BERLIN: Germany will close its last black coal mine on Friday, turning the page on two centuries of mining history in the Ruhr region that helped fuel the country’s post-war “economic miracle”.
Although the end of the Prosper-Haniel colliery near the western town of Bottrop comes as polluting coal is increasingly under scrutiny, it was cheaper hard coal from abroad, not environmental concerns, that sounded the mine’s death knell.
For the remaining 1,500 workers the final shift promises to be an emotional one, culminating in a ceremony to be attended by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker.
After greeting each other one more time with the traditional miners’ call of “Glueck Auf!”, shorthand for good luck in opening a new vein, the workers will bring up a symbolic last chunk of black coal before the 150-year-old deep-shaft mine is sealed up.
“There’s a heavy sadness now that it’s all going to be over soon,” 47-year-old miner Thomas Echtermeyer told Bild newspaper, wearing a dusty white overall and yellow hard hat.
Retired pitman Reinhold Adam, 72, who recently visited the mine for a final, nostalgic descent into its belly, told Bild it was “the camaraderie that’s so special under ground”.
With its own vernacular, songs, football clubs and church services dedicated to Saint Barbara, the patron saint of miners, generations-old mining traditions are deeply woven into the fabric of daily life in the region.
As the area’s last active mine bows out, many are mourning not just the end of a once-mighty industry but of a way of life.
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