KOZLOWSKI

GERMANY (see also List of Individuals)

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5.1.1824 Berlin/D - 24.11.1905 Eberswalde/D

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Theodor Kozlowski started his professional career as a governmental engineer in Magdeburg and was promoted to hydraulic engineer of Genthin located between the latter and Berlin in 1862. From 1866 he headed the newly founded Elbstrom-Baudirekton of which the purpose was the improvement of the Elbe River. Up to that time vessels of up to 200 tons were able to cross the river, whereas the works during the following fourteen years allowed an increase of capacity by a factor of more than three. In 1880, Kozlowski was posted at the Ministry of Public Works in Berlin, as a Geheimer Oberbaurat from 1886; he retired in 1898. A monument was erected in Magdeburg to honor his works for Elbe River two years later. Within forty years vessels as large as 1,000 tons thus passed the river from the sea up to Dresden.

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Following the governmental managements of other German rivers such as the Rhine, Prussia decided to establish this service also for Elbe River in 1865. Kozlowski was the first director of this large central European stream and then headed the river reach of Prussia. Although the abutter counties had fixed a common regime for the river in 1844, only small works had been done until 1865. Over long reaches, the river had been left in its natural regime that made river navigation almost impossible. Kozlowski initiated works with middle discharge river regulation by fixing the river width and by equalizing the river bed. Accordingly, the river thalweg became less wide and central river shoals disappeared. From 1866 to 1890 some 3,500 spur dikes were erected to concentrate flow to the axis, and debris deposited during floods were removed. Between 1868 and 1872 river cuts were made close to the cities of Gallin and Döbeltitz to improve river navigation. The river length was thus reduced between the cities of Torgau and Magdeburg by more than 40 km. The regulation for minimum discharge was completed in 1892. The Elbe River was in the headlines during the past decade because of massive floods mainly in summer and autumn that caused enormous damage. Obviously, rivers need a constant care and the works initiated by others must be carefully continued.

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_{Höffgen, H. (1905). Geheimer Oberbaurat a.D. Theodor Kozlowski. Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung 25(98): 605. P}

_{Kozlowski, T. (1867). Notizen über den zur Regulirung des Plauer Canals benutzten Dampfbagger. Zeitschrift für Bauwesen 17: 350-364.}

_{Roloff, P. (1916). 50 Jahre Elbstrombauverwaltung. Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung 36: 190-194. http://www.magdeburg-jk.de/obelisk.htm}