1. Die Steinmühle
Die Steinmühle wurde 1303 als Getreidemühle von den Zisterziensermönchen aus dem Kloster Zinn erbaut und von diesen betrieben. Bis 1766 wurde die Mühle als Getreidemühle genutzt, bis der damalige Mühlenmeister eine Genehmigung zur Anlegung einer Schneidemühle (Sägewerk) erhielt.
1845 wurde sie wieder abgerissen und danach als Ölmühle wiederaufgebaut. Ende 19. Jahrhunderts wurde auf Dampfkraft erweitert und die Mühle zur Strohpapierstoff-Fabrik umgebaut. Sie wurde auch weiter als Dampfmühle genutzt. 1918 firmiert die Mühle als „G. Thiele Steinmühle“. Inhaber war Emil Gericke, der Schwiegersohn von G.Thiele. 1934 wurde die Dampfmaschine durch einen Motor ersetzt und die Mühle vergrößert.
Brandenburg / Havel Industrial Museum
There is an industrial monument that is really worth seeing in the city of Brandenburg: The Brandenburg an der Havel Industrial Museum was built around the last Siemens-Martin furnace that could be preserved in Western Europe. This furnace is the center of the museum, which also documents the development of steel production and processing in the city of Brandenburg an der Havel. The museum also houses an exhibition about the Brandenburg vehicle construction company Brennabor . First, the visitor is shown a short film about steel production. Every visitor should take a look at it, because then the layman will understand how the production of steel works. This can then be impressively understood on the tour. The large crane hooks, machines and devices are very impressive. But there are also many small treasuries in the GDR state in the museum, such as the forge, workshop maintenance or a break room.
About the history of the steelworks:
In 1912 Rudolf Weber bought the 800,000 m² site between the Silokanal, Städtebahn and Magdeburger Landstrasse in Brandenburg an der Havel and founded the Weber rolling mill. In 1914 the first two Siemens-Martin furnaces and a sheet rolling mill were in operation. In 1917, after the government stopped supplying coal, the plant was sold to the German-Luxemburgish Mining and Hütten-AG. The main shareholder was Hugo Stinnes, who was not affected by the compulsory state regulation as he had his own coal fields.
After the First World War, the plant was continuously expanded. In 1926 Mitteldeutsche Stahlwerke AG became part of the Flick Group. During the time of National Socialism, the expansion was continued and before and during the Second World War, armaments production was carried out around the rolling mill. In 1939/40 the P-Werk - Panzerwerk - and the Quenz-Werk were built along the Magdeburger Landstrasse. The Quenzwerk was intended for the manufacture of armored casings and the P-Werk initially for the manufacture of armored domes made of cast steel. Later the P-Werk was also used for tank production. The tanks were without a drive or interior. The final production took place in Spandau, a steel company belonging to F. Flick KG. At the end of the war, the production of Panther tanks was increased to 500 units per month. The plant was not seriously damaged during the war.
After 1945 the systems, machines and devices were completely dismantled and meticulously numbered, packed and sent for transport to the Soviet Union. The dismantling of the production facilities was carried out with so-called dismantling columns under the supervision of the Russian military command. In detail it was:
- Steel works with 7 Siemens-Martin furnaces and 4 electric furnaces
- Rolling mill I, rolling mill II, rolling mill III
- Panzerwerk and Quenzwerk
- Track systems with locomotives and wagons
- Mechanical workshop and roller turning shop
- Magazine, laboratory, junkyard with cranes
- Scrap press and foundry
In 1947 the plant was a heap of rubble and scrap.
In 1950 the foundation stone was laid for a new steelworks at the old location. Under the direction of Friedrich Franz, who was given the honorary name Papa Franz by the workforce, the large hall with ten Siemens-Martin ovens was built by 1953. The furnace hall now stood parallel to the silo channel, which significantly simplified the logistics on the factory premises compared to the arrangement before 1945. A generator hall for generating generator gas from raw lignite, which initially heated the SM ovens, was built next to it. Two more ovens were added by 1967.
The Siemens-Martin furnace XII went into operation on October 12, 1967. It was originally intended as a test furnace. With him top results should be achieved. A special feature was that furnace XII was operated with a sheet metal chimney. In 1968, however, the furnace was used as No. XII to fulfill the planning tasks and thus its task as a research furnace was hindered.
Since the specified state planning requirements for the steelworks were not met, a comprehensive reconstruction of the plant began in 1970. It started with furnace XII. In 1975 all 12 furnaces in the steel and rolling mill were rebuilt. This ongoing modernization increased the efficiency of the plant.
In 1980, two electric steel furnaces went into operation in a newly developed site south of Magdeburger Landstrasse on Quenzsee. The Brandenburg steel and rolling mill now produces up to 2.3 million tons of crude steel and over 1 million tons of rolling mill products annually with a good 10,000 employees. It was the largest crude steel producer in the GDR.
The Brandenburg steel and rolling mill had been the parent company of the quality and stainless steel combine since 1979. This combine comprised 33 companies. In 1980 it had around 35,000 employees including trainees and produced 4.67 million tons of crude steel and 3 million tons of rolled products.
After the reunification, the Siemens-Martin ovens were no longer competitive. In Western Europe they had been phased out since the 1960s. The Siemens-Martin ovens were gradually switched off and broken off. The last racking took place in December 1993, and the time of the Siemens-Martin furnaces was finally over.
The electric steel mill was bought by the Italian Riva Group in 1992. It was thoroughly modernized after the purchase and continues to supply structural steel as Brandenburger Elektrostahlwerk GmbH.
In 1992 the idea of an industrial museum was born. The remains of the plant were inspected and secured. In 1994, the furnace XII, the last newly built and still existing furnace, under the k malschutz frame t.
