Media table Museum Bad Salzdetfurth
Good luck!
Against hunger - the first shaft - Barbara
"Good luck!" was always hope and fear at the same time. Working underground created prosperity for many and meant danger for everyone who went down.
Justus von Liebig's first laboratory in Gießen, photo by Hermann Großmann (July 1966) − Saxon State and University Library Dresden | German photo library
With potassium salt against hunger
In the 19th century, wars, political upheavals and industrialization ushered in a new era. In Germany, the population rose from 23 million people in 1800 to 70 million around 1900. Many did not live in the countryside as they once did, but moved to cities. Their supply became an important challenge: agriculture had to produce more efficiently. Two consecutive bad harvests and a persistent potato blight in 1845 and 1846 led to starvation, malnutrition, death and revolts. There was a feverish search for solutions to the overwhelming nutritional problem.
Using the results of the agricultural scientist Carl Sprengel, the chemist Justus von Liebig explained the basics of plant growth in his book “Organic Chemistry in its Application to Agriculture and Physiology” (1840). Liebig explained how important phosphate, potassium and nitrogen are for this. Since the 1860s, fertilization with potash salts has made it possible to significantly increase agricultural production and thereby reduce famine.
It started in 1896
After the first shaft was sunk in Salzdetfurth in 1896, mining began in 1899. By the time mining stopped, a total of 85 million tons of raw salt had been unearthed. In the beginning, a sylvinite deposit was the deciding factor for potash mining in Bad Salzdetfurth. The mined sylvinite was of high quality and only had to be ground to be used as potash fertilizer in agriculture. In the 1940s, the proportion of carnallitic raw salt rose to over half of the production. A potassium chloride, a magnesium chloride and a bromine factory were built; The raw salt was processed there.
Although the Salzdetfurth potash salt deposit has not yet been exhausted, production was stopped on March 13, 1992 for economic reasons: In the end, the magnesium chloride obtained from the processing of carnallite could no longer be sold at a profit or cost-neutrally.
Construction of the second shaft began in 1907 (photography), followed in 1913 by the third and final shaft with a depth of over 850 meters. In 1979 the mine administration and mine workforce moved from shaft 1 to shaft 3.
Digital copy of the booklet “Little Stories from Potash and Rock Salt Mining” by Gerda Becker (printed in November 1936 by Franz Weber in Berlin, published by the German Kaliverein e. V.) 36 pages
Fight Danger!
The slim booklet “Little Stories from Potash and Rock Salt Mining” by Gerda Becker was written in 1935 in Bad Salzdetfurth and was printed a year later for miners in the German potash mining industry. In collaboration with the German Potash Association, Gerda Becker tells 43 true stories of typical underground accidents. She precedes each story with a rhyming motto and supplements the booklet with ten drawings she made herself. The mottos and catchy stories were intended to show the miners in a concise manner how they can prevent accidents. The booklet formed an extraordinary “educational addition” to the conventional safety measures with warning signs, instructions and technical safety measures.
Barbara – patron saint of miners
The Salzdetfurth miners worshiped Barbara as their patron saint. According to a medieval legend, she lived around the year 300 in what is now İzmir, Turkey. According to her father's wishes, she had to live in a tower. The father hated Christians, but Barbara longed to be a Christian and had a third window built in the bathhouse of her tower as a sign of the Trinity of God. When her father wanted to punish Barbara for this, she fled and found refuge in a rock. But a shepherd revealed the hiding place. She was locked in a prison, whipped and tortured with hot torches. Finally the father beheaded his daughter. God punished this act and killed the father with lightning, while Barbara ascended to heaven as a saint. The legendary rock motif gave rise to Barbara's worship in the mining industry.
Wooden figure of the patron saint Barbara in the reception area of the Mining and Salt Museum (photography 2021)
