Today it is a museum
In June 1946, Italy and Belgium signed "the men for coal" agreement: as Europe struggled to recover from the impact of the second world war, Italy agreed to send its surplus manpower to the mines of southern Belgium, in return for 2-3 million tonnes of coal a year at preferential rates.
Between 1946 and 1949, 77,000 Italians reached Belgium in convoys, far exceeding the manpower target. On arrival, they were dispatched to various parts of the country, where they were housed in corrugated iron hangars or barrack-blocks—some built by the Nazi occupiers to house Russian prisoners of war. They were indeed more like concentration camps.
All but 12 of the 274 miners in the Bois du Cazier perished on 8 August, 1956 in the southern town of Marcinelle, after a mining wagon, incorrectly placed in an elevator cage, struck an oil pipe and electrical cables, triggering a deadly fire. The victims had 12 different nationalities. The largest number - 136 - were Italians who had emigrated to Belgium to work in the coal industry. Therefore, a rapid description of the policy framework which affected them can help to better understand the changes produced afterwards by European integration. You can read the whole horrible story HERE
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It is a disaster I've not heard about and it sounds awful. After the war, you would think lives were important to protect, but no. Collateral damage because of the hunger for sources of energy.
ReplyDeleteWhat a dreadful event and how appalling that it is not universally recognised. Life is cheap, it seems.
ReplyDeleteWow, that sure was a horror.
ReplyDeleteAny mine work is very dangerous, there have been so many accidents over the years...sigh...