Salzgitter is characterized by industry like no other city in Lower Saxony, with around 55 percent of jobs being industrial. The exhibition therefore focuses on the mineral resource that started it all: iron ore - its formation, extraction, smelting and processing.
The Germanic tribes were already smelting iron ore here in the 3rd century, as evidenced by the furnace on display from the Germanic settlement discovered near Lobmachtersen in 1954.
In the Middle Ages and early modern times, the iron ore found on the surface from the Lower Cretaceous period was also mined and processed for local consumption. In the middle of the 19th century, the ironworks at Gittertor (1868) by Emil Langen and the ironworks near Othfresen (1869) by Bethel Straußberg were established on a larger scale.
As part of the German Reich's efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in the 1930s, the rich iron ore deposits underground in Salzgitter came back into focus, were geologically investigated again and the "Reichswerke Aktiengesellschaft für Erzbergbau und Eisenhütten "Hermann Göring"" was founded on July 15, 1937. At the same time, work began on building the ironworks in the Watenstedt - Hallendorf area and the large-scale exploration of the iron ore deposits in the south of the present-day town.
In the 1950s, mining in Salzgitter experienced its heyday with over 6,000 employees and an output of 5.2 million tons of ore. At the beginning of the 1960s, the mining crisis also began here. With the closure of the Haverlahwiese mine in 1982, mining in Salzgitter ceased for good.
After the Second World War, only a small smelting works remained in Salzgitter in 1951. Today, Salzgitter AG, as a management holding company with independent subsidiaries such as Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH, is an innovative, globally active steel and technology group with over 160 subsidiaries and associated companies and around 25,000 employees.
An impressive model of the steelworks and the products manufactured by Salzgitter AG demonstrate the importance of the plant for the city of Salzgitter and the region.
