Exhibition research display object 8: Morsleben Chickens underground

The Morsleben repository is located in the now interconnected mines below the villages of Morsleben and Beendorf. Potash and rock salt were mined in the Marie and Bartensleben mines from 1898 to 1969. Under National Socialism, the mine was used for military purposes during the Second World War. Between February 1944 and April 1945, prisoners from throughout Europe were held in the satellite camp of the Neuengamme concentration camp in Beendorf, and were forced to work for the National Socialist armaments industry. Several thousand men and women, prisoners of war and forced laborers passed through this camp and had to work at least twelve hours a day on machines 425 to 465 meters below ground. Due to the great importance of the mine for armaments production, attempts were probably made to camouflage the white salt excavation, which today still dominates Beendorf’s landscape, with trees and wood in order to prevent bombing. To this day, wood protrudes from the salt excavation there, its changing color apparently makes it possible to predict changes in the weather.

The Morsleben repository is located in the now interconnected mines below the villages of Morsleben and Beendorf. Potash and rock salt were mined in the Marie and Bartensleben mines from 1898 to 1969. Under National Socialism, the mine was used for military purposes during the Second World War. Between February 1944 and April 1945, prisoners from throughout Europe were held in the satellite camp of the Neuengamme concentration camp in Beendorf, and were forced to work for the National Socialist armaments industry. Several thousand men and women, prisoners of war and forced laborers passed through this camp and had to work at least twelve hours a day on machines 425 to 465 meters below ground. Due to the great importance of the mine for armaments production, attempts were probably made to camouflage the white salt excavation, which today still dominates Beendorf’s landscape, with trees and wood in order to prevent bombing. To this day, wood protrudes from the salt excavation there, its changing color apparently makes it possible to predict changes in the weather.

After the Second World War, however, the mines were not only used as final storage sites for low and medium-level radioactive waste and other toxic waste. Between 1959 and 1984 a chicken fattening farm was set up in the Marie mine; some of the chicks came from Bábolna in Hungary and arrived by air to Germany at the Berlin-Schönefeld central airport.