The History of the National Miners’ Monument in Kayl
Between 1860 and 1980, mining operations in the Grand Duchy claimed the lives of approximately 1,500 mine workers. In their honour, the municipality of Kayl erected a monument in the mid-1950s, just opposite the “Léiffrächen“, the Luxembourgish patron saint of miners. To this day, the history of the monument is closely linked to that of the pilgrimage site.
Planning & Construction of the Monument
Inauguration: Lè’frechen (Denkmal) Kayl – Théo Mey 1957 © Photothèque de la Ville de Luxembourg
Monument pour mineurs à Kayl – Pol Aschman 1957 © Photothèque de la Ville de Luxembourg
Stone slabs
The central feature of the National Miners’ Monument consists of 26 stone tablets, 20 of which bear the names of miners who tragically lost their lives in mining accidents that occurred in the Grand Duchy.
The standardised format in which all data is presented on the monument allows for the calculation of some statistics. This articles examines these statistics and highlights key figures that can be found on the monument. It also explores some of the limitations inherent in this type of data collection.
Registry of Mining Victims
The “Registry of Mining Victims” served as a foundation for the stone tablets. Emile Gelhausen used it to collect and record information about the deceased miners. Other board members supported him in this task. Today, the registry can be found in the municipal archive of Kayl.
The C2DH, in collaboration with the ITM and the municipality of Kayl/Tétange, is continuously working on the improvement of all data presented on this website. If you discover any transcription errors while searching through the documents, we would be grateful if you could inform us of these, indicating the exact location where you found them.
We are also very grateful for any documents relating to fatal occupational accidents in Luxembourg that we receive. Copies of newspaper articles, death notices, accident reports, etc. help us to expand the database on fatal industrial accidents mentioned in the video and allow us to check already existing records.
@ : [mininghistory@uni.lu]