Wulfersdorf opencast mine
The Wulfersdorf opencast mine was an opencast mine in the Helmstedt lignite mining area , which was operated simultaneously by the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany . The Harbke power plant was connected to the opencast mine .
history
1935 took place digestion of the mine Wulfersdorf.
After lengthy negotiations, from 1976 to 1986 the West German company Braunschweigischen Kohlen-Bergwerke BKB and the East German lignite combine "Gustav Sobottka" Röblingen am See, Harbke division jointly promoted lignite . Both the East German lignite combine a mining area on the West German side and the BKB a mining area on the East German side were guaranteed. The respective mining areas should be returned after the coal has been mined. This campaign was the first domestic German contract on the use of cross-border raw materials. In addition to the different regulations in East and West Germany with regard to occupational health and safety, mining and explosives law, particular problems were caused by the recruitment of guards to prevent escapes from the GDR because the open-cast mine administration did not allow the GDR border troops to enter the mining area. For this reason, suitable people were recruited for the site security of the opencast mine, for which strict conditions applied.
It was precisely determined in which area the East German and West German companies were allowed to mine lignite. These were separated from each other by a metal mesh fence in which there were four doors for the exchange of material. The BKB feared that in the event of a deepening Cold War , as in 1952, mining equipment would be confiscated in the border area, and had it secured for around 54 million marks by the state of Lower Saxony and the federal government .
For the West German side, the keys for the doors of the metal mesh fence were administered by the Federal Border Police. On November 3, 1976, coal mining began in the border area from the West German side, and in March 1978 from the East German side. In 1986 the East German side stopped the lignite production in Wulfersdorf and relocated the mining equipment to other opencast mines. A dam was built along the inner-German border on which the border fence was rebuilt, which was completed by December 13, 1988. The GDR was still considering using the charred open-cast mine as a landfill for western garbage, which was no longer possible due to the reunification of Germany .
After the end of coal mining, the open-cast mine became a leisure and recreation area Lappwaldsee since 2002 due to natural flooding .
literature
- LMBV (Ed.): Wulfersdorf. Landscapes and industrial locations in transition (= Central German lignite mining area changes and perspectives . No. 14 ). Senftenberg September 2014 ( PDF, 6.84 MB [accessed April 21, 2020]).
Individual evidence
- ^ History 1900 to 1949. District Helmstedt, accessed on February 25, 2018.
Web links
- Marginal coal. Report in Listen and Look .
- The Secret of Harbke - Operation Grenzkohle Film by Peter Simank , broadcast on MDR television in the series Der Osten - Discover where you live , April 9, 2019, 9:00 p.m., 45 min.
Coordinates: 52 ° 10 ′ 21.5 ″ N , 11 ° 2 ′ 1 ″ E