Windmills in Berlin
While there were around 150 windmills in Berlin and the surrounding, still independent villages around 1860 , there are still eight in today's urban area. This includes four mills in their original locations (Britzer Mühle, Jungfernmühle, Adlermühle, Zehlendorfer Mühle). There is also a new building (Marzahn post mill) and two relocated mills in the German Museum of Technology in Berlin , which also houses a water mill . Another relocated mill was built in Gatow .
These eight windmills are distributed over five Dutch mills and three post mills . In addition to the existing mills and around twenty street names such as Mühlsteinweg or Am Mühlenberg , the coat of arms of the former Prenzlauer Berg district , which featured four black windmill blades in a gold shield as a style-defining element, reminds of the great days of Berlin windmills. The Britzer mill , which is the only one of the original mills that is fully functional, is of particular importance among the existing Berlin mills . Since 1987, the mill has been training hobby millers in a year and a half to become a graduate wind miller . The equally functional post mill in Marzahn offers a similar training program, although as a new building from 1994 it is not part of the historic mill inventory. Both training courses do not count as vocational training .
history
The focus of this article is to describe the existing mills. That is why the history section is limited to tracing the most important lines of development in Berlin's mill history.
Cistercians and freedom of trade
In the high and late medieval economy, the mill law , which was closely linked to the water law , was "one of the most productive and therefore most contested privileges" (Warnatsch). While there were two watermills in the Berlin area as early as the 13th century with the Panke mill and a mill on Mühlendamm between old Berlin and Cölln , the first windmills followed around 1375 in the former villages of Buckow , Rudow and the Lehnin monastery property of Celendorpe , today's Zehlendorf district . In the Zauche and Teltow , the influential Cistercian monks from Lehnin were pioneers in the construction of mills. Due to their advanced technology, they were welcome development workers in the villages of the young Mark Brandenburg and owned a total of 19 mills themselves. Stefan Warnatsch estimates the monks' income from their 19 mills to be at least an average of around 100 guilders per mill annually; the miller's profit should have been three to four times that amount.
After the freedom of trade had replaced the restrictions of the guild system and the estates and was introduced in Prussia in 1810 as a main component of the Stein-Hardenberg reforms , there was a brief boom in mill construction. Around 1860 there were still around 150 businesses in the city and its surroundings, which, due to a lack of capital, were mostly of the technically backward type of post mill; Only a few millers could afford the more profitable, considerably more expensive Dutch mills .
Four centers
Essentially four centers with high mill concentrations had emerged. About thirty mills stood at Prenzlauer Berg , of which alone adorned eight flour mills the edge of the windmill Berg , who had given the district the original name. The coat of arms of the former Prenzlauer Berg district, awarded in 1992, symbolizes the largest mill location in Berlin by showing four black windmill blades in a golden shield, which are diagonally aligned, as a style-defining element. The second major center was the area around Müllerstrasse and Seestrasse in Wedding , eleven mills were located north of Schöneberg around what was then Mühlenweg (since 1912: Badensche Strasse) and a large number of Loh and fulling mills were in Rixdorf . In 2005, more than twenty street names recall the old mill locations, ten of which were named Mühlenstrasse or Mühlenweg . There are also other names with a wide variety of compositions, such as Mühlbergstraße, Mühlsteinweg or Am Mühlenberg .
Berlin mill mountains
The Berlin mill mountains and hills are mainly located on the 15 meter thick slabs of the Barnim and Teltow , closed ground moraine formations from the Saale Ice Age and the last Ice Age , which are partly overlaid by flat, wavy terminal moraine formations. In the peripheral areas in particular, the water masses from the thawing glaciers left hilly deposits of boulder clay and sand around 15,000 years ago . The largely tundra-like hills with sparse vegetation were very suitable as locations for windmills. Also on the slope area of the Nauener Platte , the foothills of which extend to the western Havel lowlands, there is an old - and soon to be renewed - mill location with the Gatower Windmühlenberg , which is under nature protection with the rare vegetation type sand-dry grass flora .
