Oder-Forum
The VIII Oder Forum 2015
Brief report on the VIII Forum on the History of Shipping on the Oder, held on 6 and 7 June 2015 in Oderberg.
Organisers: Oderberg Inland Waterways Museum and representatives of the Berlin regional group, DGSM.
The forums on the history of shipping on the Oder have been held regularly in recent years, always at the same location.
It was difficult to find speakers. Nevertheless, there were once again interesting presentations in 2015.
Mr K. Diedrich spoke about his apprenticeship at the Oderberg shipyard from 1957 onwards. It was a report that made most of the participants smile, as it contained details that we had also experienced in similar situations.
He also discussed the socio-political importance of cooperation with the apprentices' masters and the management in order to inspire young people to take up the profession.
- Mr G. Pohlandt gave a presentation on the training ships of the DSU and DBR (Deutsche Binnenreederei).
These were barges equipped with a central cabin that could accommodate 4, 6 or 8 apprentices.
Between 1953 and 1958, 22 ships were converted, including a side-wheel steamer,
in order to train special Elbe skippers.
This number of special training ships at a state-owned shipping company was unique in Europe, and possibly even worldwide.
With the acquisition of over 100 motor cargo ships of Groß-Plauer size (67 x 8.20 m), training then took place again on individual ships, as the apprentices were needed to increase the required crew strength.
The details in the list of individual ships, such as exact dimensions, names of ship captains, conversion shipyards, etc., are still quite incomplete, as many documents were destroyed after 1989.
- Mr M. Sohn reported on the so-called Göring barges.
The 10 (or 11, or 12) completely wooden barges in Breslau dimensions (55 x 8.0 m) were built in a construction method completely unusual for German inland waterway vessels, namely diagonal carvel.
One last wreck lies half-sunken as a border fortification near Hennigsdorf, opposite the Niederneuendorfer Canal. The whereabouts of some of the Göring barges could be determined.
M. Sohn was able to obtain the registration numbers of the barges and the times of their transfer to Germany, as well as the names of the tugs and their captains, from Uddevalla.
Following this presentation, G. Pohlandt reported that, as a shipbuilding apprentice in 1953/54, he carried out repair work on one such Göring barge, which was a laborious task due to the many nails holding the planks together.
Furthermore, he happened to come across workers dismantling one of these Göring barges at the J. Lada slaughterhouse on Lake Rummelsburg.
Dated photographs show that this must have happened after 1967, as one such barge is still pictured here.
- Chief Inspector Dumke spoke about the tasks of the water police, both in terms of their structure and the special conditions on the border river Oder, as well as their cooperation with their Polish colleagues. He presented some impressive statistics.
- Mr Ginnow-Merkert reported on measures to preserve the Finow Canal, the oldest artificial waterway in Germany still in operation. He explained the initiatives of the German Waterways Network and the so-called ‘Eberswalde Declaration on the Preservation and Use of Cultural and Historical Waterways’. Nineteen institutions from various fields are working together on this.
- On Friday, 5 June, a special exhibition on the Finow Canal was opened. This allowed us to view the exhibition at our leisure on Saturday after the presentations had concluded.
- On Sunday, interested participants were able to take a trip on a motorised barge (Schippelschute) on the Finow Canal (3 hours) and experience several lock passages.
Pure nature and excellent explanations provided a wonderful conclusion to the event for everyone, which unfortunately had low attendance this year; there were several cancellations due to health and family reasons. But we want to continue and must soon start planning for the IX Forum in 2017.