All the rest have long since been sent for scrap. One furnace after another disappeared and in the huge hall demolition proceeded apace. But then a group of determined workers got together to save what was left to be saved. And this is how the last Siemens-Martin furnace in western Europe has survived as the centrepiece of the Brandenburg Industrial Museum on the river Havel. So, on with your overalls, on with your helmet and away we go! To the casting platform with a first view of the tapping side of the furnace. Then on to the mighty crane in the foundry. From there the path leads to the furnace platform with its small locomotive, charging crane and control room – all of which are accessible by foot. Even the furnace itself is open to visitors. The operating temperature used to be 1800 degrees. The locksmith’s workshop and laboratory show how much experience and technical know-how were needed to melt steel. Further stations on the tour include the foremen’s room, the area below the furnace, the old smithy and of course the new museum building with its exhibition on the history of steelmaking in Brandenburg. And who better to show visitors around than the mill workers who once laboured here? They are helped by a film and a large number of models.

Anyone who wants to cast steel will need a lot of scrap metal – as raw material. And, as the Siegerland industrialist Rudolf Weber knew only too well, there is plenty of this in a huge city like Berlin. This is why he built his steelworks right next door on the river Havel in Brandenburg. Since then the place has gone down in history as a steelmaking site. In 1914 the first Siemens-Martin furnaces went into operation. A museum guide can explain what they were in a couple of sentences: “Herr Siemens noticed that it was better to pump hot air into the furnace than cold air. And Herr Martin invented the semi-circular shape for the furnace”. This combination of a specific design and a hot air blaster enabled the furnace to be heated to a high melting temperature and for a long time this was the method used by the majority of steel mills.
In the Second World War the Brandenburg steel mill was regarded as an important armaments factory. The result was that the allies had it completely dismantled at the end of the war. But as early as 1949 the East German regime decided to reconstruct the plant and within a year four Siemens-Martin furnaces were in operation once more producing more than 51,000 tons of crude steel. Eight more furnaces of the same kind were added up to 1967 and in 1980 two modern electrically-powered furnaces were added. By now the Brandenburg steel and rolling mill was the largest producer of crude steel in East Germany. But business prospects changed once more with the reunification of Germany. The only parts of the factory which proved competitive were the two electrically-driven furnaces. The rest of the plant was closed down in 1993. From then on the plant was demolished and the equipment ripped out. More than 20 new firms and institutions sprung up to take it place. At the same time a few members of the old workforce got together to set up an association to retain the Siemens-Martin furnace as part of an industrial museum. The museum, which covers almost 5000 square metres, was opened in May 2000 and comprises the furnaces, a brand new exhibition building and an event hall for plays, concerts, events and performances of all kinds.