Steam power and electrification
The introduction of the more effective form of propulsion, steam power , meant that most naturally powered mills were no longer able to cope with the pressure of competition and disappeared around 1870. This so-called first mill extinction was followed by the second mill extinction with the increasing electrification of the mill drive and the formation of large mills . A handful of the former 150 companies remained, some of which after 1945 tried again - in vain - to keep up with the large companies. The last windmill still actually producing, but already powered by a motor, was the Jungfernmühle in Buckow , which ceased operations in 1980. Next to the water wheel, the oldest power machine of mankind , the wind turbine , had finally become obsolete in terms of milling in Berlin and is only maintained for historical or museum reasons, for lovers, for teaching purposes and to preserve a piece of old mill romance.
Preserved windmills, original inventory
All existing Berlin mills listed below are under monument protection . Two Berlin mills, the historic Britzer mill and the new post mill in Marzahn, built in 1993, are fully functional.
Britzer mill
52 ° 25 ′ 55 ″ N , 13 ° 26 ′ 1 ″ E
The Britzer Mühle at Buckower Damm 130 in Britz , formerly Stechan'sche Mühle, is a typical gallery Dutch mill , windy and fully functional. The twelve-sided building from 1866 is around 20 meters high, the diameter of the louvre flap wings is 25 meters from tip to tip. A compass rose turns the cap, which is mounted on cast iron rollers, automatically in the wind. The former name goes back to the mill master Karl Albert August Stechan, who bought the mill and its inventory in 1874 for 19,000 thalers .
Organizationally, the mill belongs to the Britzer Garten , the former BUGA 1985, but is not located on the site, but on the edge in the middle of an extensive orchard. The administration is the responsibility of the state-owned Grün Berlin Park und Garten GmbH . Guided tours through the mill and training to become a wind miller are offered by the Britzer Müllerei e. V. organized. The mill can be viewed individually and during guided tours. Bread is offered for sale as its own mill product. In addition, the Britzer Mühle, like the equally functional and newly built post mill in Marzahn in 1994, offers the opportunity to realize the dream of a wedding “all in white”.
Eagle mill in Mariendorf
52 ° 25 '21.7 " N , 13 ° 23' 36.6" E
The Adlermühle (also with the spelling Adler Mühle) from 1889 in Mariendorfer Buchsteinweg 32–34 is also an octagonal gallery Dutch mill, but there is no longer any technology and the mill is no longer windable. The grinding operation ended in 1959, and the building has been a listed building since 1963. After the mill had no wings for a long time, since 1982 sail gate wings have replaced the historical venetian blind wings, and the mill was also given a codend .
The former grain mill is used as a clubhouse and leisure center for the Berlin swimming club "Friesen 1895" e. V. , who has made a contribution to the expansion and maintenance of the neglected mill with its own and public funds. There are occasional public events such as Whitsun concerts, guided tours on the open day and exhibitions on the German Milling Day , which the German Society for Milling and Milling Conservation holds every year. A room for celebrations for up to 50 people can be rented on the first floor.
The mill was named after the eagle , the heraldic animal of Prussia , which is located above the entrance door. According to Gerhard Schlimpert "the Adlermühle is said to have been the largest windmill in the former Mark Brandenburg."
Zehlendorfer mill
52 ° 26 '27.9 " N , 13 ° 16' 37.9" E
The Zehlendorfer Mühle between Schlettstadter and Berliner Straße 75 at the former Zehlendorfer Mühlenpark is a Dutch mill in the rarer round shape. The grain mill, which dates back to 1881 (other details 1879, 1880) and the mill master Radlow, is not functional, has had no wings since 1943/1944 and the cap and the gallery are missing, so that only the three-storey foundation stone remains Bricks is present.
