Werk Tanne

Sometimes the past juts into our present like a disturbing and admonishing wedge. The so‑called “Werk Tanne” near Clausthal‑Zellerfeld is part of this past — a past that does not fade, that unsettles and warns. Built shortly after the Nazis seized power, the explosives factory was among the five largest plants in the German Reich producing TNT. The extremely polluting production methods have left traces that persist to this day. Because of contamination with toxic waste, the area remains closed off, and the cleanup of the legacy pollution is a lengthy and costly process that continues.

Construction of the factory began in 1935, initially as a so‑called “sleeper factory” in preparation for war. The 120‑hectare woodland area was purchased by Montan GmbH, a front company of the Reich Army Office. A total of 214 buildings were erected for the production of explosives and the filling of bombs and shells. The site benefited from good transport connections, the large number of unemployed miners after pit closures, available water reservoirs, and the forested terrain, which provided natural camouflage against aerial reconnaissance. Work was carried out under strict secrecy; among locals, the facility was ironically nicknamed the *“chocolate factory.”*

Trinitrotoluene (TNT) was produced from the highly toxic components toluene, nitric acid, and sulfuric acid. Explosives production began in June 1939 — three months before the outbreak of World War II. Because of the dangerous work and catastrophic effects on health, forced laborers were employed after the war began. Inadequately protected workers suffered severe poisoning from inhaling vapors. Skin contact with the acids caused severe tissue destruction. Workers who came into direct contact with TNT were replaced every two to three months, and many died from exposure to toxic chemicals. Those who handled TNT were recognizable by their yellowish skin tone and reddish hair.

Since the mixing of toluene with nitration acid (a blend of nitric and sulfuric acids) produced high temperatures through an exothermic reaction, there was a constant danger of explosions.

In the worst accident, on June 6, 1940, the nitration unit in Building 307 exploded, killing 61 people and injuring many more. The heavy lid of the reactor with its stirrer was hurled two kilometers through the air by the blast. People were burned and torn apart by acid; due to the enormous air pressure from the explosion, the people working nearby were 'sieved' through the man-high barbed wire fences surrounding the buildings. Only individual limbs were found on the fence and in the trees. Workers who died in the center of the explosion could not be identified — their coffins were filled with sand and buried.

On October 7, 1944, American bombers carried out a ten‑minute attack on the Werk Tanne site, dropping 1,743 bombs on the complex. Eighty‑eight people — mostly forced laborers — were killed. Today, at the so‑called “Russian Cemetery” in Clausthal‑Zellerfeld, 137 victims of forced labor and air raids, mostly of Russian origin, are buried.

The eerie buildings and concrete skeletons of the factory stand today as silent memorials to the dark era of German history.