Steinerne Renne

The Steinerne Renne around 1900

The Steinerne Renne around 1900

The Steinerne Renne is a waterfall and natural monument near the town of Wernigerode in the Harz mountains of central Germany.

Location

The Steinerne Renne is located west of Hasserode in the borough of Wernigerode in a forested area at the foot of the Brocken.^[1] It is part of the upper course of the River Holtemme which, at this spot, cascades over a myriad rocks and boulders forming countless little waterfalls.

History

This natural feature was already described as the Steinrenne or steinerne Rinne by the Early Modern Period. With the rise of tourism in the middle of the 19th century the Steinerne Renne became one of the most popular beauty spots in the Harz. When the Harz and Brocken Railways were built a small station was even built for the Steinerne Renne which still exists today. In 1869 a log cabin was built immediately next to the waterfall, the predecessor of the present-day hotel.

During the post-war period the spot ended up in East Germany and the hotel building was operated until the mid-1970s as a Handelsorganisation pub. Later it was converted and used as a works holiday home for the VEB Elektroaaparatewerke Berlin-Treptow, a German electrical machinery combine. The holiday home also had a public restaurant . When the building was converted, the romantic woodland path to the pub, which ran along the northern side of the Holtemme and past the waterfall, was blocked. Today the footpath runs along the southern bank of the river.

The Steinerne Renne Hotel (Gasthaus Steinerne Renne) is No. 28 in the system of checkpoints in the Harzer Wandernadel.

Hydroelectricity

Near Steinerne Renne station there is a hydropower plant, opened in 1899, which was used to power the gravel and granite works operating in those days. In 1943 it went into the possession of the town of Wernigerode, which used it to supply power to the district of Hasserode. From 1945 it was run by the VEB Energiekombinat Magdeburg, later the VEB Instandsetzungsbetrieb für Batterien und Flurfördergeräte. After its privatization as WERBAT GmbH, the hydroelectric plant was sold in 1995 to a private owner. In 2002 it was sold back to the town, who operate it today as a technical monument.

The water taken from a weir below the inn along a 1.7-kilometre enclosed channel to the screen house, where suspended solids are filtered out. Behind that, it drops over a 160 metre long penstock to the hydroelectric power plant. The current is generated by two Pelton turbines.

Concentration subcamp

On the site of the former granite and gravel plant, which has been used since 1944 as the Steinerne Renne Brickworks and for the construction of parts for aircraft engines, a subcamp of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp was built. Initially French, Belgian and Italian forced labourers worked in the subcamp. Later 500 prisoners from the former subcamp on Veckenstedter Way in Wernigerode worked here. One day before the occupation of the camp by American troops on 10 April 1945 they were sent on a death march to Leitmeritz.

References

External links

• Die Steinerne Renne at www.harzlife.de. (German)

Coordinates: 51°48′19″N 10°42′01″E / 51.80528°N 10.70028°E / 51.80528; 10.70028