April 19, 2015

Wood Processing Factory L.

This excursion took place in December of 2014. My wife and I had tried to find a way to get into this location almost exactly a year before, but our attempts weren't crowned with success then.
So we tried again one year later. Together with a friend we went around the premises twice without finding any way in.
There had been holes in the fence, but those had apparently been swiftly sealed again. Parts of the fence had been replaced with a more stable kind and new holes hadn't just been sealed with more fence - they had been secured with razor wire, just like the top of the fence.

We had almost given up when we found a hole close to the ground, just small enough for one person to slip through. So we got in one after another and started checking out the area.
There had been trees cut down and tools were lying around. As far as we could see, some kind of cleanup had begun on the premises, possibly in preparation of demolition or renovation.

Anyway, after only a couple of photos and only about 15 minutes inside the location, two guys from a security firm discovered us and we had to get out of there.










Here is some historical information about this location:
Construction on this wood processing plant began in 1924. Until then, the three business partners were only operating a storage facility for wood. In 1924, the started building a wood processing plant with its own railway siding.
They were immensely successful, so they were soon called "The Wood-Kings from River Spree". All necessary facilities had been built right there on the premises - coal storage, steam plant, sawmill, water tanks, and administration buildings.
In the beginning, the three business partners mainly produced cigar boxes and pencils, but soon began refining plain wood by applying fine sheets of noble wood.
The factory was sold to a new owner in the beginning of the 1930s. New veneer machines were acquired and new cranes were set up on the storage sites in 1937.
In 1941, the factory was included in the war production plan, so the veneer production was seized and production of ammunition cases made from saw wood started.
The factory sustained heavy damages through various bombings during World War II. Despite the damages, work started again in 1946 to prduce saw wood from oaks, beech wood and pines for the production of clothes hangers, barrels, boxes and lasts.
The operation was seized by the East German state and became a "people's owned enterprise" (VEB). New production and storage facilites were built, and despite shortage of wood, in 1952 the production of chipboards began.
In December of 1991, the factory was shut down.










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