Berggeschrey

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Berggeschrey or Berggeschrei ("mining clamour") was a German term for the rapid spread of news on the discovery of rich ore deposits

silver ore mining in the Ore Mountains. It is similar in some respects to the gold rush in North America
.

First Berggeschrey

1522 depiction of the historic mining industry on Annaberg's mining altar

Even as the first settlements were established there were small finds tin, iron and copper.

But when, in 1168, rich

feudal obligations to their landlords and so were able to devote themselves entirely to their work. However they had to pay a direct tax
in the form of a mining tithe (Bergzehnt) to their local lords.

Second or Great Berggeschrey

Over the course of the centuries, the search for

Marienberg
emerged.

Third Berggeschrei

Parts of the Old Town of Johanngeorgenstadt had to be demolished and afforested in 1953 due to subsidence

In the

post-war years from 1946 onwards, almost eight hundred years after the First Berggeschrey, activity comparable to the gold rush broke out again in the Ore Mountains as a result of uranium ore mining by the SDAG Wismut. This is nicknamed the Drittes Bergeschrei ("Third Bergeschrei"), using the modern German spelling of the word Bergeschrey. As a result of the rapid and reckless boom the population grew sharply in several places (see e. g. Johanngeorgenstadt). Especially in the early days of the Wismut mining operation considerable damage was done to the environment, historic village centres and infrastructure (e.g. spa house and facilities of the internationally renowned Schlema radium spa) were destroyed and there were serious health problems amongst the Wismut miners
at the time.

Apart from silver and uranium, tin, iron, copper, arsenic, lead, cobalt, nickel, bismuth (Wismut), tungsten and zinc were mined in the Ore Mountains.

Post German-reunification

After the political

Wende mining operations by SDAG Wismut were shut down completely after 1990. It had been the largest employer and the most important economic factor in the region. Today, the pits of the lime works in the Lengefeld village of Kalkwerk represent the last working mine using mineshafts in the state of Saxony on the northern side of the Ore Mountains. The whole Ore Mountain Mining Region (Montanregion Erzgebirge) with its above-ground mining facilities, show mines
, technical monuments, mining education paths and the traditions of local people are witnesses to these three key epochs in mining history.

References

  1. ^ Geschrei 1 c) im Deutschen Wörterbuch by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, Hirzel, Leipzig 1854-1960, Vol. 5, Sp. 3965
  2. ^ "Zwickauer Stadtchronik". Archived from the original on 2010-11-24. Retrieved 2011-02-12.

Sources

  • Siegfried Sieber (1954), Zur Geschichte des erzgebirgischen Bergbaues (in German), Halle (Saale): Wilhelm-Knapp-Verlag, p. 135