End of an era: Germany shuts last black coal mine

BERLIN — Straining to hold back tears, their oncewhite helmets and overalls smeared with dust, seven miners in Germany stepped out of a metal cage Friday bearing the last piece of black coal hauled up from 3,280 feet below.

The ceremony marked the end of an industry that laid the foundations for Germany’s industrial revolution and its post-war economic recovery.

The men at the Prosper-Haniel mine symbolically handed the football-sized lump of coal to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier with the words “Glueck Auf.”

The ancient miners’ greeting roughly translates as “good luck,” reflecting the uncertainty of a life spent prospecting deep underground.

“A piece of German history is coming to an end here,” Steinmeier told the miners.

“Without it, our entire country and its development over the past 200 years would have been unthinkable.”

The Prosper-Haniel mine in the western city of Bottrop and another colliery in Ibbenbueren, 62 miles to the north, were the last remnants of an industry that once dominated the region, employing half a million people at its peak in the 1950s.

Together, they helped feed the Ruhr valley’s hungry steel mills until imports of cheaper, foreign coal made Germany’s “black gold” lose its sheen.

For decades, the mines survived only thanks to generous subsidies. But in 2007, a political decision was made to phase them out, with a promise of early retirement or retraining for their remaining workers.

According to government figures, Germany’s coal mining industry received more than $46 billion in federal funds since 1998 and will get another $3 million through 2022.

Some of the money is needed to deal with mine maintenance and environmental cleanup efforts that include preventing parts of the Ruhr region from slowly sinking as myriad tunnels give way over time.

Further vast sums have been spent supporting economic redevelopment in the region, which has seen a growth in universities, research facilities and IT start-ups in recent years.