Siuts mill
| Siuts mill
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 Siuts mill in Wittmund |
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| Location and history | ||
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| Coordinates | 53 ° 34 ′ 30 " N , 7 ° 46 ′ 40" E | |
| Location |
 Germany
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| Built | 1884 | |
| Shut down | 1969 | |
| Status | Use as a restaurant | |
| technology | ||
| use | Flour mill | |
| drive | Windmill | |
| Windmill type | Gallery Dutch | |
| Wing type | Louvre flap wing | |
| Number of wings | 4th | |
| Tracking | Compass rose | |
| Website | Siuts mill | |
The Siuts-Mühle is a two-story Dutch gallery in downtown Wittmund in Lower Saxony . The mill, built in 1884, is located at Auricher Straße 11.
history
Early history
In 1648, at the end of the Thirty Years War , the “Royal Finkenburger Mühle” , a post mill with only one grinding process, was first mentioned in a document. It belonged to the respective sovereign and was leased for the company. The tenant at that time was the miller Otto Johansen, who is mentioned again in 1667. Thereafter, the tradition does not resume until 1771. Until 1778 the tenants changed four times, then Hedleff Siuts, who ran the mill until 1810 and built a peldegang in 1809, leased it .
The mill has been owned by the Siuts family since May 22, 1845. On this date, the previous owners, the Meenken brothers, sold the mill to Weert Siuts, a young farmer's son from Dohusen.
But of course the actual story of a mill began much earlier at its current location. The mill was owned by the respective sovereign until the East Frisian dynasty died out. Today's Siuts mill is listed in old documents as the “Royal Finkenburger Mühle” . The documents begin with the sentence: “By God's grace Georg Christian, Prince of East Friesland, Lord of Esens, Stedesdorf and Wittmund”.
After the East Frisian dynasty, the Cirksenas , died out in 1744, Prussian law found its way into East Frisia when the Prussian King Friedrich II took possession of East Frisia. Then it was said: “By God's grace, Friedrich, King of Prussia” . Nonetheless, the East Frisians defended and retained parts of their rights, including in the field of milling. Here they fought for the so-called “free mill ride” . This gave the East Frisians the right to have it ground on a mill conveniently located for them.
The respective tenant (miller) could not be the owner of a mill - this privilege was reserved for the rulers. This of course also for the reason that income could be generated by operating a mill. And not just by grinding grain. The neighbors of a mill also had to pay a so-called "wind reduction tax" - and this continued into the last century.
The lease and ownership of the East Frisian mills can be traced from old documents that are in the Lower Saxony State Archives (Aurich location) in Aurich .
fire
The fact that there is a two-story gallery Dutchman on today's Auricher Strasse in Wittmund (this is how this type of mill is called) is the result of a tragic event: The Anzeiger wrote for Harlingerland on July 5, 1884:
“Sprützen on the spot quickly
Yesterday afternoon a thunderstorm raged over our spot, which in addition to the long-awaited rain brought a lot of misfortune. A bolt of lightning struck the Siuts mill and ignited the cap. Although help rushed over immediately and the sprayer were quickly on the spot, the fire, which was spreading incredibly quickly from top to bottom, could not be stopped and after an hour the mill was just a smoking heap of rubble. "
The old post mill had fallen victim to the flames by lightning. The owner Rainer Gerdes Siuts was not discouraged by this. The new mill to be rebuilt was not to be rebuilt as a post mill, but now as a "Galerie-Höllander". The stone substructure to be built for this purpose (the so-called "Tafelment") was built by the Wittmund building contractor, Rönitz. This lists the following material requirements:
- 100,000 bricks
- 7 tons of cement
- 100 loads of sand
The construction costs should amount to 21,406 marks.
For the now necessary, wooden structure, parts of a sawmill that had been demolished in the north were used , the parts of which were transported to Wittmund. This is how the building was built on Auricher Strasse in Wittmund, which in its external appearance has become one of the city's landmarks for 125 years. Again the Anzeiger reported for Harlingerland on March 10, 1885:
“The reconstruction of the sawmill that was broken down in the north in place of the flour mill owned by Mr. R. Siuts that was ignited last summer and completely burned down has now progressed so far that it has been converted into a grinding mill with several gears with one grinding gear after the wings are attached. It is thanks to the careful and safe work of the builder, the mill carpenter J. Siefken, that there was not even any disorder, let alone a misfortune, which was caused by the demolition, transport and assembly of the extremely heavy wood, especially on the short, half and dark days on which something could have happened so easily.
(...) and there is now a voice that - what could by no means be said of the burnt down one - the current mill has become a real ornament of the spot. In addition to the joy of it, may she soon wipe out the damage that the fire accident caused to the builder.
Recommissioning
In March 1885 the newly built mill went into operation. The mill was operated by the Siuts family until 1969, when:
- Rainer Gerdes Siuts (until 1887)
- Uptet Janßen and Reinhard Siuts
- Karl Hermann Siuts
- Upte Janßen Siuts
This series was only interrupted by the events of the Second World War . The father of the last active master miller, Upte Siuts (Karl Siuts), was missing on the Eastern Front, and the son was too young to run the business. Until Upte Siuts completed his training as a miller master in August 1961, the company was secured by way of leasing. Upte Siuts wrote about the takeover of the company:
“When I took over the mill, I stood in front of a torso. There was nothing left in the mill except three old scales. Everything was missing - hand trucks, shovels, weights, sacks, an electric elevator and a cleaning system. (…) Business got off to a very good start, but the problems began with the deliveries. The farmers all bought on credit and there were no cash payments. "
Finally, after six years as an independent master miller, Upte Siuts leased the business from 1969 to the agricultural goods trade Wachtendorf, Carolinensiel . When the appointed manager, Johann Coordes, retired in 1978, the Wachtendorf company did not extend the lease and so a new use had to be found.
After extensive additions and renovations, the mill was given its current use as a restaurant in 1982. The mill is a listed building .