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.
Munitionsfabrik Selterhof - Werk S in Treuenbrietzen
Selterhof ammunition factory
Contents:
1. The metal goods factory 1933 to 1945
3, transit camp for displaced persons and returnees from 1946 to 1949
4. Barracked People's Police from 1949 to 1954
5th news barracks of the Soviet Army 1954 to 1993
6. The development of the solar park after 1994
1. The metal goods factory 1933 to 1945
In 1933 the second ammunition factory, the S - Selterhof factory, was built in Treuenbrietzen. The modern plant was built northwest of the road leading to Lüdendorf. The long, one-story factory halls were built in a cleared forest for air protection reasons. They were built from prefabricated building elements, had metal-framed windows and flat roofs clad with light slag. The machine tools stood on solid concrete foundations. 7.9 mm infantry cartridges and 3.7 cm anti-aircraft ammunition were produced. In the course of the war, cartridges for artillery ammunition were added, which were processed into grenades in the Muna Altes Lager, only a few kilometers away. The workers came by bus from Potsdam, Luckenwald and Brandenburg. In 1934 a serious accident occurred when a trailer of a bus from Potsdam was hit by a train at the level crossing at Selterhof. There were numerous dead and many injured. In 1936 Kurmärkische Kleinsiedlungs GmbH Berlin built a settlement with 125 single-family houses for the workers of the factory in Frohnsdorf, 106 of which were semi-detached houses and 19 detached houses. From the beginning of the war in 1939, conscripted Germans such as housewives and saleswomen were brought in as workers. When that was no longer enough, workers from the Rhineland, Sudetenland and Austria were recruited. There followed prisoners of war, especially from France and the Soviet Union, who were brought in from the STALAG Luckenwalde. During the war, numerous voluntary foreign workers and forced laborers came from Croatia, France and Holland. At first the foreign and forced laborers, among whom were many women, were still housed in private quarters and were able to move around freely in Treuenbrietzen. In 1941, accommodation in a warehouse was built across from the plant, southeast of the road to Lüdendorf. Here mainly workers from the East from the Soviet Union, Poland and the Czech Republic were housed, but increasingly also workers from Belgium, France and Holland. At the end of June 1943 there were over 1,500 people in the Selterhof camp, 863 of whom were women. The labor camp consisted of three accommodation areas. There was a small settlement near the railway line for senior technical and administrative staff. This was followed by the slave laborer's barracks to the west. The center of the third area in the west of the area was a three-wing building with 2 floors. It and its outbuildings were presumably available to the camp administration and the guards. German workers formed the company security and guarded the prisoners of war during work and in the accommodation barracks. Up to 2,000 people were employed, 200 of them in toolmaking alone. The forced laborers were supported by their German colleagues with food as much as possible, although it was forbidden. But there were also reports of masters attacking girls from Poland. In 1944 a group from the external command of the Ravensbrück concentration camp from Belzig joined them. They were guarded by members of the SS. In September 1944 Russian forced laborers are said to have tried to set up a political organization, they were discovered and shot by the SS. A tragic incident occurred while the camp was being cleared. On April 20, a train carrying evacuated workers was caught in an American bombing raid in Treuenbrietzen station. When a train parked there with bazookas exploded, almost all of its occupants were killed. Unfortunately there are no old photos of the buildings.
2. Dismantling 1945 to 1947
The dismantling of the Kopp works in Treuenbrietzen dragged on until autumn 1946. Some inventory and components for which the occupying power had no use could still be salvaged by the local population. On September 13, 1946, the Soviet district commander ordered the Belzig employment office to deploy 300 workers over the next two weeks to dismantle metal structures at Kopp & Co. in Treuenbrietzen. Like the Kopp works at Sebaldushof and Roederhof, the Selterhof was blown up by the summer of 1947.
3. Transit camp for displaced persons and returnees from 1946 to 1949
While the forced labor camp at Sebaldushof was also demolished, it remained at Selterhof. With its few permanent buildings, it was used after the war as a transit camp or quarantine camp for the expellees from the Sudetenland and the Carpathian Mountains. On February 16, 1946 the first train arrives with 1,122 refugees, including 613 children under the age of 14. On June 29, 1946, a transport with 1,110 displaced Carpathian Germans, mostly from the Upper Zips, arrived in Slovakia from the Poprad camp (Deutschendorf). Many of them were then resettled in Brück and the surrounding area. The delousing took place in the nearby state institute. The camp was fenced in and guarded. People could only leave it with a permit. The barracks consisted of two-story sleeping arrangements for 60 people. These weren't beds, but wooden structures covered with straw. People were always hungry and went begging in the area. The camp was designed for up to 2000 people.
In August 1948 the Selterhof became a 14-day quarantine station for returnees from captivity from Great Britain, France and Yugoslavia.
4. Use by the barracked people's police from 1949 to 1954
From 1949 the barracked people's police (KVP) took over the property. The 8th People's Police on Readiness Berlin / Brandenburg with 600 police officers was stationed here. In the Selterhof, among other things, the artillery training with weapons of the Wehrmacht took place. At the end of 1950 the unit was relocated to Premnitz. After that there was a political school of the CIP here. Contemporary witness Rüdiger Lehmann told me how, in the summer of 1953, as a high school graduate, he gave the young recruits swimming lessons in the 2-meter-deep pool of the Selterhof's swimming pool. The bathroom was to the right of behind the level crossing. Behind it was the sports field of the object that was later used for soccer comparisons between the Soviet soldiers and company soccer players from Treuenbrietzen. At the end of 1953 the Soviet Army claimed the site for itself and the political school was relocated to Potsdam.
