Those 262 miners

“There are two dates that no one ever forgets: 23 June 1946 and 8 August 1956”. Marcinelle, one of the most productive sites of the coal-rich basin of Charleroi (Belgium), is commemorating with a series of events not only the 60th anniversary of the Italo-Belgian accord to bring young manpower to the country’s mines, but also the 50th anniversary of the worst tragedy in European mining history. A EUROPEAN HISTORY. “My father arrived here, from Tuscany, to lead a wretched life, at a depth of a thousand metres, to excavate with rudimentary tools the coal that was so vitally necessary for industry at the time. Europe’s post-war reconstruction was then in full swing: coal was needed to drive the factories”, reminisces SERGIO ALIBONI , who heads the association that represents the elderly miners of the area. He acted as our guide during a visit to the former mine of Bois du Cazier. “I arrived in Belgium in 1950 – he tells Gianni Borsa, SIR correspondent in Belgium – with my mother and four brothers. My father had left for Belgium two years earlier thanks to the coalminer accords of 1946, signed by the Belgian and Italian governments. Belgium was aiming at intensive exploitation of its coal deposits; Italy had a need to arrange the emigration of manpower that would otherwise be unemployed. Thanks to the deal signed on 23 June 1946, Italy pledged to send a thousand workers per week; in exchange it would be able to purchase, at preferential prices, 2000 kilos of coal per day for each emigrant. THE MARTYRS OF MARCINELLE. “A full-scale exodus then began – explains Aliboni -. I remember that, as soon as I arrived at Marcinelle, we went to live in a shack. There was the indispensable minimum: a small portable stove, camp beds for sleeping, no creature comforts. The bathroom was outside, in the open. Father left early in the morning to go to work; then, at the end of the day, mum brought us all in front of the gates to the mine: each day we went through the anxiety of seeing our loved ones return to us. Accidents were very frequent in the mine, and often fatal”. While he tells his story, Aliboni shows us what remains of the ancient mine, abandoned after the fire that caused the death of 262 miners on 8 August 1956. “A human error – he explains -, a fatal accident. But 136 Italians, 95 Belgians and other men of twelve different nations were left to die down there. Marcinelle is a European memorial”, he explains, his eyes watering. He shows us the two towers for descending, the metal cage with which the miners were lowered to the bowels of the earth and the wagons full of fossil fuel were raised. We stopped in remembrance in front of the marble monument carved with the names of the dead who never came back to the surface that August day a half century ago. THE CELEBRATIONS OF 8 AUGUST. While he reconstructs the life of the miners, the hopes of improving their own life, the fears and the exertions of their work largely based on human strength, Alboni coughs at length. He stops, tries to get his breath back: “It’s phthisis, the illness of those who worked in the mines. I entered the mine at the age of 15. Those who went to work down there remained marked for life”. He resumes his narrative: “This land is laced with blood and sweat. But we don’t have anything to recriminate. We were hungry and thanks to the accords of 1946 Belgium gave us work. The same happened to many others from numerous countries. Now times have changed, but it’s important to keep alive the memory of the dead and those who survived”. For this reason, preparations for the celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the disaster of Bois du Cazier are now being completed. They will bring here the Belgian, Italian and Eu authorities, former miners and their children. On 8 August, from 8 to 10 in the morning, the time of the accident, a bell installed at the centre of the old mining site (now converted into an open-air museum thanks to the efforts of the miners’ association) will peal 262 times. “A fire that broke out in one of the mine shafts caused the death of 262 persons”, explains an inscription affixed for tourists/pilgrims. “The miners had no way of escape, they suffocated to death from the exhalations of gas. The rescue operations were desperate; they continued until 23 August, when one of the rescuers pronounced the grim words in Italian: ‘ Tutti cadaveri! ‘ (All of them corpses)”. MINER’S DAY. “We wish to commemorate the historic importance of the accords of 23 June 1946, keep alive the memory of our grandfathers and fathers who worked in the coalmines, and explain to the younger generations the link between our countries”, says MAURO MANTO , president of the federation of former miners and friends of miners throughout Europe. “But our efforts are also addressed at the present, because today, in our continent and throughout the world, from Mexico to China, other miners work and live and die just as those did a half century ago. Our primary objective is to institute a World Miner’s Day: the date of 8 August is surely the most appropriate”.