Experience.
Remember.
Preserve.
Contemporary witnesses
Mining stories at first hand
In eight video portraits, former miners talk about their personal experiences and memories. They talk about different areas of the mine and provide authentic insights into the last decades of mining. These eyewitness videos preserve valuable stories directly from the first source - living memories that should be preserved for future generations.
"I would become a miner again at any time"
"Underground surveying is pure craftsmanship."
"Working underground is teamwork, it's the team that counts, not the individual."
"In mining, people have always said: safety before coal - safety first, and then mining."
"It's enormous what has changed in electrical engineering over the years. I've seen everything from mercury drives to computers."
"We must not lose the memory of mining. Saarland and Lorraine have lived with coal."
"In the beginning, you were welcome as a miner. Later, you even got death threats because people were afraid of mining damage."
"The greatest skill I've learned underground is the ability to improvise. Making a lot out of a little."
