Post-coal Landscape

I am strolling along the man-made sand beach, which is part of the shoreline of the Lake Großräschen ( Großräschener See). Two images of the post-mining landscape in the Saxony region have been washed ashore, epitomizing the post-coal transformation of the region. First is today’s Lusatian lakeside district (Lausitzer Seenland), where artificial lakes are created through flooding the former lignite coalfields in the lower Lusatian basin, located across the southern federal state of Brandenburg and the northern Saxony. The second landscape is the development plan of the purified silicon plant (Reinstsiliziumwerk) in Dresden-Gittersee made in 1988. The planning site was on the former uranium mines operated by the mining unit Willi Agatz (Bergbaubetrieb Willi Agatz), an independent structural unit within the SDAG Wismut. Today’s artificial landscape in the region appears as a palimpsest marked by the exploitation of mining and socio-economic developments.

As I step on the edge of the beach, I speculate on the origin of the beach sand – an artifact from the sand extraction elsewhere. The wavelets that lap against the piling foam wash up the lathery froth on shore. The economic changes that followed the fall of the German Democratic Republic led to the total collapse of the mining activities in East Germany, with most operations ceasing in the early 1990s.¹ The federal states where the former lignite mines were located are Saxony and Brandenburg for the lower Lusatian basin, as well as Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, and Thuringia between Halle and Leipzig. The earliest mining landscape in Saxony was formed over 800 years ago as a result of silver mining activities. Apart from the secret uranium mining program conducted by SDAG Wismut in Saxony and Thuringia, the lignite mines were the main mining activity in the GDR. The Lusatian mining areas are the largest lignite coalfield in the former East Germany. 

As I contemplate the shape changes of the foam, I recall that the former West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl famously proclaimed the vision of “Blühende Landschaften” (flourishing landscapes)², picturing a rapid economic prosperity and rehabilitation of the large-scale degraded environment within three, four, or five years. However, the reality of deindustrialization, high unemployment rate, environmental degradation, and socio-economic shrinkage in the former mining regions would prove far more challenging than this electoral promise had suggested. In Lusatia, it also demonstrates how politically induced transformation met with widespread skepticism in the region.³ Moreover, regional ecological challenges are frequently subordinated to job creation and the mitigation of social issues.

During our fieldwork, we asked local water engineers and scientists whether alternatives to flooding existed for the closure of mining pits in the region. After a brief pause, they responded decisively: No, there are no alternatives. On one hand, flooding the former open-pit mines offers a practical solution—eliminating the need for perpetual groundwater pumping while simultaneously creating bodies of water that can serve as communal assets, support recreational use, and stimulate tourism development. From an economic perspective, this is often regarded as a win-win strategy. It also provided a readily implementable response to the unprecedented scale of environmental degradation. At the same time, it facilitates the re-appropriation of previously inaccessible mining areas, transforming them from industrial exclusion zones into accessible leisure and “renaturalized” areas. On the other hand, the approach aligns with the vision of a “flourishing landscape,” aiming to craft an attractive living environment. However, it typically takes one to two decades for the artificial lakes to reach their intended water levels. Lake Sedlitz, which is connected to Lake Großräschen with the canal, has been flooded since 2005 and is expected to be completed in 2026. Several flooding schedules got prolonged due to the recurring drought in the region. According to the environmental data report by the Free state Saxony, since November 2017, a cumulative deficit of the climate water balance has occurred, which is caused partly by below-average rainfall and partly by above-average evaporation due to higher temperatures. The Lusatian lakeside district covers roughly 14,000 hectares of water surface area, which, of course, contributes to the evaporation.

The construction plan of the purified silicon factory at Dresden-Gittersee (1988) © Wismut GmbH

As two piles of lathery foam merge into one, I think of the purified silicon plant at Dresden-Gittersee. With today’s investment of the European Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (ESMC), the abandoned plan in Gittersee has been brought to attention. The founding of the state-owned company VEB Spurenmetalle Freiberg in 1957 was a milestone in the development of the microelectronic industry in the GDR. It marked the beginning of the transition from a former mining and smelting community to a modern, innovative technology hub. By the mid-1980s, it was evident that the output of the raw silicon would not suffice to meet the huge demand for microelectronics applications. Moreover, the Muldenhütten site of the company was already operating at its limits in terms of both production capacity and space. Against this backdrop, the closure of the former “Willi Agatz” mine of SDAG Wismut in Dresden-Gittersee was in sight. The construction plan for the new purified silicon plant on top of the post-uranium mining landscape ensured adequate space for the VEB Spurenmetalle Freiberg’s future expansion and workforce. The plan was to transfer the miners to the new silicon plant and provide them training on the silicon production.

The construction plan of the purified silicon factory, made by the state-owned VEB Bau- und Montagekombinat Kohle und Energie (Construction and Assembly Combine specialized in coal mining and energy generation industries), documented the palimpsest of the landscape. On the left side of the map, the planned factory buildings are superimposed upon the existing mining pits and heaps, overwriting the extractive landscape. However, at the beginning of the 1989, the environmental protests were growing from the local population concerning the transportation of the Trichlorosilane (TCS) from Nünchritz to Gittersee. The environmental group Ökologischen Arbeitskreises and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Dresden strengthened the public opinion against the project.⁴ It was only until November 3, 1989 that the Modrow government imposed a construction freeze on the silicon plant. Whether the post-mining landscape will ultimately be transformed into a ‘silicon’ landscape remains difficult to discern on the ground. The unfulfilled promise of flourishing landscapes still lingers, haunting the terrain as a reminder that prosperity, projected first as ‘flourishing landscapes’ and now as ‘Silicon Saxony,’ remains limited to capitalogenic futures.

1. Peter Wirth and Gerhard Lintz, “Rehabilitation and development of mining regions in Eastern
   Germany. Strategies and outcomes”, Moravian Geographical Reports, 14 (2), 2006, pp. 69-82. ↩︎
2. Sinn, H.-W. (2002). Germany’s Economic Unification: An Assessment after Ten Years.
   Review of International Economics, 10 (1), 113–128. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9396.00321 ↩︎
3. Antje Matern, Jessica Theuner, Robert Knippschild & Tristam Barrett (2024)
   Regional design for post-mining transformation: insights from implementation in Lusatia,
   Planning Practice & Research, 39:1, 14-31, DOI: 10.1080/02697459.2022.2147641 ↩︎
4. Founded in 1980, the ‘Environmental Working Group of the Dresden Church Districts’ was one of the first environmental protection networks in the GDR. Since 1985, the ‘Week of Responsibility for God’s Creation’ has been held once a year, an environmental library was established in 1986, and extensive information materials have been produced. https://www.ddr-im-blick.de/jahrgaenge/jahrgang-1989/report/reaktionen-der-bevoelkerung-zum-bau-reinstsiliziumwerk-dresden-1/ (accessed 27 September 2025)
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