Silbersee (Bitterfeld)
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Silbersee is the popular name for the remaining hole of the Johannes open-cast mine south of Wolfen on Greppiner Flur, into which sewage, sludge and waste from the Wolfen film factory were later discharged or introduced.
Pit Johannes
In 1846 lignite was discovered south of Wolfen during exploration work. The dismantling began immediately. The clay deposits above the coal were used as brick clay (see Greppin clinker ).
Initially, the funding was still low, but could be expanded from the mid-1850s after the installation of powerful pumps for water retention, especially since from 1857 with the connection of the Berlin-Anhalt Railway on the Dessau - Bitterfeld route , inexpensive transport options promoted sales.
The lignite was sold either raw or briquetted for domestic use, mainly to Dessau, and from 1893 it was also converted into electricity on site in the newly established electrochemical plant of AEG or in newly established power stations.
In 1931 the production was stopped after the deposit was exhausted.
Greppin clinker
The covering clay obtained from the Johannes pit could be fired into a high-quality, characteristically leather-colored brick, which soon spread throughout Germany and in some cases under the name Greppiner Klinker . The bricks proved to be extremely resistant to air pollution and were therefore often used as facing bricks. Many representative buildings were clad with these clinker bricks. Greppiner Klinker is still used today. It can be seen, for example, on the facades of the Halle University Library , the Anhalter Bahnhof (fragment of ruins) in Berlin or at Hanover Central Station .
Gemstones and terracottas were also burned from this material. The brickworks belonging to the Johannes mine employed up to 400 people.
Silver lake
Soon after the production stopped, the remaining hole was used from the mid-1930s to dispose of the wastewater from the Agfa-Filmfabrik Wolfen . The name, which is derived from the fact that silver compounds were used in photo chemistry , also dates from this time . However, these did not end up in the wastewater, as silver was always too valuable. The waste came rather from the mid-1930s also set up production of synthetic fibers which can bear the increasingly sludges into the pit verspült were. After anaerobic fermentation processes, the high sulfur sludge released large amounts of hydrogen sulfide , which led to massive odor nuisance and also damage to health, such as irritation of the respiratory tract, especially for the residents of the settlements of Wolfen-Süd and Wachtendorf (zu Greppin), which are adjacent to the mine.
The odor nuisance increased over time, especially when the sludge was no longer covered with water from the 1960s after the pit was increasingly backfilled.
A secretly made documentary about the Silbersee (" Bitteres from Bitterfeld "), which was broadcast in September 1988 in the political magazine Kontraste ( ARD ), made him known nationwide, and at the time of the fall it became a synonym for environmental pollution in the GDR .
Investigations initiated after 1990 showed that the up to 12 meters thick layers of sludge contained a lot of heavy metals and contained large amounts of carbon disulfide and hydrogen sulfide compounds, toluene and other pollutants, which, however, were relatively firmly bound in the sludge and therefore did not contribute to any significant amount of groundwater pollution .
After the discharges into the Silbersee were stopped in 1992, the remedial measures therefore focused primarily on preventing the outgassing of hydrogen sulfide, which was countered by local removal of sludge, covering with bio-contact filters and aeration of the water body. Even if there were enormous odor nuisances until the mid-1990s, especially in the thawing periods after longer periods of frost, overall pollutant emissions into the air have been significantly reduced. The former characteristic “smell” of the pit is no longer perceptible.
At the beginning of 2018 it was announced that an attempt to fill the pit with specially prepared slag had gone well. As soon as the relevant permits have been granted, work can begin, and within the next 20 years the Silbersee could have completely disappeared.
Individual evidence
- ↑ A TV report shakes "Bitteres aus Bitterfeld" . mdr. Retrieved March 18, 2012.
- ↑ "Bitter from Bitterfeld" . State Main Archive Saxony-Anhalt. Retrieved March 18, 2012.
- ↑ https://www.mz-web.de/bitterfeld/grube-johannes--altlast-wird-zueschuettet---silbersee-in-20-jahren-verschwunden-29515846
literature
- Chronicle of lignite mining in the Bitterfeld district, Bitterfeld 1998 (2nd edition), published by Bitterfelder Bergfahrer eV
Coordinates: 51 ° 38 ′ 41.69 " N , 12 ° 16 ′ 22.54" E