Edersee

The Edersee is a large reservoir created by the construction, from 1908 to 1914, of a dam across the Eder river, near the small town of Waldeck in northern Hessen, Germany, to generate hydropower and regulate water levels for shipping on the Weser river.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The dam was destroyed by special bouncing bombs dropped by British Lancaster bombers during the night of May 16/17, 1943, creating massive destruction and loss of life downstream (see Operation Chastise), including the drowning death of 749 Ukrainian POWs in a labor camp just below the dam. Through the breach in the dam, 70 meters wide and 22 meters deep, some 8,000 m? of water per second emptied in the narrow valley below, a total of about 160 million m?. A flood wave of 6-8 meter height roared through the river valley as far as 30 km downstream, before it diminished in the widening floodplains of the lower Eder, the Fulda and the Weser.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The dam was rebuilt within months by forced labor (see Organisation Todt), and the lake today is a major summertime recreational facility. It has a capacity of 199.3 million m?, which makes it the third largest reservoir in Germany. It is a very popular summertime recreation area.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At low water, in late summers of dry years, the remnants of three villages (Asel, Bringhausen, and Berich), along with a bridge across the original river bed, that were submerged when the lake was filled in 1914, can be seen, and descendants of people buried in the now submerged cemeteries go to visit the graves of their ancestors.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

1908: 1908 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar)....

1914: 1914 is a common year starting on Thursday. (see link for calendar)...

Eder: The Eder is a river in Germany (ca. 135 km long). It rises from the Ederkopf mountain in the mountains of western North Rhine-Westphalia near the springs of the Lahn and Sieg rivers, but flows east and north and into the Fulda river which at its confluence with the Werra in Hannoversch M?nden create...