Lett13

LETTOMANOPPELLO

(Pg. 13)

THE 1956 MARCINELLE MINING DISASTER

Page 1 (history/photos)
Page 2 (history/photos)
Page 3 (history/photos)
Page 4 (photos)
Page 5 (photos)
Page 6 (photos)
Page 7 (photos: festa)
Page 8 (stone-sculpting)
Page 9 (Iconicella)
Page 10 (people/places)
Page 11 (people/places)
Page 12 (festa 2000)

Page 13 (Marcinelle)
Page 14 (Marcinelle)
Page 15 (people/places 2001)
Page 16 (people/places 2001)
Page 17 (people/places 2001)
Page 18 (people/places 2001)
Page 19 (people/places 2001)
Page 20 (sculpting school)
Page 21 (fonte)
Page 22 (old photos)
Page 23 (history)
Page 24 (street map)

Page 25 (people/places 2003)
Page 26 (new hotel - La Noce)
Page 27 (people/places 2003)
Page 28 (people/places 2003)
Page 29 (Nino Di Pietrantonio)
Page 30 (people/places 2003)
Page 31 (Anagrafe / Stato Civile)
Page 32 (people/places 2004)
Page 33 (people/places 2004)
Page 34 (people/places 2004)
Page 35 (Church of S. Nicola 2005)
Page 36 for future construction

The information and photos on this page were taken from "Ricordare Marcinelle" (Remembering Marcinelle), published in Abruzzo by Associazione Nazionale Famiglie Emigrati. The book commemorated the 40th anniversary of the 1956 mining disaster in Marcinelle, Belgium which took the lives of 136 emigrant Italian miners, almost half of them Abruzzese, and among them 6 Lettesi. This disaster became a symbol for the sacrifices made by all Abruzzese emigrants who were forced to leave their homeland to find work. The booklet was provided by Lucia D'Alfonso of Lettomanoppello. On the next page follows a photographic account of the funeral in Lettomanoppello for the 6 Lettesi lost in the disaster.

THE BACKGROUND

Following the destruction caused by World War II, the phenomenon of emigration re-exploded in Italy. Work was difficult to find, especially in the southern provinces, including Abruzzo. The reconstruction of Europe was underway. Belgium had notable mineral resources to be developed, primarily coal fields, but there was a shortage of labor there. Thus "the battle of the coal� was launched�an effort to recruit foreign workers to mine the coal.

Italy had many unemployed and was lacking in resources such as coal that were needed to assure her reconstruction and development. And so, on June 20,1946, an agreement was signed between the governments of Italy and Belgium. Italy would encourage the emigration of Italian laborers to work in the Belgian mines. In return, Belgium would supply coal to Italy. The Italian government agreed to facilitate the emigration of 50,000 workers, a maximum of 2000 per week, to Belgium, while the government of Belgium agreed to sell to Italy a minimum of 2500 tons of coal for every 1000 Italian miners.

By the early 1950s nearly 50,000 Italians had emigrated to Belgium, seeking to support themselves and their families by finding work in the mines. They constituted nearly one third of Belgium�s mining work force. The Italian government felt that the arrangement demonstrated Italy�s will to contribute to the economic regrowth of Europe, and that the Italian workers were making an important and meaningful contribution to the development of a new Europe.

One of the ads placed by the Italian government to recruit workers to the Belgian coal mines, with inducements of free train tickets and free coal.

THE DISASTER

On August 18, 1956, at the Bois du Cazier coal mine in the town of Marcinelle in Belgium, a terrible disaster struck, resulting in the deaths of 262 miners. The majority, 136 in number, were Italian. Of these, 61 were Abruzzese, 47 of them from the Province of Pescara. The majority of the Pescaresi who were lost were from the towns of Manoppello (24), Turrivalignani (9) and Lettomanoppello (6).

The tragedy at Marcinelle was not the only one to take place in the mines of Belgium. It was preceded and followed by other mining disasters which, between 1946 and 1963, claimed the lives of 867 Italians. Shortly before Marcinelle, disasters had occurred at Quaregnon and Glain; because of the deaths of so many Italian miners the Italian government suspended emigration to Belgium pending the correction of various problems, especially that of safety in the workplace.

The disaster was headlined in Italian newspapers.

Because of the dimensions of the tragedy, Marcinelle became a symbol of the willingness of the Italian workers to make sacrifices�to emigrate, to do hard and dangerous work, and even to risk their lives�in order to provide for themselves and their families.

For the Abruzzese people, remembrance of Marcinelle means keeping and honoring the memory of the emigration: the uprooting from home, the sacrifices, the humble and heavy work, the humiliation endured and the anger repressed. But also, in the end, remembrance of Marcinelle has come to mean the honoring of courage in facing difficulties, and the affirmation of the dignity of workers and men.

Entrance to the Bois du Cazier coal mine in Marcinelle, Belgium, where the disaster occured.

The miners worked more than 3300 feet beneath the surface of the earth every working day, at constant risk to their lives. Between 1946 and 1963, 867 Italian workers were killed in Belgian coal mines.

*CONTINUED ON THE NEXT PAGE. THE FUNERAL IN LETTOMANOPPELLO....

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