Zschornewitz is a village and a former municipality on the southwestern edge of the

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon language, Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the Ri ...

district in

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Since 1 January 2011, it is part of the town

Gräfenhainichen is a town in Wittenberg district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography The town was the seat of the offices of the administrative community (''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'') of Tor zur Dübener Heide until it was disbanded in January 2011. It lies a ...

. It was part of the administrative community (''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'') of

Tor zur Dübener Heide Tor zur Dübener Heide ("Gateway to the Düben Heath") was a ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' ("administrative community") in the district of Wittenberg, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was situated southwest of Wittenberg. The seat of the ''Verwaltungsge ...

. It lies about 4 km west of the former district seat of

, right on the border with

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

Geography

The former municipalities of

Jüdenberg Jüdenberg is a community in Wittenberg district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since January 2007, it belongs to the municipality of Gräfenhainichen. Jüdenberg lies about 4 km northwest of Gräfenhainichen on the edge of the Biosphere Reserv ...

Möhlau Möhlau is a village and a former municipality in Wittenberg district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2011, it is part of the town Gräfenhainichen. It was part of the administrative community (''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'') of Tor zur ...

Burgkemnitz Burgkemnitz is a village and a former municipality in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the municipality Muldestausee Muldestausee is a municipality in the district of Anhalt-Bitter ...

and

Gröbern Gröbern is a village and a former municipality in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the municipality Muldestausee Muldestausee is a municipality in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfel ...

as well as the town of

border on the community of Zschornewitz.

Subdivisions

The municipality was divided into the historical centre of Kolonie, a neighbourhood to the east built for power station, and Pöplitz, about 2 km to the west.

History

In the 19th century, there were hardly any more than 200 inhabitants in Zschornewitz. In 1915, work began on the

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

under architect Prof. Klingenberg's plans. At the same time the garden-city-like workers' community Kolonie was established. In 1916, eight

turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating e ...

s capable of 16 MW each were generating a total of 128 MW, making the Zschornewitz power plant the world's biggest brown-coal-fired power station. In 1920–1921, the school in Kolonie was built. In 1929, two 85 MW turbines were brought into service (at the time,

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

's biggest). Thirteen huge chimneys became for decades the community's backdrop. In 1945, however, the plant was partially dismantled by the

Soviets Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in th ...

as part of the

war reparations War reparations are compensation payments made after a war by one side to the other. They are intended to cover damage or injury inflicted during a war. History Making one party pay a war indemnity is a common practice with a long history. R ...

that they exacted from Germany. On 30 June 1992 came the power plant's final shutdown. The Kolonie and parts of the plant were granted protection as a memorial. In 1995, the preserved part of the old power plant became an industrial memorial. In 1996, the old workers' community Kolonie was included in the list of

EXPO An expo is a trade exposition. It may also refer to: Events and venues * World's fair, a large international public exposition * Singapore Expo, convention and exposition venue ** Expo Axis, one of the world's largest membrane roofs, constructe ...

projects, undergoing widespread restorations in 1997–99. On 13 May 2000, Zschornewitz celebrated its 800th anniversary of founding.

Main sights

The community's most prominent building is the former Zschornewitz Power Station. Since 1995 this plant has been open to the public as an energy museum.

Economy and transportation

On the old Gröbern

strip mine Surface mining, including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) are removed, in contrast to underground mining, in which ...

's waste dump south of Zschornewitz, a

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...

was built after the

brown coal Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

pit was shut down. It has eight

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...

s. The dump itself rises some 50 m above the surrounding area, making it an ideal place to make good use of

wind energy Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...

. Zschornewitz lies on state road (''

Landesstraße ''Landesstraßen'' (singular: ''Landesstraße'') are roads in Germany and Austria that are, as a rule, the responsibility of the respective German or Austrian federal state. The term may therefore be translated as "state road". They are roads t ...

'') L136 between

and on district road (''

Kreisstraße A Kreisstraße (literally: "district road" or "county road") is a class of road in Germany. It carries traffic between the towns and villages within a '' Kreis'' or district or between two neighbouring districts. In importance, the ''Kreisstraße ...

'') K2037 to

. Federal highway (''Bundesstraße'') B 107 in Gräfenhainichen is only about 2 km away. The ''Dessau-Ost'' interchange on the

A9 autobahn is an autobahn in Germany, connecting Berlin and Munich via Leipzig and Nuremberg. It is the fifth longest autobahn spanning . Route The northern terminus of the A 9 is at the Potsdam interchange, where it merges into the A 10, ...

between

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

is about 16 km away. The nearest

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

s are to be found in Gräfenhainichen and Burgkemnitz on the

Bitterfeld Bitterfeld () is a town in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 July 2007 it has been part of the town of Bitterfeld-Wolfen. It is situated approximately 25 km south of Dessau, and 30 km northeast of Halle (S ...

line about 4 km away.

Population

References

External links

'Kolonie' as an EXPO project

{{Authority control Former municipalities in Saxony-Anhalt Gräfenhainichen