1908 mine accident at the Radbod colliery

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Postcard, 1908, with the handwriting "Die Unglückszeche"

The 1908 mine accident at the Radbod colliery not only killed 349 people, it also had significant social, political and technical consequences. The Radbod colliery lost almost the entire team on the night shift, the relatives had to cope with financial problems and triggered a wave of willingness to donate, the technical equipment of the mine lamps was improved and the creation of independent safety authorities in mining had one of their starting points here.

Course of the accident

Memorial in Bockum-Hövel

In the early morning of November 12, 1908, around 4:20 a.m., the worst mine accident in German coal mining to date occurred in the Radbod colliery . Either a defective weather lamp or a detonation carried out in a seam triggered a severe firedamp explosion on the third level . Almost the entire team on the night shift (348 miners ) was killed. 35 others were injured, some seriously. Only 37 of the dead could be recovered. They were buried in two mass graves in the old cemetery in Hövel. 288 more dead were found later; 23 miners stayed in the mountain forever. Another source provides divergent information: "Of the 384 miners who were underground, 17 were uninjured, 36 dead and 30 with severe burns. 11 of them later succumbed to their injuries. As a result of the explosion, a mine fire developed That made further rescue work impossible. As a result, only 15 hours after the explosion, the mine management decided to close the shafts and flood the pit. When the pit was reclaimed in 1909/10, 301 bodies were recovered. " The Radbod colliery memorial in the memorial cemetery for the victims in the Hammer district of Hövel commemorates the accident and the dead .

The pit fires , which raged after the explosion, hampered rescue work due to heat and heavy smoke. With the decision to end the rescue work, the fire gates were closed 15 hours after the accident, the ventilation switched off and the valves of the water pipes opened in order to flood the pit up to 200 m above the first level. The marshes of the colliery began on December 17, 1908, and work lasted until February 25, 1909. Then the first inspection was made to inspect the damage. Production was resumed in October with 701 miners , but the clearing work dragged on until 1910.

causes

Finds after the accident: destroyed clock and destroyed miner's lamp

The firedamp explosion was probably triggered by a defective petrol safety lamp ; Another possible cause of the mine accident could have been the simultaneous blasting in a seam, as the driver Moritz Wilhelm shows in his personal notes, which were made in addition to the investigation report.
Before that, too, there had been accidents that were triggered by defective or unsafe petrol safety lamps. Opening the lamp (forbidden) or a defective lamp could trigger an explosion at any time.

In addition to the lamps, which represented a considerable safety risk, the general conditions on the shaft systems also played a role. Security measures that are taken for granted today were not yet known or not widely used. In addition, they made mining considerably more expensive and tied up workers. For the entrepreneurs, in a time of rapid economic development, in which the railways, shipping and steel industries needed coal and the steam drive was still without an alternative in many factories, this could mean a loss of market share. As a result, occupational safety was often neglected. For this reason, work bans and shifts in mining operations have been discussed in the German Reichstag for a long time in order to avoid double shifts and overtired workers. The deliberations continued on the day of the accident.

Radbod itself had only been in operation for two years. The test drillings in this new mining area had already indicated considerable amounts of mine gas in advance . Modern ventilation methods with which methane accumulations can be avoided were not yet available at the time. Since the introduction of dynamite invented by Alfred Nobel , firedamp and coal dust explosions have increased, so that in 1881 the Prussian state convened the first firedamp commission.

consequences

Politically

The accident triggered a political discussion about labor protection measures and supervisory duties, in particular an occupational health and safety law was called for.

The news of the accident at the Radbod mine spread quickly over the course of November 12th. At the latest, the big evening papers reported on the accident in the Westphalian mining industry. At around 1:19 p.m. the German Reichstag in Berlin opened the 160th session of the House with the following words: “Gentlemen, before I enter the agenda, I would like to make the sad announcement to those who are not yet aware of it, that a serious mine disaster has occurred in the Westphalian mountain district. Gentlemen, I believe that I am acting on your behalf when I already say that we, the Reichstag, have the most sincere pity for all those who have been harmed in life and limb by this catastrophe. ”Lively approval in the hall. “We enter the agenda; The first object of the same is: first consultation of the bill of the treasury of the Chamber of Accounts ... “Even before the accident, the house's agenda included consultation on the subject of work bans and shifts in mining operations . In this debate, MP Behrens already referred to the accident and announced to the House: "I have just been informed that a very large part [of the miners] has already been given up as dead." While Parliament was discussing how overtime will be in the future should be regulated (some miners worked double shifts at the time), and how to deal with the black list , which named miners who were no longer to be hired in the future, the news spread throughout the Reich and beyond its borders. During the deliberations that day the news came that after 15 hours the mine had been closed and the water drainage switched off. The deputy Johannes Brejski commented on this as follows: "The mine management has removed the air from the miners who were still in the pit and perhaps still alive by closing the weather guide, killed them with one blow." Soon after the extent of the When the disaster was evident, condolences began to arrive from across the country.

Social democrats and trade unionists expressed some very harsh criticism of the safety regulations and precautions. Vain Friedrich von Prussia , a son of Kaiser Wilhelm II , came to calm the mood.

