Campus Nobel (ehemals Dynamit Nobel AG Troisdorf-Zweigwerk)

Beschreibung

The old dynamite factory in Saarwellingen In 1908, the Dynamit-Actien-Gesellschaft from Hamburg, commonly referred to as DAG, formerly Alfred Nobel & Co., purchased a 35-hectare plot (= 140 acres) in Flur 5 in the municipal forest from the municipality of Saarwellingen. DAG then built a new factory on this land for the production of explosives for mining. The goal was to improve the supply of explosives for the still young coal mining industry in the Saar area. The previously burdensome and time-consuming transports with horse-drawn wagons from the Schlehbusch factory near Cologne to the Saar ended. The official founding date of the Saarwellinger factory was then February 11, 1910.In the application of April 10, 1909, by Saarwellingen's Mayor Johann Junges to the district administrator of Saarlouis for permission to establish the "Nobel factory", the municipality's situation is vividly described. It states: "The performance capabilities of the Saarwellingen residents are low, every boy becomes a miner or smelter worker, all until they receive a pension of 400 to 500 marks and then no longer have to work outside. They farm with 1 to 3 cows, no more. Daily wages are only possible during harvest time, not otherwise. The tradespeople (10 innkeepers, 4 bakers, 12 grocers, mostly retired miners) are, like almost all miners, deep in home debt. In divisions, the children take over their parents' debts with their possessions. The tax power is low, the expenses are increasing annually, especially the school loads. The population is increasing rapidly: 1909 to 4100 souls. One thing is certain: the income from municipal assets is declining annually while the expenses and levies must relentlessly rise. The city council would have gladly given the construction land for a larger factory if that would have been approved. Rightly so! In this factory, our workers, even retired, can find rewarding work without having to travel to Heinitz, Dechen etc. and have to spend money all week in the bunkhouse."In 1911, Saarwellinger factory had 135 employees. They produced a total of 900 tons of dynamite, 875 tons of ammonium nitrate explosives, and 40 tons of chlorate explosives per year for the mining industry on the Saar and in Lorraine. During the First World War from 1914 to 1918, the factory also carried out military orders and the workforce increased to 800 people. However, this quickly changed after the lost war. The Saar area was placed under a League of Nations administration and separated from Germany. In order to keep the factory running, DAG, together with the French Nobel companies, founded the catchment company "Agence Franco-Sarroise d`Explosifs Nobel," which leased the factory from 1920. The number of staff and production volume fell back to pre-war levels. The company now did business with the French mining administration in Saarbrücken and added high-quality TNT to its product line, which DAG was not allowed to produce in Germany due to the Treaty of Versailles. In 1934, 83 people were employed in Saarwellinger dynamite factory.In 1935, after the reintegration of the Saar area into the German Reich, DAG took over the factory again and the production was converted to explosives common in German mining. In 1938, the factory again had 170 employees and a capacity of 200 tons per month. Extensive conversion and modernization work began. However, it was interrupted at the beginning of the 2nd World War in September 1939. Until February 1941, the factory had to be closed due to its "proximity to the front." During the war, production was limited to civil explosives. The production was 350 tons per month in 1944. The last war and post-war period from December 1944 until August 1946 also led to the abandonment and evacuation of the factory. Due to troop occupations and war impacts, many damages occurred. In 1945, the Allies separated the Saarland from the French occupation zone of Germany, which also meant the separation of the Saarwellingen factory from Dynamit-Nobel.In 1946, the factory was subjected to the French sequestration administration. The production of ammonium nitrate explosives was resumed, which the Saar mining industry urgently needed. As a result of the concentration of the weather explosive production for the entire southern German area in the Schlehbusch factory, the Saarwellinger dynamite factory was shut down on September 15, 1970. From 1971 to 1982, a plastic processing was housed here. The managing directors and factory managers of the factory were:- From 1910 to 1927 Dr. Wilhelm Kießling- From 1927 to 1949 Dr. Bamberger- From 1949 to 1966 Alois Schwarz- From 1966 to 1970 Dr. Rupprecht BenderThe Nobel Campus After the demolition of most of the buildings in the early 2000s, a new residential and commercial area called the "CAMPUS NOBEL" was established on the former site of the dynamite factory. What seemed worth preserving and could be renovated has been integrated into a modern residential landscape. The "Campus Nobel" project was developed by the Gesellschaft zur Nutzung und Verwertung von Immobilien mbH (IVN) as a reutilization of the site of the former Dynamit Nobel factory in Saarwellingen and set in motion. On an area of ​​55 hectares, a unique combination of work and living was created in the region. For many years, the large factory hall on Campus Nobel has been used as a venue for the faculty concerts of the International Jazz Workshop in Saarwellinger.