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MnO₂: gone :(

GC3Y8J1 ▼

A cache by MnO₂ + KateBum Message this owner

Hidden : 9/15/2012

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

YANTARNY & AMBER MINE

Photo by MnO₂ + Tonayo with Kate

Pre-1945

For centuries a provincial estate, Palmnicken was founded in 1234 atop an older 'Old Prussian Settlement' by the crusading Teutonic Knights, who named the new settlement Palmnicken. After the secularization of the Order's Prussian lands in 1525, Palmnicken became part of the Duchy of Prussia. In the Thirty Years' War Palmnicken was occupied by Sweden for six years. Palmnicken became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701 and the Prussian Province of East Prussia in 1773. Russian Empire troops occupied the town from between 1758 and 1762 during the 'Seven Years' War. Resulting from the Prussian administrative reform of 1818, Palmnicken became part of 'Fischhausen' (district) in East Prussia. Industrial development of the local amber trade started in 1827. The town became part of the German Empire in 1871 during the Prussian-led unification of Germany. At the beginning of the 20th century, Palmnicken developed into a spa resort. In 1939 the town had 3,079 inhabitants as part of Nazi Germany. Palmnicken was conquered by the Soviet Union Red Army at the beginning of April 1945 during World War II.

Photo by MnO₂ + Tonayo with Kate

Massacre of Palmnicken

Because of the advance of Soviet troops in January 1945, the East Prussian subcamp of the Stutthof concentration camp was disbanded and its inmates were sent through Königsberg to Palmnicken. Only 3,000 of the original 13,000 inmates survived the forced march. Originally, the surviving detainees were to be walled up within a tunnel of an amber mine, but this plan collapsed upon the objections of the mine's manager. Schutzstaffel (SS) members then brought the prisoners to the beach of Palmnicken during the night of January 31 and under rifle fire forced them to march into the Baltic Sea. Only 15 inmates survived the war crime.
A monument to the victims was unveiled in Yantarny on January, 30, 2011. The monument, by Frank Meisler, features hands lifted up to the sky as a symbol of perishing people. On August, 24, 2011, the monument was vandalized with paint and antisemitic slogans.

Post-1945

Amber was collected along the shores of the Sambian coast during the age of the Teutonic Knights. They succeeded in establishing a monopoly over the amber trade, which carried over to the Prussian state of the House of Hohenzollern. In the 16th century amber collected along the coastline was brought to Palmnicken where it was sorted and then sent to Königsberg for further processing. After 1811 the amber production was leased. In 1858 the firm Stantien and Becker was founded. Stantien & Becker created the first open pit amber mine in the world, but mined amber mainly with the method of underground mining (pits "Anna" and "Henriette"). Initially the mine produced 50 tons of amber annually, but by 1937 - now a state-owned company (Preußische Bergwerks- und Hütten AG) - it produced 650 tons annually and employed 700 workers. As part of the Soviet Union, Yantarny produced approximately 600 tons of amber annually through the company Russky Yantar ("Russian Amber"). The refinement of amber was discontinued in 2002 by a directive of the Russian Regulatory Authority for Technology and Environmental Protection. Some years later, a new open pit mine ("Primorskoje") was established in immediate vicinity of the old open pit mine. In 2008 about 500 tons amber was mined at this location.

SOURCE: Wikipedia 20121230

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

frr Fcbvyre Cvk

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)

Yantarny - Amber Mine Traditional Cache