Exhibition research display object 4: Wismut/Bismuth

Bismuth [the English translation of Wismut] is a non-radioactive heavy metal which, like uranium, is often found in combination with tin and silver ores; these metals have been mined for centuries in the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge). There were also known uranium deposits there. After the US dropped nuclear bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and immediately after the end of the Second World War, uranium mining was restarted in the Ore Mountains, including in Johanngeorgenstadt and Schlema, which were under Soviet occupation. Thus, with the opening of the mines there, the nuclear arms race was in full swing.

Wismut AG was entrusted with the mining of uranium in the Ore Mountains under Soviet occupation. The name - taken from the harmless heavy metal bismuth - served merely as camouflage, as Wismut AG quickly became the most important uranium producer in the Soviet Union.Their high production figures were initially due to the labor obligations of German prisoners of war. In 1953, Wismut AG was liquidated and re-established as the Soviet-German Joint Stock Company (Sowjetisch-Deutsche Aktiengesellschaft (SDAG) and became an important employer in the region. Following German reunification, Wismut was transformed into a limited liability company and it was soon decided that they would end uranium mining. Thousands of jobs were lost as a result. Today, Wismut GmbH has the duty and still faces the major task of remediating the environmental legacy of uranium mining. This seems to be a never-ending task, as the mining caused enormous environmental damage, some of which we still have no way of remediating.