3. Durchgangslager für Vertriebene und Heimkehrer 1946 bis 1949
Während am Sebaldushof auch das Zwangsarbeiterlager abgebrochen wurde, blieb es am Selterhof aber erhalten. Es wurde, mit seinen wenigen festen Gebäuden, nach dem Krieg als Durchgangslager bzw. Quarantänelager für die Vertriebenen aus den Sudentenland und den Karpaten genutzt. Am 16.02.1946 trifft der erste Zug mit 1.122 Flüchtlingen, darunter 613 Kinder unter 14 Jahren ein. Am 29.6.1946 kam ein Transport mit 1110 Vertriebenen Karpatendeutschen, überwiegend Oberzipsern, aus dem Lager Poprad (Deutschendorf) in der Slowakei an. Viele von ihnen wurden anschließend in Brück und Umgebung angesiedelt. Die Entlausung erfolgte in der nahen Landesanstalt. Das Lager war eingezäunt und wurde bewacht. Die Menschen konnten es nur mit einem Passierschein verlassen. Die Baracken waren durchgehend mit doppelstöckigen Schlafgelegenheiten für 60 Personen bestückt, Das waren keine Betten, sondern mit Stroh ausgelegte Holzkonstruktionen. Die Leute hatten ständig Hunger und gingen in der Umgebung betteln. Das Lager war für bis zu 2000 Personen ausgelegt.
Im August 1948 wird der Selterhof für 14 Tage Quarantänestation für Heimkehrer aus der Kriegsgefangenschaft aus Großbritannien, Frankreich und Jugoslawien. Zum Zustand des Lagers habe ich im Kreisarchiv Belzig folgenden Schriftverkehr gefunden:
4. Nutzung durch die Kasernierte Volkspolizei 1949 bis 1954
Ab 1949 übernahm die Kasernierte Volkspolizei (KVP) das Objekt. Hier wurde die 8. Volkspolizei Bereitschaft Berlin/Brandenburg mit 600 Polizisten stationiert. Im Selterhof fand u.a. die artilleristische Ausbildung mit Waffen der Wehrmacht statt. Ende 1950 wurde die Einheit nach Premnitz verlegt. Danach war hier eine Polit-Schule der KVP. Zeitzeuge Rüdiger Lehmann berichtete mir, wie er noch im Sommer 1953 als Abiturient im 2 Meter tiefen Becken des Schwimmbades des Selterhofs den jungen Rekruten das Schwimmen lehrte. Das Bad nutzten die Russen weiter. Nach langer Suche habe ich es, versteckt hinter dichten Buschwerk, gefunden:
Hinter dem Schwimmbad war der Sportplatz des Objektes der später zu Fußball Vergleichen zwischen den sowjetischen Soldaten und Betriebsfußballern aus Treuenbrietzen genutzt wurde. Ende 1953 beanspruchte die Sowjetarmee das Gelände für sich und die Politschule wurde nach Potsdam verlegt. Einen CIA-Bericht von 1950 über die KVP im Selterhof könnt Ihr hier nachlesen.
5th news barracks of the Soviet Army 1954 to 1993
From then on, the Soviet Army used the area as a depot and news hub. The 118th Intelligence Brigade was stationed here, reporting directly to the High Command in Wünsdorf. She has taken over the found accommodation to a large extent, built over it and in some cases supplemented it with two-story residential buildings. From the mid-1960s and late 1970s, various garages, warehouses and workshops were built to complement it. The 57th military construction brigade from Forst Zinna built a one-story, monolithic bunker on the site between 1976-78 (dimensions of the main structure 17 x 32 meters). Cover name was Gnesdo. The bunker served as a combat command center. The unit's exercises were carried out on the nearby Keilberg on the edge of the Jüterbog military training area. There are only speculations about the tasks and the importance of the message node. But they must have been of greater importance, because in 1994 this object was one of the last to be evacuated during the GSSD deduction. Finally, the message bunker was opened from above in order to recover the emergency power generator for removal. On the edge of the site in the direction of Nieplitz, the soldiers had kept livestock in order to enrich their meager food. Mainly pigs were fattened. Kitchen waste and feed, which they received in return for use in LPGs, were the feed base. A shooting range was also operated, which was used and expanded by the Treuenbrietzen rifle guild after the garrison had withdrawn.
6. The development of the solar park after 1994
After the Soviet intelligence brigade withdrew in 1994, the area was unused until 2004. In March 2005 it was sold to a solar plant operator with the contaminated sites of 22,400 sqm asbestos and 4,000 sqm roofing felt that had to be disposed of. The demolition of the 85 buildings and a petrol station began. The "Selterhof" solar park was built on the site. Commissioning took place on October 6, 2008. Today there is no building left.
Here are a few more pictures of the still preserved sewage treatment plant and from the forest:
