The Dove Elbe was separated from the main stream of the Lower Elbe in 1437/1438 at Gammer Ort by a connecting dike between the islands of Altengamme and Neuengamme in order to improve the fairway of the port of Hamburg. It begins today as a narrow ditch just behind the dyke and initially runs in a north-westerly direction through the Hamburger Vierlande. Before the Neuengammer Blue Bridge, the Neuengammer branch canal branches 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. From Curslack, the Dove Elbe is navigable with larger sports boats. Shortly behind, the Neuengammer Durchstich flows in from the left, which forms a connection to the Gose Elbe - albeit only navigable with canoes.
Behind the Dove-Elbe-Schleuse, which only functions as a flood gate and is normally open, the lock ditch leading to Bergedorf flows in from the right and carries water from the Bille, which runs north. The sluice ditch was dug in 1443 to supply more water to the arms of the Elbe directly in front of Hamburg via the Dove Elbe. The Schleusengraben and thus the city center of Bergedorf can be navigated via the Krapphofschleuse. Canoes can use a boat tow east of it under a road bridge. The Dove Elbe then flows further west through the Hamburger Marschlande, separating the Allermöhe area from Reitbrook Island on the south bank. The Gose Elbe, another arm of the Elbe, flows in from the south between the north-western tip of Reitbrook and the nature reserve Die Reit and Ochsenwerder. The Dove Elbe widens into an elongated lake in front of and behind the estuary. Immediately north of it is the Eichbaumsee, a quarry pond that was created during the construction of the A 25 and in summer, swimming has been banned there since 2007 due to toxic blue-green algae. The Dove Elbe bends north at Tatenberg Bay and flows around the former island of Tatenberg in a wide arc. Before the embankment was built, another branch of the Elbe ran to the south-west between Ochsenwerder, Tatenberg and Spadenland, which again met the main river in the south at Moorwerder. Behind the Tatenberger Schleuse, the Dove Elbe has been flowing together with the Norderelbe since 1579, which today forms the northern main stream of the Elbe in the Hamburg area.
Translated by Google •
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