Dove Elbe

The Dove Elbe is a closed anabranch of the Unterelbe, the lower part of the river Elbe (near Hamburg, Germany).

The inflow has been blocked by a dike since 1438. The lower end was shortened by a redirection of the Norderelbe in 1579.



Before the Neuengammer Blaue Brücke (lit. Blue Bridge), there's the Neuengammer branch canal going off to the left. From 1940 to 1942, prisoners of the Neuengamme concentration camp had to dig this canal and widen the Dove Elbe from here. The bricks produced in the camp's clinker factory were to be transported to Hamburg in barges along the waterway created in this way.

Its Low German name translates to "deaf Elbe"; it is etymologically unrelated to the bird.