This mill is the third in Zehlendorf. The first building, a post mill, was already mentioned in Charles IV's land register from 1375 and stood at the southern exit of the original village, which was owned by the Cistercian monks from the Lehnin monastery . Since the monks were particularly leaders in mill construction at that time, there is a high probability that the construction of the first Zehlendorfer mill can be traced back to their initiative. It was not until 1875 that it had to give way to the expansion of the railway . Five years later there were two new buildings, one of which was demolished after only five years; it was on Sundgauer Strasse. The other new building was the still existing Zehlendorfer mill .
As early as 1898, due to the lack of wind, the operators switched to a drive with a petroleum- powered motor, which they replaced with an electric motor in 1921. The wings were dismantled in 1943/1944 for reasons of warfare in order to take the orientation point away from enemy aircraft. Since the 1950s, the vacant and privately owned mill has been a bone of contention between the authorities and the owner, and there was a lack of financial resources for preservation in accordance with the heritage. After decades of decay, the walls were in a desolate condition. In 1997, a private investor was found who, with considerable own funds and in close consultation with the preservationists, renovated the foundation structure to under the former cap and converted it into his very original, private house. The historical brick facade and the wooden windows could be preserved according to the old model.
Jungfernmühle in Gropiusstadt
52 ° 25 '55.7 " N , 13 ° 28' 4.9" E
The small octagonal Jungfernmühle (Wieneckesche Mühle) in Gropiusstadt , Goldammerstraße 34 is a gallery Dutch mill (grain mill). The oldest surviving mill in the city from 1757 (other information from 1753) only has blinds and compass rose mockups and is without function. However, until the spring of 1980, grain was ground here - using electrical energy - so that the Jungfernmühle was the last windmill in Berlin operated for economic (and not museum) reasons. There is a restaurant in the mill. With the new buildings on the surrounding square, the town planners tried to create a harmonious building ensemble and therefore equipped the new buildings as Dutch gabled houses with red bricks.
The Jungfernmühle has two conversions behind it. The building by the Dutch carpenter Adrian den Ouden, one of the last Dutch residents of the famous Dutch quarter of Potsdam and married to the widow of the builder of the Dutch-style Stern hunting lodge , was originally located in the official field near the Nauener Tor in Potsdam. In the property of the master miller Walsleben since 1788, the mill had to give way in 1860 after around 100 years of operation in the Arndt'schen Villa, in today's Friedrich-Ebert-Straße 63. A new owner, Johann Wilhelm Blankenberg from Rixdorf , had the mill rebuilt on the Rixdorf Rollbergen . It only stood here for a short time, because after another change of ownership in 1872, the next owner and namesake of the second name of the mill (Wienecke'sche Mühle), Otto Wienecke, had the building moved to its current location in Buckow. An inscription says: Four generations of master millers Wienecke 1969 .
The first name Jungfernmühle goes back to a tragic incident during construction in Potsdam in 1757, when the miller's daughter was suddenly caught by the wings while visiting the new mill and shattered in a high arch on the gallery. "The father had the portrait of the dead daughter engraved in oak and, as a reminder of the tragic end of his child, placed under the shaft of the mill, where it is still."
In the 1990s, the mill was converted into a restaurant. A view into the roof structure is still possible through additionally built-in glass windows. The rest of the interior has been redesigned to match the restaurant. Since spring 2018, the Jungfernmühle has been managed by the Wiesenstein restaurant group, which manages several - some historic - restaurants and locations in Berlin.
New and relocated windmills
Since the following sections talk about mills that were moved to Berlin, it should be mentioned in the introduction that these conversions also took place in the opposite direction, i.e. out of Berlin. Especially in the early days of the early days , the housing estates sprouting up from the ground increasingly took the wind away from the mills. In 1888, for example, a Schöneberg mill was moved to Mariendorf , which was transported from there to its location on Mühlenberg in Saalow, part of the municipality of Am Mellensee near Zossen , in 1903 . The Paltrock windmill , restored in 1974/1975, is still there. The box construction of the wooden paltrock and post windmills was designed in such a way that they were easy to take apart and reassemble in another location.
