Luppa post mill

Insiders will enjoy this technical monument. The location of the post mill, which has been a technical monument since 1991, is at Radegaster Weg 7, a few hundred meters after the town exit sign. The name post mill applies because its foundation consists of a trestle. The tenon extends from this as a fixed element to the grinding beam, which is the supporting element of the upper part of the mill. The mill rotates on the grinding beam until it is restored, which took place before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Herbert Weber owned the mill from 1973 to 1987. Nowadays he gives tours of the technical monument. According to him, the mill was built between 1838 and 1841. Construction took place mainly in the summer months, as winters used to be harsher. The mill and mill site are located on a small hill and cover 600 m². The builder, a miller and farmer named Ebert, sold the mill to Robert Willig in 1895. He was the grandfather of Mrs. Weber, née Willig. Alfred Willig, his son and father of Mrs. Elfriede, took over the mill in 1925. In 1927 the mill was converted to electric power. That was the year the overhead power line was laid from Luppa to Radegast. It made sense to provide the mill with electricity. Until then, the wind had been the only source of power.

If there was little wind, the miller had to work into the night. However, wind continued to be used together with electricity to drive the mill's wings, as this meant that electrical energy could be used sparingly. The electric motor had 10 hp. With electrification, a roller mill and a sifting machine were purchased. Now rye flour could be produced, whereas with wind power only grist could be produced. In ten hours of work, the miller produced ten hundredweight of flour, which was his daily output. These ten hundredweights explain why the post mill was considered a 0,5-ton mill. The 10 hundredweights of flour were milled from 15 hundredweights of grain. This was a milling rate of almost 70% and is still average today. The technological specification stated that the grains had to run over the wheat mill and sifting machine six times. Flour was constantly falling off. The gross amount of grains became less and less, and the amount of flour increased. After each pass, the rollers were narrowed. The flour was white to begin with and became darker towards the end. After grinding, it was mixed in a machine to produce one colour. In 1951, Herbert Weber came on the scene. He took care of the farming and helped out in the mill when needed. This was easy for him because he was a trained miller. When agricultural production cooperatives (LPG) came into being in 1960, flour was no longer ground, but only crushed. All types of grain were processed. Flour production was the responsibility of the large mills. After 1973, LPG Type I (joint cultivation of the fields, but private livestock farming) was converted to LPG Type III (collective field and livestock farming). As a result, no more grain was crushed and the mill's production history came to an end. The Webers sold their mill to the municipality of Luppa in 1987, after 92 years of family ownership.

The municipality used subsidies to restore the mill and turn it into a technical monument, a museum. This took place between July 1989 and May 1991. However, it no longer rotates and its blades have been fixed for safety reasons.

Today, the Luppa Local History Association is responsible for maintaining the mill and also offers guided tours.