33 miners die in Salzgitter: a stroke of fate for Lower Saxony!

33 miners die in Salzgitter: a stroke of fate for Lower Saxony!

On July 19, 1960, one of the most tragic disasters in the history of German mining occurred in the “Hannoversche Loyalty” mine at Salzgitter. On this serious day, 33 miners lost their lives after a fire was reported around 7:17 a.m. and a large alarm was triggered. The first digging weirs were arrived at around 9 a.m., but the "impenetrable swaths of smoke" disabled the rescue measures, which made the situation even more difficult.

of the approximately 200 trapped miners were able to free themselves 160. The rescue of the missing people dragged on for six long days. The cause of the fire was a tragic mishap: a 17-year-old miner apprentice had accidentally set up cardboard with his carbide lamp. This meant that the criminal police and the protection of the constitution were involved, since initial suspected of sabotage and a possibly communist -motivated attack opened. Ultimately, indictment for negligent arson and killing was raised in March 1962, but there was no main procedure because there was no sufficient suspicion of punishable behavior.

grief and reactions

Three days after the accident, the victims' funeral took place, in which the coffins were decorated with burning mine lamps. The scope of this disaster was also recognized by Prime Minister Hinrich-Wilhelm Kopf, who described her as the hardest stroke of fate for the ore mining in Lower Saxony. In the following years, measures were taken to improve security, such as the ban on open fire and smoking as well as the exchange of wood expansion by steel.

The "Hannoversche loyalty" pit was closed in 1967, the shaft was then filled with concrete. Today a memorial stele is reminiscent of the victims on the site of the former shaft 1 in Salzgitter.

The context of mining security

Accidents such as the tragedy of Salzgitter always attract the security risks in mining to public awareness. In 1955, for example, 14 miners died during a key weather explosion on the Nordstern colliery in Gelsenkirchen. There was also a high loss for a mine fire on the neighboring Dahlbusch colliery. These massive accidents meant that the security standards were significantly tightened in the following years. The training of special mine weirs to rescue the accident and combating the causes of the accident has also been significantly improved, so that such disasters appear less often these days, as [Https://menschen-im-bergbau.de/themen/auf-der-zeche/icherheit-und-gesundheit/) explained.

A positive example of today's mining culture is the visitor mine "United Zinnwald in Zinnwald". As part of an excursion in 2023, which is based on a lecture by Dr. Rainer Sennewald connected, 22 participants were able to experience the diverse aspects of mining. In this leadership, important information about the formation of ore deposits and the challenges of mining were conveyed. Not only the historical degradation of tin plays a role here, but also the modern uses of lithium from the region, which are used in technical and medical areas, such as at the [HfBHK] (https://www.hfbhk.de/exkursion-der-berbau-wisten-der-hfbhk-e-V-zum-ver- Zu-zinnwald/) is emphasized.

The excursion showed how important the exchange about mining history and security is. Such events keep the memories of tragic events awake, while at the same time the awareness of security and Innovation is promoted in mining.

Overall, mining remains a complex field in which the memory of the events of 1960 serves as a reminder to continue to fight for the safety and health of the workers.