A small part of today's Velsen Experience Mine was used as an air raid shelter during World War 2. After the war, it was developed to train young miners in a safe environment. This needed original machines, real mining equipment, and experienced miners. These miners taught young men not just how to use equipment, but also about safety systems, signal systems, and mining language.
Tens of thousands of young miners, whether they became managers, supervisors, or workers, had to complete this training. Hundreds of special trainers shared their expert knowledge. Every miner remembers their time in the training gallery.
In 1956, the training supervisor Engel wrote in the Saarbrücken Miners' Calendar that the training gallery was visited by "many hundreds of visitors" and was "more beautiful, larger, and more authentic than the show mines of the German Museum or the Mining Museum in Bochum". We can assume that from the beginning, in the fifties, miner training and visits for mining enthusiasts were done in parallel.
In 2000, RAG Education resumed visitor tours and founded the "Velsen Experience Mine" alongside reduced training activities. TÜV Nord, as the successor to RAG Education, only offered visitor tours sporadically, as their focus was on training and further education, not running a visitor mine. In 2011, during RAG's gradual withdrawal from the Saarland, closure and filling was threatened because TÜV Nord terminated its lease and no new tenant was in sight.
In 2011, former miners around today's 1st Chairman Volker Etgen founded the non-profit association Velsen Experience Mine e.V. to continue the tours of the now well-known experience mine and save the gallery from threatened concrete filling. The mine was leased from RAG for a symbolic price of one euro, and the association committed to maintaining and covering all running costs. With great commitment and volunteer work, this goal has been achieved to this day.
