A devastating fire on July 19, 1960 in the "Hannoversche Treue" mine costs the lives of 33 miners. Only investigations by the police uncover the cause of the fire underground.
The last of the missing buddies is only recovered from a depth of 340 meters days after the accident. Albert Biewer is dead - like 32 of his colleagues. 60 years ago today, on July 19, 1960, a catastrophe struck in the "Hannoversche Treue" ore mine near Salzgitter. At 7:17 a.m., a fire was reported and a major alarm was immediately raised. But for many of the miners, any help comes too late. They lose their lives underground.
"Impenetrable Plumes of Smoke"
On the day of the accident:while the missing persons are being rescued below, people are waiting for information in front of the mine.A contemporary report:"Immediately after the explosion, heavy plumes of smoke enveloped the production shaft and prevented the first rescue columns from entering. The plumes then penetrated the tunnels and surprised the miners working at their workplaces there. Attempts by those trapped to save themselves failed by the impenetrable clouds of smoke." This is how reporters from the "Hamburger Abendblatt" described the accident.
Was it an attack?
After the fire, the guesswork begins. Was it sabotage? Even an attack? Everything seems possible. The police are on site to investigate the cause of the fire. The suicide of a 19-year-old miner then puts the officers on the right track. The dead man and four of his colleagues were apparently aware of how the fire started. They agreed not to disclose anything and initially gave false testimony. But the investigators gradually find out what really happened.
Coking out of recklessness
A 17-year-old apprentice had, probably out of recklessness, cooked with his miner's lamp and set fire to a cardboard box. He tried to erase the box, but it was too late. "The fire must then have blazed up like a chimney fire in the tunnel in a matter of seconds," the criminal police later determined. The sloping tunnel with its draft had the effect of bellows on the fire.
Opening of main proceedings rejected
Mourning in Salzgitter:The sympathy was great.In March 1962, the public prosecutor's office in Braunschweig filed charges against two suspects for negligent arson in conjunction with negligent homicide and negligent bodily harm. But there is no main trial. "No sufficient suspicion" judges the competent youth chamber. In May 1963, the Braunschweig Higher Regional Court dismissed an appeal by the public prosecutor's office.
Miner's lamps on the coffins
The recovered victims are buried three days after the devastating fire. On each coffin is a burning miner's lamp. The "Hanoversche Loyalty" was shut down in May 1967. To commemorate the disaster the city of Salzgitter has erected a memorial stele on the site of the former shaft 1.