Coal & the disappearing town of Immerath, Germany.

Photos & text by Bob v Brunschot

Immerath, a story of a lost “fight”.

These photos were taken in Immerath, a rural village within the German municipality of Erkelenz in Northern Rhine-Westfalen.

The village was eventually evacuated and demolished amid much protest by the residents due to the expansion of the largest (open) lignite mines (Garzweiler II ) in the world. Almost 20 villages have disappeared since 1983, and the mining activities will certainly continue until 2030!

I visited the village a few times in the winter of 2019/ 20 and there were still quite a few houses, some of which were still inhabited! Many of the abandoned buildings/ houses were accessible and there were still all kinds of “traces” of the residents. It made a kind of surreal impression on me.

Immerath has existed since 1144 and was called Emundrode, there was a castle and various monasteries. In 1970 more than 1500 people still lived there, it was once a lively village with a church, cafes, 2 bakers and a school, and even a hospital! It was a beloved village that the residents had to leave and give up with pain in their hearts. There is a new Immerath build about 10 kilometres away but without the “soul” of the old village!

In one of the houses I found dozens of photos, letters, postcards etc, etc… they were lying on a floor in a kind of basement, and some of the windows were broken so that the wind and rain could come in! So that they were already quite affected (decayed). They came from the period between 1900 and 2010, they tell a (fictional) story about the people (family) who lived and worked there for generations. They give a kind of symbolic “portrait” / image of a time and life gone. It is also a story of a lost symbiosis between the villagers and the environment (land/ soil).

Lignite mining is controversial for several reasons, including the total destruction of the landscape (fertile soils / forest…), the deterioration of the (local) environment and the cause of the drop in groundwater levels! There is a kind of apocalyptic landscape created by the ever-expanding mine (open hole / crater) of already almost 115 square kilometres, a kind of permanent “scar” in the surface of mother earth.

I have come here to witness this “assault” on nature and the rampant need for fossil fuels and human opportunism!