Firedamp explosion in the Blessing God and New Hope shaft
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On August 2, 1869, a firedamp explosion occurred in the Segen-Gottes- und Neuhoffnungsschacht near Burgk , which killed 276 miners. Firedamp explosions can occur when mine gas that has leaked underground mixes with air and thus reacts explosively. The Burgk mine accident was the worst in the history of mining in the Döhlen Basin and is still one of the biggest accidents in Saxon mining today.
Both pits were run by the Freiherrlich von Burgker Steinkohlen- und Eisenhüttenwerke , which at that time operated the hard coal mining in the Döhlen Basin, especially to the right of the Weißeritz . The shafts were on the 352 meter high wind mountain . The Neuhoffnungsschacht was 1837 sunk , the blessing of God bay from the 1856th
Mine disaster
First, as usual, the miners gathered in the Burgker Huthaus for prayer and then drove into the pits in the area. The explosion then occurred in the early morning of August 2, 1869 around five o'clock. At that time the full workforce had not yet driven into the pits. Since the Blessing God and New Hope shafts were connected, the explosion affected both systems. It could be only three conveyor - save and two carpenters, choked the other miners or burned. The three supporters came out into the open via the daily route Oberes Revier .
By August 6, 120 dead had been recovered; the exact number of victims was initially largely correct at 273. Some of the victims were buried on August 5th in the Döhlen cemetery . Due to the high number of victims, most of the others were buried on a newly laid burial site near the Segen-Gottes-Schacht from August 6th. On the same day, the Crown Princess and later Queen of Saxony, Carola, visited the scene of the accident.
The funeral ceremonies for the victims of the accident took place at the new burial site on September 17th. A support committee was formed which met for the first time in the “Rothen Schänke” in Döhlen. Under the leadership of this committee, various donation initiatives were launched, which brought in donations of over 440,000 thalers from all over Europe and thus enabled long-term pensions for the bereaved.
About a third of the miners came from the towns of Deuben and Burgk, with more than ten dead from Niederhäslich , Potschappel , Döhlen, Kleinnaundorf and Neucoschütz .
Due to the explosion, the production of the coal and iron and steel works was almost 500,000 bushels lower than in the previous year. The pits were later put back into operation and continued to be exploited until the 1910s.
monument
The memorial ( location ) for the victims was inaugurated on the morning of August 2, 1870, on the first anniversary of the disaster. Later a memorial ceremony took place in the Christ Church in Deuben . It is located in the Kleinnaundorf district in the "Am Segen" settlement. In the middle of the park-like facility is a stele with the following inscription:
"Dedicated to the memory
of officials and workers
who, true to their jobs
, had an
accident in the depths of the earth on August 2nd, 1869. "
Around the stele there are semicircular panels bearing the names and ages of all victims. The entire complex is under monumental protection as a local and mining history and as part of the “Bergbaumonumente Freital” monument preservation entity .
Inscription on the stele
Boards with names of the victims
literature
- Bergakademie Freiberg: Yearbook for the mountain and hut man for the year 1871 . Ed .: Königl. Bergakademie zu Freiberg. Royal Bergakademie zu Freiberg, C. Chronological overview of the fatal accidents that occurred in coal mining in 1869., D. Special directory of the miners fatally injured in 1869 in the coal mining of the Dresden mining inspection district in No. 3 to 278 of the above chronological overview., P. 76–84 ( tu-freiberg.de [accessed November 4, 2014]).
- Friedrich August Leßke : Contributions to the history and description of the Plauen reason . tape 3 . Commission publisher Reuter, Dresden / Leipzig 1892, p. 47 ff . ( Digitized version ).
- Stadtverwaltung Freital (Hrsg.): Monuments in Freital - workshop report 3 of a municipal working group against forgetting . Freital 2013, p. 52-55 .
