Berdetschläger mill

A piece of cultural history in the holiday region Bohemian Forest.

With the settlement of the Nordwald, simple mills were built along watercourses to produce flour from the local grains. In earlier times, it was the pride of every farmer if he could grow the bread he needed for his family, as he said, on his field. In our region, only rye was known as a bread grain in former times, which was better adapted to our climate than wheat. The Berdetschläger Mill was built around 1870 on a plot of land owned by Kajetan Gabriel of the Simandlhof and Josef Fischer of the Lenznhof in the Torfau. The source of power was the Große Mühl, from which a 400 m long canal had to be built below the Seitelschlägermühle to the water wheel. The river was originally dammed with a stone wall, which was only replaced by a wooden weir after the Second World War. The upper water wheel had become so damaged while the mill was sealed and shut down during the Second World War that it was replaced by a turbine in 1949/50. Originally, twelve farmers from the village formed the construction cooperative. Until the end of the 1950s, the mill was used to produce all the flour products needed and then to grind fodder meal until it was closed down in 1973. (Consultant Franz Frattner, Ulrichsberg. Source: Heimatkundliche Beiträge aus dem Bezirk Rohrbach, Erstes Heft, Herbst 2003)
Source: Heimatkundliche Beiträge aus dem Bezirk Rohrbach, Erstes Heft, Herbst 2003)

In 1988, the önj Haslach leases the mill "for an indefinite period" and saves the building from final decay. The landlord is the Berdetschlag farmers' association, which owns the mill. The purpose of the lease: the structural restoration and reactivation of the mill. The Berdetschlag Farm Mill - now renovated - combines history and the future: a historical gem becomes a "base camp" for experiencing nature for schoolchildren, young people and adults. A modern photovoltaic system supplies the solar power for the lighting in the mill.
Contact: ÖNJ Haslach, Marktplatz 45, A-4170 Haslach Tel.: +43 7289 71124 or info@oenj-haslach.at.