The Dam at Schwabeck

After lunch, we all piled back on the coaches and were driven down the Lavant valley, through some lovely scenery to the River Drau and the Hydro-electric plant at Schwabeck. This plant was built during the war by POWs and slave workers and some of our group had fathers who had worked on this plant and the one at Lavamund, just down the river.

We were first taken into a lecture theatre and given a presentation on the dam itself, followed by a lecture on the building of the dam and the role of the POWs and slave workers. (I hope you were all paying attention.)

After that little doze, we walked down to the dam itself and out onto walkway that stretches across the river. To me, the dam looks exactly the same as it does in the photos that I have of its construction during the war. Considering all the petty sabotage that the POWs indulged in, this is quite surprising!

My thanks to all those at Kraftwerk Schwabeck for their hospitality.