Kohnstein

Infobox Mountain
Name = Kohnstein
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Location = Thuringia, Germany
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Coordinates = coord|51|32|32|N|10|44|39|E|
Topographic

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Language = German
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The Kohnstein is a mountain, 2 km southwest of the Niedersachswerfen village and 3 km northwest of the center of the Nordhausen city. Gypsum mining created tunnels in the mountain that were later used as a fuel/chemical depot and for Nazi Germany factories, including the Mittelwerk V-2 rocket factory that used Mittelbau-Dora slave labor.

Chronology

1917-1934: The firm Badische Anilin Sodafabrik purchased the property and mined anhydrite for gypsum.

cite book |last=Ordway |first= Frederick I, III|coauthors=Sharpe, Mitchell R|title=The Rocket Team|series= Apogee Books Space Series 36|publisher= |year=1979|pages=p75,76,79,88] .

cite book |last=Béon|first=Yves |others=translated from the French La planète Dora by Béon & Richard L. Fague|title=Planet Dora: A Memoir of the Holocaust and the Birth of the Space Age|year=1997|publisher=Westview Press, Div. of Harper Collins|isbn=0-8133-3272-9|pages=pXII,XXIV]

1935 summer: At the suggestion of I. G. Farbenindustrie, the Wirtschaftliche Forschungsgesellschaft (Wifo, Economic Research Ltd)

cite book |last=Neufeld|first=Michael J|title=The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era|year=1995|publisher=The Free Press|location=New York|isbn=0-02-922895-6|pages=p202,209,230,264] investigated the mine to centralize a fuel and chemical depot.

cite book |last=Garliński|first=Józef |authorlink=Józef Garliński|title=Hitler's Last Weapons: The Underground War against the V1 and V2|year=1978|publisher=Times Books|location=New York|pages=p105]

1936: Wifo took over the mines to create a highly secret central petroleum reserve. The Government's Industrial Research Association invested some effort in adapting the tunnels and galleries for the storage of critical chemicals like tetra-ethyl-lead.

cite book |last=Irving|first=David|authorlink=David Irving|title=The Mare's Nest|year=1964|publisher=William Kimber and Co|location=London|pages=p143]

1937-1940: Wifo phases I and II to extend the tunnels are completed, and the site stored oil, gasoline, and chemicals; as well as stockpiles of chemical poisons.

1943 July (mid): A production planner for Gerhard Degenkolb (i.e., the A-4 Special Committee), Paul Figge, determined the site seemed ideal for A-4 production, but Hermann Göring initially forbids the use for missile production (Hitler overruled).

1943 August (end): The Armaments Ministry seized the facility from Hermann Göring's Four-Year Plan organization.

1943 November (late): Mittelwerk GmbH leases the Kohnstein mine from Wifo, the owner.

1943 September early: Albin Sawatzki, Arthur Rudolph, and about ten engineers move to the Nordhausen plant from Peenemünde.

1943 September: Conversion of tunnels for V-2 rocket production was started.

cite book |last=Heashall|first=|title=Hitler’s Rocket Sites|year=1985|publisher=St Martin's Press|location=|pages=p25]

1944 Spring: Ventilation and heating construction was completed.

cite book |last=Franklin|first=Thomas|title=American in Exile, An: The Story of Arthur Rudolph|year=1987|publisher=Christopher Kaylor Company|location=Huntsville|pages=p77]

1944 May or June: Mittlewerk had to compress all its facilities into tunnels 21-46, disrupting production.

1945 April 11: After previously entering the Nordhausen plant from the North through the Junkers Nordwerke, 3rd US Armored and 104th Infantry Divisions reached the city of Nordhausen on April 11, 1945 and discovered the dead and sick of the Boelcke Kaserne barracks at Mittelbau-Dora.

cite book |last=McGovern|first=James| authorlink=James McGovern| title=Crossbow and Overcast|year=1964|publisher=W. Morrow|location=New York|pages=p117,120,185]

1945 June: The US Army left the Nordhausen plant as required by JCS Directive 1067/14, with parts, machine tools, and documents (including blueprints for the projected A-9/A-10 intercontinental missile) left for the Soviets.

1948 Summer: The Soviet army demolished both of the entrances of the tunnel system

1995: A new entrance tunnel was dug to former rail Tunnel A. Subsequently a section of 710 m of the tunnel system was opened for visitors.

After the 1990 reunification of Germany, the tunnels were frequently looted by treasure seekers who gained access via the private mine in the north of the Kohnstein. Large parts of the system are flooded by ground water, while other parts have collapsed. Willi Kramer, a German archaeologist and scientist who dived in the tunnel system in 1992 and 1998, estimated that 70 tons of material was stolen. Access through these entrances was secured not until 2004, when the mine went into insolvency.

cite web|last=Christ|first=Sebastian| url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegelspecial/0,1518,415087,00.html| format=html - German language |title=Überreste eines Mordregimes |work=|date=03/2006|accessdate=2008-05-27| publisher=Spiegel Special]

References and Notes