Bitterfeld Chemical Combine
The publicly owned enterprise (VEB) Chemiekombinat Bitterfeld (CKB) was an important chemical location in the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
timeline
After the dissolution of the Association of Nationally Owned Enterprises (VVB), combines were formed throughout the GDR . The idea of forming a combine was based on the idea of a centrally managed and planned economy. The Chemical Combine Bitterfeld (CKB) was created in 1969 from the VEB Elektrochemisches Kombinat Bitterfeld (EKB) and the Wolfen paint factory . This made it the third largest chemical site in the GDR after the chemical works in Leuna and Buna-Schkopau.
The newly formed combine also included:
- VEB Chemiewerk Nünchritz
- VEB Elektrokohle Lichtenberg
- VEB United Sodawerke Bernburg-Staßfurt Sodawerk Staßfurt
- VEB chemical plant Bad Köstritz
- VEB Fettchemie Karl-Marx-Stadt
- VEB Domal Stadtilm
However, the formation of the VEB CKB did not result in the structural and economic improvements that had been hoped for. The chemical companies in Bitterfeld and Wolfen remained the "pharmacy of the GDR" despite the product range adjustment with an enormous number of intermediate and end products. The urgently needed new investments flowed into a few selected projects. For the most part, the CKB had to use its own means to carry out repairs where it would have been more economical to build new technical systems. Many technical systems were driven to wear and tear, which led to restrictions in occupational safety and exemptions from environmental regulations on the part of the state. Although the difficult situation of the CKB was known to the highest authorities in Berlin, demands for investments were rejected. Prisoners and construction soldiers were also used under working conditions that were seriously hazardous to health .
Transition to the market economy
The CKB was privatized by the Treuhandanstalt on June 21, 1990 to form Chemie AG Bitterfeld-Wolfen . The six companies affiliated to the CKB in 1969 were separated. After the reunification of Germany, the total privatization of Chemie AG Bitterfeld-Wolfen was not successful due to the general poor technical condition of many parts of the company. Only a few of the products manufactured there could survive on the free market. Partial privatizations took place.
Of the previous 18,000 jobs, 12,000 were lost between 1990 and 1994.
Today the Bitterfeld-Wolfen Chemical Park covers an area of 1,200 hectares, where a total of around 11,000 people are employed in numerous newly founded companies.
To the most important companies in the chemical park belong
- the Bayer Bitterfeld GmbH ,
- the Viverso GmbH ,
- a location of Evonik Degussa GmbH ,
- the Linde AG Linde Gas Division,
- the PD Group ,
- The Heraeus quartz glass GmbH & Co. KG ,
- Dow Wolff Cellulosics GmbH (DWC)
- and Akzo Nobel Industrial Chemicals GmbH .
In 1994 a new Bayer plant in Bitterfeld started producing aspirin. The VEB Fettchemie Karl-Marx-Stadt operates today under the name fit (company) .
Events and special features
- Even before the founding of the CKB, a chemical accident occurred on July 11, 1968 in the Bitterfeld electrochemical combine (EKB) when an autoclave exploded in the PVC factory . Leaking vinyl chloride caught fire, killing 42 people. 210 were injured.
- The yellow column of smoke from the Acid Corner towards Sandersdorf was visible from afar . The Acid Corner was shut down in 1996. Nitric acid and nitrate salts were produced in the acid corner .
- Chlor IV was considered the most modern chlorine manufacturer in Europe until it was closed. When it closed, 4,500 people lost their jobs.
- The chemical workers' bath was closed in 2001. Rising groundwater and unexplained financial circumstances forced the private operator to close the last outdoor pool in Bitterfeld, which was opened in 1938 as the company's own IG pool.
Directors of the CKB
- 04/1969 - 12/1969: Theo Boethin (Combine Director)
- 01/1970 - 01/1971: Theo Boethin (General Manager)
- 02/1971 - 05/1971: Karl Kaduk (offic. General Director)
- 06/1971 - 12/1983: Heinz Schwarz (General Manager)
- 01/1984 - 04/1990: Adolf Eser (General Director)
- 04/1990 - 06/1990: Günther Kawalek (offic. General Director)
reception
The composer Günter Kochan composed the chamber music work: Seven orchestral pieces ("Pictures from the Combine", 1976/77).
literature
- Chemie AG Bitterfeld-Wolfen (Hrsg.): Bitterfeld Chronicle 100 years of the Bitterfeld-Wolfen chemical site. Bitterfeld 1993.
- Justus Vesting: With the courage to take healthy risks. The working conditions of prisoners and construction soldiers in the companies in the Bitterfeld, Buna and Leuna region with special consideration of the VEB Chemiekombinat Bitterfeld, state commissioner for the records of the state security service of the former GDR Saxony-Anhalt, contributions in kind (30), Magdeburg 2003.
- Heinz Schwarz: Characteristics from eight decades - Bitterfeld path of a general director. GNN Verlag 2004.
