on: "... with the expropriation of the von Boremski in the course of the land reform, the Mecklenburg state became the owner of the heap". [sic]
There are two pieces of information in the archives about the amount of salt extracted from the rock salt dump. According to the "German Salt Association" based in Berlin, it was around 20,000 tons.
Both this association and the German Central Administration for Industry in the Soviet zone of occupation declared in letters to the state administration of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on March 20 and April 1, 1946 that a salt shortage in the Soviet zone can never be attributed to a lack of production facilities . “[…] The rock salt mines as well as the salt pans in the Soviet zone are not nearly fully utilized with their production capacity. […] Under these circumstances, the workers deployed there [in Conow] should also be able to be put to a more appropriate use ”. [sic]
The answer from the state government to the central industrial administration is dated April 17, 1946:
"[...] On the occasion of the given occasion, Mr. Prince was commissioned by me to utilize the dump of the former salt mine still there to control the greatest salt shortage. The supply made possible by the utilization of this salt dump has served the country well. Due to the inferiority, the dismantling of this dump has meanwhile been stopped. I have commissioned Herr Prinz to develop the lignite deposits in the Malliss area. The small workforce who worked for salt mining will be used for this new project. Even with the best will in the world, the salt mine itself could not be made operational again, as the drainage of the lye from the fully pumped salt mine would cause so much damage in the area that it would definitely not have been possible to put it into operation ”. [sic]
The balance of mining salt mining
Probably the safest information about the rock salt obtained from the Conow salt dump can be found in the " Report on the audit of the annual financial statements as of December 31, 1946 of Mecklenburgische Braunkohlenbergbau GmbH Malliss " from Mecklenburg-Vorpommerschen Treuhandgesellschaft mbH, Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft Schwerin, dated April 12, 1947. The amount of salt sold is stated as 568,876 t and the profit made from this sale as RM 28,852.62.
literature
- Günter Pinzke: “The salt production in southwest Mecklenburg - geology and development of the deposits; an outline of mining history. Part 2: Search, exploration and development of new salt deposits: the potash and rock salt mines Jessenitz, Lübheen and Conow ” . In: DER ANSCHNITT, magazine for art and culture in mining, 64th year, issue 2–3, pages 76–92 (2012); Publisher: German Mining Museum Bochum.