Zella-Mehlis City Museum

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Zella-Mehlis City Museum

The city ​​museum of the city of Zella-Mehlis is located at Anspelstraße 25, in the building of the former shooting station .

history

The arms trade in the towns of Zella and Mehlis

The arms trade in the town of Zella-Mehlis has a tradition of more than eight hundred years, which can be traced back to the time of the Counts of Henneberg.

With the development of firearms, testing facilities became necessary to demonstrate the safety of firearms. Aside from the inhabited location, a shooting range was set up on the Regenberg; in the shooting hut located there, all “Büxen Rohr” had to be submitted for inspection. The Zella and Mehlis guilds used the test to check that their production quantities were being adhered to. At the same time, foreign and non-guild weapons manufacturers made sales more difficult.

From 1750, the shooting ranges were increasingly used by the shooting clubs. The examination of the barrels and the locks was carried out by sworn guild masters. Each tested weapon was given an unmistakable mark for a fee.

The test regulations became more detailed with the further technical development of handguns, the transition to a multi-stage test procedure for prefabricated barrels and the rifles or pistols later made from them became necessary and ultimately (from 1939) also recorded the cartridges used.

The establishment of the shooting establishment

Partial view
Proof mark of the Zella-Mehlis Proof Office

The (new) shooting facility was established in accordance with the requirements of the Reich Law No. 15 ( law concerning the testing of barrels and breeches of handguns. From May 19, 1891.), supplemented by further provisions on behalf of the State Ministry of the Duchy of Saxony Coburg and Gotha in Zella-Mehlis erected.

After detailed document studies by the auditors of the Ohrdruf District Office, building supervisory authority, the municipality of Zella-Mehlis was presented with a building permit in June 1891. The original structure had six firing cells for testing the weapons, a room for the takeover and handover formalities, the expert room for evaluating the weapons and several loading, storage and washing rooms for cleaning the barrels. The striking chimney, towering almost 30 meters high, was used to heat the washing kettle and the offices. As early as 1895, the building had to be expanded again in order to do justice to the overflowing administration. A separate checkout room, safe storage rooms for weapons and ammunition (based on military regulations for armories) and even a toilet room have been added. The technical test systems were already of a high technical safety standard due to massive protective walls, enveloping metal pipes and trigger devices. When firing, the propellant charges used were at least twice as high as in the normal case, so weak points in the barrel should be visible. With drastic examples of exploded gun barrels, visitors were made aware of the need for a gun test.

The powder fumes and the lead abrasion of the ammunition used unexpectedly quickly led to health problems for some employees - the test technicians in particular showed clear symptoms of lead poisoning. Another official medical check of the firing rooms revealed a serious deficiency: the weapons fired in rapid succession generated poisonous powder fumes with each shot, which could only be removed with hesitation in certain "oppressive" weather conditions. The health risk could only be averted through appropriate ventilation technology with additional radiators in the basement rooms and additional exhaust flaps with fans. The problem of lead particles was solved by means of special cleaning regulations for the barrels. Numerous technical modifications and improvements became necessary with the further development of weapon technology.

The ducal gunnery was responsible for checking the “durability and appropriate production” of the handguns manufactured in the towns of Zella St. Blasii and Mehlis . Due to the increasing demand from the military and private arms dealers, arms production increased enormously after 1890. As early as August 15, 1897, the testing of the one millionth weapon was reported as a milestone in the history of the institute; on April 13, 1905, the four millionth weapon was tested.

The conversion of the building from 1942

With the bombardment facility built in 1942 on the Böhmerberg near Zella-Mehlis, the Suhl weapon production in Zella-Mehlis was also examined. At the same time, the previous shooting facility was converted. The Zella-Mehlis industrial weapons production was discontinued in mid-1945.

A metalworking production facility was established in the building of the bombardment facility. As the last company, VEB Spannzeuge Zella-Mehlis was the user of the factory premises until the end of the business, which was heavily contaminated by the immission of lead particles and oil over the decades.

Saving the building

Even before production was stopped by VEB Spannzeuge, members of an interest group on Zella-Mehlis local history and monument preservationists were given the opportunity to tour the factory. The importance and possible museum use of the unique building was recognized in good time.

The city of Zella-Mehlis acquired the building in 1997 and converted it into the city museum through extensive reconstruction work. The opening took place in 2004.

The city museum in the shelling house

The museum hosts numerous exhibitions u. a. the city and territorial history, geology and iron metallurgy, the gunsmithing trade, gun fire, the Zella-Mehlis gun companies, automobile construction, Mercedes office machines and much more.

literature

  • Herbert Bauer: Suhl . City and country in the Thuringian Forest. Ed .: Council of the district of Suhl. Progress printer, Erfurt 1955, From the history of the gunsmiths guild by Zella Sankt Blasii, p. 110-113 .
  • 100 years of the Zella-Mehlis Bombardment Institute . In: History and Museum Association Zella-Mehlis (ed.): Zella-Mehliser contributions . No. 2 . Heinrich-Jung-Verlagsgesellschaft, Ilmenau 1993, ISBN 3-929164-13-2 , p. 74 .
  • City administration Zella-Mehlis (Ed.): Leaflet City Museum in the shooting establishment . Zella-Mehlis 2011.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The bombardment institution in Zella-Mehlis, official website of the Historical and Museum Association Zella-Mehlis e. V. ( Memento from July 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive )

Coordinates: 50 ° 39 ′ 23.9 ″  N , 10 ° 39 ′ 38.6 ″  E