Project Riese, Dynamit Nobel AG, Mölke – Ludwikowice Kłodzkie, Poland


Museum Mölke Ludwigsdorf project Riese
Museum Mölke Ludwigsdorf project Riese

Dynamit Nobel A.G.

Dynamit Nobel AG map at Mölke (Wecelaus is written with a 'c')
Dynamit Nobel AG map at Mölke (Wecelaus is written with a ‘c’)

Near the towns of Ludwikowice Kłodzkie and Miłków in Poland lie the remains of the Dynamit Nobel A.G. plant. In German times these towns were named Ludwigsdorf and Mölke. The Dynamit Nobel factory, situated in the Owl Mountains in Poland, manufactured ammunition and chemicals for the German armed forces. Employees came from a sub camp nearby, they were send in from the notorious concentration camp Gross Rosen, this satellite camp was located near Ludwigsdorf. Two thousand forced labourers with different nationalities worked in the ammunition factory. The site was situated in the vicinity of coal mines and could generate its own energy.

Concrete workfloor of a building long lost and the Cooling Tower in the back
Concrete workfloor of a building long lost and the Cooling Tower in the back
Museum Mölke - Ludwigsdorf
Museum Mölke – Ludwigsdorf
Sign Dynamit Nobel AG at the Mölke Museum
Sign Dynamit Nobel AG at the Mölke Museum
Ammunition storage Mölke
Ammunition storage Mölke
Dynamit Nobel AG Advertisement. Screendump from Ebay. Wenzeslaus is written wit a 'z'
Dynamit Nobel AG Advertisement. Screendump from Ebay. Wenzeslaus is written wit a ‘z’

Alfred Nobel

Alfred Nobel and his brothers Emil started the Nobel company in 1865 in Hamburg and used the name, Alfred Nobel & Co. Over time they started plants in America, Scotland and France. The company merged with German (I.G. Farben), Swiss and Italian companies which resulted in the name Dynamite Nobel AG.
Alfred Nobel, a born Swede, invented dynamite and holds the patent from 1865, he also invented blasting gelatine named Gelignite. In later years Alfred Nobel set up the Nobel Prize for peace, chemistry, literature, physics, medicine and Physiology.

Storage buildings Mölke Ludwigsdorf
Storage buildings Mölke Ludwigsdorf
More Storage Buildings Mölke
More Storage Buildings Mölke
Inside the storage buildings Mölke
Inside the storage buildings Mölke
Storage building at Dynamit Nobel AG
Storage building at Dynamit Nobel AG
Storage building Mölke Ludwigsdorf
Storage building Mölke Ludwigsdorf

Ammunition, Chemicals and Project Riese

The plant near Mölke has its own railway yard for transport of materials to the plant and for transport of ammunition and chemicals from the plant. In earlier days it started out as a coalmine named ‘Gewerkschaft Consolidirte Wenzeslausgrube’ or Union of the collective Wenzeslaus quarry. If you do some research you will notice that the name Wenzeslaus is written with a ‘z’ and on other occasions with a ‘c’. On the same location the Elektrizitätswerk Schlesien build a power plant in 1909. Later on Dynamit Nobel started to manufacture ammunition and chemicals on this location. The region was German before the Second World War started on September the first in 1939 and in 1941 the plant was under command of the Wehrmacht, the regular German army.

Project Riese - Mölke Map LMS 2016
Project Riese – Mölke Map LMS 2016.
This Storage Building has seen better days - Mölke Ludwigsdorf
This Storage Building has seen better days – Mölke Ludwigsdorf
Staircase of a Storage Building - Mölke Ludwigsdorf
Staircase of a Storage Building – Mölke Ludwigsdorf
Pascal at work - Mölke, Project Riese
Pascal at work – Mölke, Project Riese
Decaying Storage Building - Mölke Ludwigsdorf
Decaying Storage Building – Mölke Ludwigsdorf
Storage building Mölke Ludwigsdorf
Storage building Mölke Ludwigsdorf

It seems that Project Riese and the Mölke site are connected to each other, but the Dynamite Nobel A.G. does not have the tunnels and caves like the other locations. It could be that power generated on the Nobel plant was used to excavate the tunnels and was used to construct buildings and more. They definitely used the explosives of the Dynamite Nobel A.G. for tunnel construction.

In 1945 the plant and the complete area were occupied by the Russian army, the name Ludwigsdorf was changed in Ludwikowice Kłodzkie, Mölke was named Miłkó, and in 1946 the power plant stopped its activities. The base of a cooling tower is a lonely survivor near the entrance of the museum. In this period, 1946 -1947, the original German population were driven out of their homes when the region became Polish. Poland moved over about half of the total country suface towards Germany after Russia annexed the eastern part of Poland.

Project Riese Mölke Cooling Tower Base
Project Riese Mölke Cooling Tower Base
Cooling Tower Base on the Dynamit Nobel A.G. Plant
Cooling Tower Base on the Dynamit Nobel A.G. Plant
Decay on the Cooling Tower Mölke
Decay on the Cooling Tower Mölke
Cooling Tower at Mölke
Cooling Tower at Mölke

Visit

There is a museum on the former plant grounds which we were unable to visit, we arrived after closing hours but the manager gave us permission to walk around the area for a while. The buildings around the museum are not is the best shape, beware of pits, unstable walls loose rocks and other hazards.



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