industry, energy, recreation

Schleiferei Zwei is part of the industrial development history of the Siebertal valley, whose roots date back to the late 19th century. When we first entered the building, it was an abandoned place – marked by traces of past work, technical relics and a landscape that silently carried on its history.

Exploring this place took us deep into the past of the Harz Mountains and the Sieber valley. This exploration gave rise not only to the desire to preserve the building, but also to continue telling its story and understand it as part of a larger regional development.

Schleiferei Zwei is part of the industrial development history of the Sieber valley, whose roots date back to the late 19th century. During this period, several wood grinding mills were established along the Sieber river, which mechanically processed wood harvested in the Harz mountains into pulp for paper production.The necessary energy was generated by water power: upper canals channelled the water from the river to turbine systems that drove millstones and generators. From there, the clean water was fed back into the Sieber via the lower canal.

The Schleiferei Zwei and its technical facilities – including the historic turbines – is now a protected historic landmark and serves as a reminder of a period when the Harz region was an important industrial area for decades.

Since the 16th century, the Sieber valley has been shaped by mining, iron processing and forestry. Smelting works, charcoal burning and later wood processing dominated people's lives. The forest provided the raw materials, the Sieber provided the energy. With industrialisation came new production facilities, including wood grinding mills, which were closely linked to the paper factory in Herzberg.

The factories operated until the middle of the 20th century. However, with new technical processes for pulp production, the wood grinding mills lost their economic importance. Many plants were shut down, including the Schleiferei Zwei.

The use of hydropower played a central role in the industrial development of the valley. Twin turbines generated energy for production and later for electricity generation. The plants operated with considerable amounts of water and used the gradient of the Sieber to drive generators.

Part of this technical infrastructure is still visible today: below the turbine hall runs the historic cavern, which is still connected to the Sieber and makes it possible to trace the former water flow. After the water rights expired, technical operations were discontinued, weirs were dismantled and the Sieber was returned to its natural riverbed. Today, the valley is part of an ecologically valuable protected area within the European Natura 2000 network.

After industrial use ceased, the Schleiferei Zwei stood vacant for many years. Like many buildings in the Harz region, it fell into disrepair and became a so-called ‘lost place’ – a silent witness to past working worlds. At the same time, the vacancy meant that much of the original structure was preserved.

Between 2021 and 2023, the building complex was renovated in accordance with conservation guidelines and put to new use. The industrial history was deliberately left visible: the industrial ceiling heights, the supporting structure, the crane runway, the large windows, millstones and turbines continue to characterise the appearance and bring history to life.

The history of the Schleiferei Zwei is closely linked to the development of the village of Sieber. In the 19th century, the village transformed from a mining and smelting village into a centre for forestry and later into a climatic health resort with growing tourism. Structural change, infrastructure losses and demographic changes have led to numerous vacancies in recent decades – at the same time, space has been created for new ideas and ways of using historic buildings.

Today, Schleiferei Zwei exemplifies this change: as a testament to its industrial past and as a place that preserves history while opening up new perspectives.