Marzahn post mill, new building from 1994
52 ° 32 '38.6 " N , 13 ° 33' 48.8" E
The currently only - non-museum - Berlin post mill , a new building from 1994 by the Dutch mill builder Harrie Beijk, is located in Marzahn , in the street Hinter der Mühle . Next to the Britzer mill, it is the second fully equipped and functional mill and has louvre blades and an intact shot gallery, double hexagonal sifter, squeezer, grinding machine and Askania sifter. With a blade diameter of 20.5 meters and a total weight of 44 tons, the two-speed mill can produce up to 1000 kilograms of rye or wheat flour per day. The air currents allow around 200 wind-powered days of operation with a usable drive power of 8–12 kilowatts per year . Next to the mill is a small wind power plant that serves as a wind measuring station ( anemometer ).
As with the Britzer Mühle, qualified specialists offer advanced training courses on historical milling. The Marzahner Mühle is open for sightseeing or for taking part in guided tours. It is located directly adjacent to the old core of the former village of Marzahn on a small hill, on which small animal enclosures with geese, sheep, a horse and a donkey and a small area with historical agricultural equipment have been set up. Embedded in the dense high-rise and prefabricated building backdrop of Marzahn on the corner of the heavily frequented Landsberger Allee and Allee der Kosmonauten , the historic Marzahn with its new mill offers a bizarre and contrasting picture.
The three forerunner mills of this new building date back to 1815, when the first Marzahn miller Christian Friedrich Krüger had a post mill built. This first mill, the subsequent buildings from 1873 and 1908 and today's new building were spread over three locations in Marzahn. In 1978 the GDR acquired the last mill, which only consisted of a brick tower with a wingless steel frame, and had it demolished. Four years later, the East Berlin magistrate took the decision to build a new building in order to enhance the design of the Marzahn village center. Originally, the plans included the construction of a Holland mill. Because of the social upheavals, it was no longer realized. The first miller found himself in 1994 on a job advertisement to which ten interested parties had responded.
Dutch mill Foline in the technical museum
52 ° 29 '44.9 " N , 13 ° 22' 32.8" E
The very small, octagonal gallery Dutch mill Foline came from Poghausen , a district of Uplengen in East Friesland , to the German Museum of Technology in Kreuzberg and was installed in 1985. The complete grain mill with compass rose and louvre blades is windy and occasionally in operation, although the tall trees in front of it do not allow the wind to flow freely. Originally a pure grist mill, it is equipped with an additional small motor mill with crusher, roller mill, sifting. The name Foline is one of the typical old East Frisian female names.
The two mills of the Museum of Technology are located - in an atypical landscape surrounded by trees - in the six- hectare museum park, which is located on the site of the long-disused railway depot of the former Anhalter Bahnhof . Much like in the new nature park Schöneberger Südgelände with its ambiguous motto "Groundbreaking Nature", which has been under protection as a nature park since 2000, a nature untouched for decades with rare and diverse stocks for Berlin was able to develop here and beyond the old Spread out the railway area. On September 2, 2011 , the east park of the park at Gleisdreieck was opened on this site , the western path of which leads directly past the two windmills. The mills can be seen very well from this public path, but not accessible as the museum grounds are separated from the park by a fence.
Bohnsdorf post mill in the technology museum
52 ° 29 '47.2 " N , 13 ° 22' 35.2" E
Another post mill, the Bohnsdorf post mill, is located in the technology museum . The approximately 14-meter-high mill has door leaves with a diameter of around 20 meters, is open to the wind with a shot tunnel and bagwork and is sometimes in operation.
The original Vollkropfmühle or, after one owner, Staberow'sche Mühle , dates back to 1820, stood in Grünauer Strasse near Köpenick until 1874 and then came to Bohnsdorf at Glienicker Strasse 508. Listed in 1958 and dismantled in 1983, it still took place in the same year their new installation on the grounds of the technology museum. Even if this mill has remained in Berlin, it is not one of the historical mills that have been preserved in its original locations because of the transfer to the museum.
