Radbod Colliery Memorial

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Memorial in the Ehrenfriedhof in Hövel

The 1911 built memorial Radbod reminiscent of the mining accident on the Radbod in 1908. The mining accident cost 349 lives and has had a significant impact on the social lives of those affected and the technical equipment of mines in the Ruhr area . Today, like the mine itself, the memorial is part of the Route of Industrial Culture .

Location and structure

The memorial, built in 1911, is located in the Ehrenfriedhof in Bockum-Hövel , at the corner of Ermlinghofstrasse and Fritz-von-Twickel-Weg . The two opposite memorial plaques with the names of the victims were designed in the form of the front part of a church pew, including the typical kneeboard. Each bench is interrupted by a pedestal, which on one side carries a kneeling squire with a wedge hoe and miner's lamp and on the other side a weeping, kneeling widow with her teenage daughter. Between these two installations there is another pedestal on an open space, which carries a stone cross. One side of the base bears the inscription: "In memory of the miners who died at the Radbod colliery on November 12, 1908."

The memorial was created by the sculptor Ernst Müller-Braunschweig . The boards with the names of the victims were replaced in October 2008 due to weathering.

  • The kneeling squire

  • The grieving widow

  • One of the plaques with the names of the victims

  • Cross in the middle of the square

The misfortune

Postcard, 1908, with the handwriting "Die Unglückszeche"

In the early morning of November 12, 1908, there was a mining accident at the Radbod colliery , which was the hardest in German coal mining to date . Almost the entire night shift team (349 miners ) was killed in a firedamp explosion followed by a pit fire , and 35 others were injured, some seriously. Only 36 of the dead could be recovered and buried in 2 mass graves in the old cemetery in Hövel, the remaining dead were found later or remained at the site of the accident.

The firedamp explosion was triggered by a defective petrol safety lamp or a blast in a seam.

The accident can be seen as one of the important starting points for creating independent safety authorities in the mining industry. The gasoline-powered weather lamps were largely replaced by electric safety lights.

literature

  • Olaf Schmidt-Rutsch: The Radbod disaster. Reports and drawings by the driver Moritz Wilhelm . Ed .: Ingrid Telsemeyer. 1st edition. Klartext, Essen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8375-0032-5 .
  • Wolfgang Pabst: 350 men died, now let's dance . The disaster in the Radbod / Hamm hard coal mine in November 1908. 1st edition. Wolf, Herne 1982, DNB  830286470 .
  • Bernd Braun, Joachim Eichler (ed.): Workers' leaders, parliamentarians, party veterans: The diaries of the social democrat Hermann Molkenbuhr from 1905 to 1927 . 1st edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-486-56424-2 .
  • Evelyn Kroker , Michael Farrenkopf: Mine accidents in German-speaking countries . Catalog of the mines, victims, causes and sources. In: Publications from the German Mining Museum in Bochum . Mining archive: publications of the mining archive; No. 8. 2., revised. and exp. Edition. No. 79 . German Mining Museum , Bochum 1999, ISBN 3-921533-68-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Photos and further information on memorial sites for the mining accidents
  2. ↑ Report on the 100th anniversary on Industrie-Kultur.de
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Pabst: 350 men died, now let's dance . The disaster in the Radbod / Hamm hard coal mine in November 1908. 1st edition. Wolf, Herne 1982, DNB  830286470 , p. 12 .
  4. ^ Franz Schäper, victim of the firedamp explosion on November 12, 1908 at Radbod colliery ( memento from August 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Olaf Schmidt-Rutsch: The Radbod disaster. Reports and drawings by the driver Moritz Wilhelm . Ed .: Ingrid Telsemeyer. 1st edition. Klartext, Essen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8375-0032-5 , p. 64 .

Web links

Commons : Radbod Colliery Memorial  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files