Sauersack is an extensive mining and processing complex in the Ore Mountains near the defunct village of Rolava in the Karlovy Vary area.[2] It was built starting in 1939 in connection with tin mining. During the interwar period the deposit proved to be of low yield and mining was not profitable, but investment was made into it during the war. According to archaeologist Petr Hasil, a major technological rebuilding took place in 1943.[1][2]
End of operations and prisoner-of-war camp
Ore processing at the complex ended in May 1945, and all activity ceased completely in 1947. Because the mine lies in the border zone, the site has been completely abandoned only since the 1990s.[1][2] According to archaeologists, Sauersack also functioned as a prisoner-of-war camp. It employed specialists with foreign experience, workers from surrounding villages, and hundreds of prisoners of war, first from the French army and later mostly from the Soviet Union.[1]
What has survived are mainly reinforced concrete structures, the foundations of machinery, hoppers with remnants of unprocessed ore, and a thickening tank. Most of the factory's wooden parts have not survived.[1]
Research
The complex is being documented by archaeologists and mechanical engineers from the University of West Bohemia. The goal of the four-year project, which has two more years to run, is detailed documentation of the current state and a virtual three-dimensional reconstruction.[2] The team managed to pump out water from the boiler room, which had been deliberately flooded in the late 1940s.[1][2]
Chronology
- — A team of archaeologists and mechanical engineers from the University of West Bohemia is documenting the remains of the Sauersack mining complex near the defunct village of Rolava in the Ore Mountains in the Karlovy Vary Region and creating its virtual three-dimensional model. → Deník: Karlovarský kraj Karlovarská Drbna
Pages linking here
Sources
- Deník: Karlovarský kraj
- Karlovarská Drbna — 6 October 2026