The older names of the mill can be found in official records, for example as Wuhlkropfmühle (1820) or Vollkropfs Mühle (1850). According to the analysis of the name researcher for the Teltow, Gerhard Schlimpert, the name goes back to the so-called Vollkropf , which was recorded as an official forest as early as 1704. A remnant of the Vollkropfgraben and the small Vollkropfwiesen biotope on the Graben remind of the name between Glienicker Weg and the Spree . The damp and wet meadows with poor grass and reed stands are under nature protection.
Since a Slavic settlement was found on the extensive area south of the Spree , it could be an old Slavic desert name. However, there is no evidence of this, and there is no consistent etymological derivation of the name Vollkropf . Circulating discharges from the Middle Low German Krop = outgrowth, goiter, throat keeps Schlimpert implausible, since not only the dialect form is absent and the other is the epithet full- remains unclear, which is also known as Vulc-krop place.
Reconstructed post mill in Gatow
52 ° 29 '11 " N , 13 ° 10' 40.4" E
Since 2004 there has been another - initially dismantled - post mill in Berlin, which, according to the buyers of the mill in the technology museum, should be very similar to the one from Metzelthin, district of Wusterhausen / Dosse , from Prignitz to Gatow in Buchwaldzeile 43 was implemented. The construction of the mill, for which a location near Wriezen am Oderbruch was originally planned, had been prepared since 2004 and completed in 2008.
The location is the historic Windmühlenberg with the rare sand and dry grass flora , which is located in the middle of a small settlement and has been under protection as a nature reserve Windmühlenberg since February 9, 2002 . The old Gatower post mill from 1845 (other details 1824 and 1844) stood on the 52 meter high mountain until 1921 (not 1923, as often stated), which came to a bizarre end when it was used for a film by director Richard Eichberg (1888 –1952) was literally flared. The mill owner, the local baker, had previously sold the dilapidated and disused mill to the film's production company, who set the wooden structure on fire according to the script for the last scene. Research by the Förderverein historical Gatow revealed that Eichberg's film, which became known worldwide in 1938 with the two-part remake of Joe May's The Indian Tomb (Part 1: The Tiger of Eschnapur ), was the silent film Die Liebesabommen der beautiful Evelyne , German title Die Mordsmühle auf Evenshill , acted. The premiere of the film, which is indexed in the USA and not suitable for minors in the German Reich, took place on December 23, 1921 in Berlin. The further fate of the film is unclear, the copies are apparently lost (actors included Lee Parry , Oskar Sima in one of his first films, Karl Falkenberg and Felix Hecht).
The development association Gatow bought the new mill for around 4,000 euros from the bankruptcy estate of the company that the mill had wanted to donate to the city of Wriezen. The dismantled mill was already stored at the freight yard in the Oderbruch town. According to the development association, the approximately 225-year-old mill resembles the burned-down Gatower mill. In consultation with the authorities, a place was found on the edge of the protected area next to an old water tower, where the construction of the mill could be reconciled with the requirements of nature conservation. The construction project was suspended from October 2005 to October 2006, as an objection was lodged against the already granted building permit for legal reasons . The opposition was rejected in 2006. Construction began in October 2006. The apprentices from the Knobelsdorff School, led by master carpenter Wellner, played a key role in the work.
The “christening” of the almost completed mill took place on September 6, 2008 in the presence of the Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit with a ceremony. After 87 years, the windmill blades were turning again on Gatower Berg. The cost of the entire construction was around 180,000 euros, financed with 150,000 euros in lottery funds , 30,000 euros of own funds and countless hours of voluntary work. In 2008 the anniversary of the 750th anniversary of Gatow an der Havel, 1258–2008, took place - the logo for this celebration shows a post mill, the former and now restored landmark of the village in the city.
See also
literature
- Gerald Bost: The Britzer Mühle - A technical monument with an eventful history , Berlin 2016 terra press, ISBN 978-3-942917-24-7 .
