The officials of the Petite-Rosselle Mine Museum are looking for volunteers for filmed interviews to enrich the scenography of the Les Mineurs museum on the theme of unionism and major mining strikes in the HBL (Houillères du Bassin de Lorraine). These interviews will be conducted during the upcoming summer and will be preserved by the Wendel Les Mineurs Museum according to a transfer contract that will be established and given to the participants.
“These interviews will have a maximum duration of one hour. Extracts will be broadcast in the museum in the form of a montage. The interviews will take place within the Wendel Les Mineurs Museum premises,” said the museum’s Communication service.
A diverse panel of participants is being sought in order to constitute a varied panel. Various profiles of participants are being sought: a former mining unionist; a woman of a former mining unionist; a female unionist; a representative of one of the main mining unions (CGT, CFTC, CFDT, FO, CGC); a merchant who supported the unionists, or anyone who would like to testify about a memory related to social movements. Participants must have been witnesses or have participated in a mining strike. For example: the strikes of 1948, 1963, 1968, the Faulquemont strike in 1974, the 1988 strike, and the December 1995 strike in Forbach and Freyming-Merlebach.
Participants must agree to have their testimony broadcast within the museum. The deadline for volunteering is set for Wednesday, July 1st. Participants will be selected based on the formation of a panel. Interested individuals can contact the museum at 03 87 87 08 54 or notify Mme Marco-Djediouane via email: s.marco@musee-les-mineurs.fr.
1948: The strike repressed in blood
The history of the Lorraine coal basin is marked by the heyday of coal but also by major social conflicts during the 20th century. Some strikes are engraved in history, notably the one in 1948. This movement was subjected to a bloody repression. In Merlebach, a miner, Jean Barthel Jamsek, 43, was killed in the street on October 8th. That day, clashes between law enforcement and unionists also left forty injured in Moselle-Est.
In 1963, Prime Minister Pompidou gave in to the mobilization of miners in the North and Moselle-Est by granting salary increases. In 1968, the “Gueules noires” of Lorraine naturally participated in the events. On May 11th, a massive gathering took place in the market square in Forbach. On May 20th, a general strike occurred in the HBL. Work resumed normally only in June. The announcements of pit closures later led to strikes and protests. Like in 1974 in Faulquemont. In 1995, clashes were violent between unionists and law enforcement amidst a fight for wages and the preservation of benefits in the context of the end of activities.
