Glück auf, good luck und Szczesc Boze
A traditional celebration at “Bergwerk West” colliery
Foto: RAG Aktiengesellschaft
Kamp-Lintfort is one of the few German towns where coal is still mined today. Miners have been greeting each other here since 1907. The so-called "Old Settlement" housing estate, immediately adjacent to the colliery, contains 2,300 housing units and is the largest residential area for coal miners and their families in the Ruhr Metropolis. In 2012, when "Bergwerk West" will probably close its gates for the last time, a highly infl uential chapter in the history of Kamp-Lintfort will come to an end.
Before this happens the people of the town intend to celebrate living mining history. The high point of the "Local Heroes" week will be on 22nd January 2010 when miners from the town on the Lower Rhine will meet up with former miners from its twin towns of Chester-le-Street and Zory for a traditional celebration in the listed wages house at "Bergwerk West". In the Jugendstil setting a virtual trip down the mine will offer a unique insight into working conditions below the surface. The Geology Museum in Kamp-Lintfort will be showing what else was hidden in the earth apart from coal. In the wages house, miners’ and children’s choirs will sing; stories and largeformat photographs will tell of the miners’ lives. Finally, no traditional party would be complete without some good solid food on the plate. The organisers are promising curried sausage, potato fritters and black bread with sugar beet molasses.
Event:
Januar 22, 2010: Bergwerk West, Lohnhalle / Kamp-Lintfort
Project:
Petra Niemöller, Leiterin des Kulturbüros der Stadt Kamp-Lintfort (D)
Partner:
Chester-le-Street (GB) / Zory (PL)