In 1951, coal miners were high in demand Image: Deutsches Plakat MuseumĬoal miners were in demand, and that boosted their self-confidence. But they still settled here, and some even founded their own organizations," Heimsoth explains. "For a long time, the Ruhr Poles were hated. Still, work in the mines did help speed up the integration process. He adds that, even though the Ruhr region prided itself in its�people's solidarity with the pit workers, a lot of immigrant miners had to deal with rejection and aggression on a daily basis. "It was important to us to show in this exhibition that, across Europe, 100,000 people resettled, had to be integrated, put down roots," Heimsoth says. First, workers were sought in neighboring European countries then mines began recruiting further afield, in Turkey and African countries. Promotional posters from various European countries show how extra rations and generous remuneration were used to tempt people down the pits. Heimsoth refers to it as a "coal drought." As the demand for coal grew, so did the demand for miners.
Synthetic dyes made from coal Image: Ruhr Museum EssenĪfter the Second World War, the demand for coal was enormous. The forming of this union was the first step on the road towards the European Economic Community, which would later evolve into the European Union. The signatories had all been affected by the Second World War and agreed that coal and steel should never again be used to wage war. Read more:� The battle for villages and forests in Germany's coal countryĪn important political document is also on display in the "Age of Coal" exhibition: the original contract for the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)�-�the union formed by France, Italy, West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg in 1951. Synthetically obtained extracts from hard coal tar, a byproduct of coal burning, are also used in the plastics and pharmaceutical industries. It is not just useful as an energy source or in steel production it also has a chemical use, because synthetic dyes can be made from coal. Or there is the collection of little glass bottles filled with liquids in all colors that speak to coal's versatility. Soup was poured down the hole, and he collected it in his shoe.
The miner was trapped in the pit, with only a small hole connecting him to the world above ground. Read more:� Blockchain in the energy transition: Hope or hype?īehind every piece, there's a story This boot helped save a life Image: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum/Rainer Rothenbergįor example, there is the boot that helped save a miner's life back in 1930. He is also one of 10 curators of the new exhibition "The Age of Coal -�A European History," which brings together 1,200 such mining mementos in�the former coal mining complex at Zollverein in Essen. The miners wanted to have a souvenir," says Axel Heimsoth, a researcher at the Ruhr Museum in Essen. For the miners who hauled it up at the Prosper-Haniel mine in Bottrop, Germany, it's more than simply an enormous lump of coal."At the end of this year, Prosper-Haniel, the last hard coal mine in Germany, will close. Seven tons -�that's the weight of the biggest piece of hard coal ever to be extracted in one piece.