The Reichstag deputy Hermann Molkenbuhr noted in his diary: “The mountain police authority has to improve the accident prevention regulations, monitor the execution and conduct the investigation after the accidents. Will an authority ever admit that its regulations were inadequate or that supervision was insufficient? I am drafting an application in which the creation of a Reich authority to investigate accidents in mining is required. The ship losses, which were linked to great human lives - the sinking of the steamer Schiller on the Scillys and the sinking of the Deutschland at the Thames estuary - led to the creation of the Reich authority to investigate marine casualties. Why can't a similar office be created that also oversees the mountain police authorities? ”The application was introduced to the Reichstag on November 23 as a legislative initiative.
The accident can therefore be seen as one of the important starting points for creating independent safety authorities in the mining industry.

Technically

As a result of this accident, it was ordered in the German Reich that the petrol safety lamps in firedamp pits be abolished as work lights and replaced by new types of electrical safety lamps. These were first introduced at the Radbod colliery after production was resumed in 1909. After the changeover, only climbers , weathermen and shooters were allowed to use weather lamps.

Although no dynamite is said to have been used in the mine accident in the Radbod colliery, the accident provided the occasion to set up a separate test track for investigating coal dust explosions. Since the mining union test route, founded in 1894 to investigate mine gas and coal dust explosions, was relocated from the site of the Consolidation colliery near Schalke to Dortmund-Derne in 1908 and it was combined with the planned test route of the Knappschaftsberufsgenossenschaft, it was possible in the years 1911-1913 the 200-meter-long coal dust test section (pipe diameter 1.80 m) will be built. It succeeded in providing scientific proof that certain types of coal dust can cause running explosions, in which the pressure wave of an ignited dust explosion continuously stirs up deposited coal dust and thus the explosion spreads through the underground routes, with the explosion pressure becoming stronger and stronger.

This effect, which is well known in specialist circles, was still denied by some mine operators. This 200 m distance was used until 2013 to check the explosiveness of certain coal dusts in case of doubt.

Economically

Economically had the financial burden significant from the mine disaster for the operating company Trier mbH, longstanding consequences that their in the sale of part Berechtsame culminated at the Essen coal mines AG and the merger (1919) with the Cologne New Sener Bergwerksverein.

literature

  • Olaf Schmidt-Rutsch, Ingrid Telsemeyer (Hrsg.): The Radbod disaster. Reports and drawings by the driver Moritz Wilhelm . Klartext-Verlag, Essen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8375-0032-5 .
  • Wolfgang Pabst: 350 men died - now let's dance: The catastrophe in the Radbod / Hamm coal mine in November 1908 . 1st edition. Pabst Science Publishers, 1982, ISBN 3-89967-029-9 .
  • 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 Wissenschaftsverlag, 2000, ISBN 3-486-56424-2 .
  • Evelyn Kroker , Michael Farrenkopf: Mine accidents in German-speaking countries . 2nd Edition. Bochum 1999, ISBN 3-921533-68-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Wolfgang Pabst: 350 men died now let's dance . MCWolf, ISBN 3-923400-01-2 , p. 12.
  2. ^ A b Olaf Schmidt-Rutsch, Ingrid Telsemeyer (ed.): "The Radbod disaster" - reports and drawings by the driver Moritz Wilhelm . Essen 2008, p. 64
  3. ↑ manfred-baeumer.eu , accessed on December 24, 2012
  4. ^ Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Industriekultur - Zeche Zollern: permanent exhibition "Explosionsgefahr" in the Kauenkeller - information board "Radbod, 1908"
  5. ↑ Wolfgang Pabst: 350 men died now let's dance . MCWolf, ISBN 3-923400-01-2 , pp. 31-32.
  6. ↑ Mine accident on the Grimberg shaft of the Monopol colliery on September 13, 1901
  7. ↑ 1906, Courrières mining disaster in France, with 1099 deaths
  8. ↑ Wolfgang Pabst: 350 men died now let's dance . MCWolf, ISBN 3-923400-01-2 , p. 26.
  9. ^ Journal of practical geology , 1909
  10. ↑ a b Wolfgang Pabst: 350 men died now let's dance . MCWolf, ISBN 3-923400-01-2 , p. 25.
  11. ↑ Thomas Parent: The Ruhr Area: From the "golden" Middle Ages to industrial culture . 4th edition. DuMont Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2007, p. 308f.
  12. ↑ Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 1908, p. 104
  13. ^ Stenographic reports of the Reichstag, Volume 250, Annexes, No. 1071
  14. ^ Economic archive NRW, holdings 200 mountain trade union test route, Dortmund-Derne
  15. ↑ 75 years of mining union test route in Dortmund-Derne of the Westfälische Berggewerkschaftskasse 1894–1969 . Publishing printer C. Th. Kartenberg, Herne 1969 (Festschrift).
  16. ^ Economic archive NRW, inventory 145 Radbod mine, Bockum-Hövel

Web links

Commons : Radbod Colliery Memorial  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : Zeche Radbod  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Mines were referred to as firedamp pits when bad weather occurred. Which mine was designated as a firedamp pit was the responsibility of the responsible mining authority. Every mine in the district of the Dortmund Oberbergamt was regarded as a firedamp pit. (Source: NA Herold: Worker Protection in the Prussian Mountain Police Regulations. )


Coordinates: 51 ° 41 ′ 11.3 "  N , 7 ° 45 ′ 47.9"  E