Dennert fir

The so-called Dennert fir tree has been reinstalled on the main building of Clausthal University of Technology.

The "Dennert fir tree" has been part of Clausthal-Zellerfeld's townscape for decades. It is an information board that characterizes the Harz region and provides information about historically significant places. Its initiator, Herbert Dennert (1902 - 1994), was Chief Miner at the Upper Mining Authority in Clausthal-Zellerfeld and a recipient of the Lower Saxony Order of Merit. As chairman, later honorary chairman of the Upper Harz History and Museum Association and author of numerous publications, he rendered outstanding services to the region and its history.

Despite his commendable commitment to regional historical research, his past before the end of the Second World War should not be concealed: Herbert Dennert joined the NSDAP a year before the National Socialists came to power, and he was also a member of the SA, where he made it to the rank of Oberscharführer. In the mid-1930s, he joined the civil service and was appointed to the position of Bergrat. From 1938, he was a mining official at the local mining authority and was responsible for the mining affairs of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, among other things. He was also head of the NSDAP district organization in the region and company leader in the Volkssturm. In the course of the denazification proceedings immediately after the war, he was dismissed as an "active National Socialist" and removed from the civil service for the time being, until 1950.

In 2024, in the course of the 500th anniversary of the mining authority, today's State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology (LBEG), the old Denner fir tree at the historic Oberbergamt office building, which stands diagonally opposite the main building of Clausthal University of Technology, was refurbished. The new plaque there also provides transparent information about Herbert Dennert's problematic past before he turned his personal attention to preserving the mining past of the Harz region.

Due to its historical roots in mining and in the region, Clausthal University of Technology, which is celebrating its 250th anniversary in 2025, has decided to reinstall its "Dennert fir tree", which refers to the history of the former mining academy and today's Clausthal University of Technology.