Old paper mill Neu Kaliß
● Neu Kaliß
When the two entrepreneurs Felix Schöller and Theodor Bausch came to Neu Kaliß in 1871, they already had ambitious plans. They wanted to reform the paper mill, which was already producing high-quality writing paper at the time. A modern paper mill was to be built on the banks of the Neue Elde.
On February 27, 1872, the foundation stone was laid for mechanical paper production in Neu Kaliß, which is still an important economic force for the region today. The economic upturn and the excellent quality of the paper led to the continuous expansion of the factory in the following years. After the First World War, the factory site on the Elde was around 11,000 square meters in size. However, the economic success was not to last forever. After the Second World War, on March 28, 1946, Soviet soldiers began dismantling the factory. Nevertheless, the history of paper production at the Neu Kaliß site continued. Production was resumed in November 1949 and the company was transferred to public ownership in 1953. In the following years, production was constantly developed further and switched to new specialty papers. The company operated in this way until the fall of communism. Finally, in 1992, the company was classified as no longer viable. Nevertheless, there was an interested party for the old facilities: the Melitta Group. Since 1995, this company has continued paper production at the new site with "Neu Kaliß Spezial Papier GmbH & Co. KG" at the new site.
The former factory site is now a unique industrial monument in terms of architectural history. Water hikers pass the huge red brick buildings shortly after Dömitz. These still bear witness to the great importance of the factory for the region, but also remind us of the transience of once significant achievements due to constantly changing technical progress.