Indicators of the Industrial Revolution, the post-war recovery, and the beginning of environmental legislation measures in the 1960s and 1970s were found. TE concentrations represented air emissions of inorganic pollutants from industrialized areas in western Germany and Europe, indicating industrial activity and policy making with a long-range impact. OCP concentrations were consistent with local and regional use in agriculture and forestry, recording periods and single events of pesticide applications and their intensity with rather shortrange impact. OCPs also provide evidence for anthropogenic developments and activities hidden from the general public in the former GDR. OCP concentrations in deeper sediment layers exceeded toxic limits, while those on the surface of the lake bottom did not. Both elemental and OCP concentrations were heavily influenced by short-and long-range human activities and respective political and legal measures implemented through time.