- Britzer mill. Ed .: Britzer Garten. Berlin 1991 (brochure).
- Micaela Haas, Joachim Varchmin: Mills yesterday and tomorrow, wind and water power in Berlin and Brandenburg. Martina Galunder Verlag, Nümbrecht 2002, ISBN 3-89909-009-8 .
- Heinrich Herzberg, Hans Joachim Rieseberg: mills and millers in Berlin. A contribution to the history of the productive forces. Berlin 1986.
- Werner Peschke: The mill system in the Mark Brandenburg. From the beginning of the Mark up to around 1600. Diss. VDI-Verlag, Berlin 1937.
- Gerhard Schlimpert: Brandenburg name book. Part 3. The place names of the Teltow. Hermann Böhlaus Nachf., Weimar 1972. (Quote on the Adlermühle p. 214, on the Bohnsdorfer post mill = Wuhlkropfmühle / Vollkropfmühle, p. 251 f.)
- Stephan Warnatsch: History of the Lehnin Monastery 1180–1542. Studies on the history, art and culture of the Cistercians. Volume 12.1. Diss. Berlin, Free University 1999. Lukas Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-931836-45-2 . (on the monastery property of Zehlendorfer Mühle p. 276 and in general on the mills of the monks in the Mark p. 276 ff .; quotation on mill law, p. 279)
- Jürgen Wolf: The post mill in Marzahn . In: Berlin monthly magazine ( Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein ) . Issue 5, 1999, ISSN 0944-5560 ( luise-berlin.de ).
- Hans Joachim Rieseberg: Mills in Berlin . Catalog for the exhibition in the Dahlem domain from May 20 to August 28, 1983. Association of Friends of the Dahlem Domain (ed.), Medusa Verlagsgesellschaft, Berlin 1983, ISBN 3-88602-077-0
- D. Ogden, G. Bost: Ganzel & Wulff - The Quest for American Milling Secrets . In: TIMS Bibliotheka Molinologica , Volume 20, 2010, ISBN 978-92-9134-025-5 .
swell
- To the Zehlendorfer Mühle information board on site, 2005
- Various information sheets for various mills, available on site in 2005
- Telephone information on October 21, 2005 about the proposed mill in Gatow from the Berlin-Spandau District Office, Nature and Green Space Office
- Telephone information on November 1, 2005 about the planned mill in Gatow by Ulrich Reinicke from the historical Gatow association . “The neighbors' objection was rejected. Construction began on October 24, 2006. The cost of the entire construction will be around 180,000 euros. The financing is already secured: 150,000 euros in lottery funds and 30,000 euros in own funds. We assume, provided that the wood is delivered on time, that the mill will be ready in 2008. "
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gesundbrunnen, Badstrasse 40a
- ↑ Gropiusstadt, Baumläuferweg 57
- ↑ britzer-muellerei.de (page Britzer Müllerei e.V. ); Britzer Mühle and TIMS (site by Molinologist Bost, Berlin); Wedding ceremony in the Britzer Mühle (Neukölln-Online)
- ↑ Mariendorf, designed by Friedrich Hillerkus, 1888-1890
- ↑ Zehlendorf, Schlettstadter Straße 110, construction started in 1881
- ↑ Reconstruction of the Jungfernmühle 1990/1991
- ↑ Post mill Berlin-Marzahn
- ↑ Article. ( Memento of December 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) In: Adlershofer Zeitung , 09/2001; with description of the Vollkropf trench and mention of the Vollkropfmühle (today's Bohnsdorfer in the Technology Museum)
- ^ Project new Gatower windmill ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - The page contains a. a detailed synopsis of the lost film by Eichberg
Map with all coordinates: 
Berlin | Brandenburg | Bremen | Hamburg | Hessen | Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania | Lower Saxony | North Rhine-Westphalia | Saxony | Saxony-Anhalt | Schleswig-Holstein | Thuringia
(No historical windmills have survived in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland.)
