The bell at Bois du Cazier coal mine in Marcinelle, Charleroi, rang 262 times at 8:10 am on Tuesday morning: once for each victim of the worst mining disaster in Belgian history.
At 08:10 on 8 August 1957, a fire broke out in the Bois du Cazier mine. Poisonous smoke blew carbon monoxide into the surrounding galleries. Only 13 of the 275 men who had descended into the mines that morning made it out alive.
That day, 136 of those miners who lost their lives were Italian. At Tuesday's commemoration in Charleroi, Italian Foreign Affairs Minister Antonio Tajani and the Italian Ambassador to Belgium Federica Favi were among the guests who came to pay their respects.
The commemoration chose to honour the past by celebrating the present and future of Belgian-Italian relations, as well as reflecting on the plight of immigrants today. Shortly after the start of the ceremony, two Italian fighter jets soared overhead in honour of the Belgian royal family's Italian heritage – Queen Mother Paola and her two nephews Princes Aymeric and Nicolas were also in attendance.
Princes Aymeric and Nicolas at the Commemoration at Bois du Cazier. Credit: The Brussels Times / Margherita Bassi
Tuesday's commemoration centred the notions of unity and peace: a musical performance in both French and Italian, the laying of flowers at the feet of the monument to the victims of the Bois du Cazier tragedy and a partnership project between Italian and Belgian schools, among others.
However, the legacy of the 1956 fire, that widowed almost 200 women and left over 400 children fatherless, is still a controversial one today.
Only one man convicted on appeal
Following the tragedy, two investigations were launched which, unsurprisingly, came to opposing conclusions. A judicial inquiry found that negligence, lack of organisation and communication was cause to blame the director and the chief engineer of the Bois du Cazier. An inquiry led by the Mining Administration, on the other hand, did not assign any blame.
Though the Belgian trade union initially did not want to take the Mining Administration to court — believing it was a lost cause — growing pressure from the victims' families eventually pushed them to sue. The trial finally started in May of 1959.
Onlookers watching through the gates of the coal mine at Marcinelle on 8 August 1956. Credit: Belga Photo Archives
The Belgian communist organisation Notre Solidarité and several Italian associations— including one subsidised by the Italian government — were extensively involved in the trial on behalf of the victims' families.
Three years later, the entire management was absolved of responsibility to the shock of the general public.
According to historian Julie Rubain, the ruling left questions around the mine's outdated operating methods, unskilled workers and lack of proper investment, unanswered. It was only after an appeal in 1961 that the director of the coal works was sentenced to six months in prison on charges of negligence.
Consequences in Italy
In Italy, the fact that the government had sent young men to their deaths in Belgian mines was starting to gain attention.
After the Bois du Cazier tragedy, Italy pulled out of the coal agreement. Since then, Italy sends ministers to Marcinelle every year to pay their respects — as Foreign Minister Tajani did this year — and 8 August has, furthermore, become an unofficial day dedicated to celebrating Italian workers abroad.
In fact, Italian Ambassador Favi, speaking to The Brussels Times, says that the Marcinelle accident became the symbol, albeit tragic, of Italian communities' contribution to the economic development both at home and in Belgium.
"This is a characteristic that continues despite the change in immigration trends. Italian communities abroad continue to contribute to the success of both their host countries and of Italy," she stated.
Marco Recchia, one of the last surviving Italian-Belgian miners, laying flowers at the foot of the monument to the victims of the Bois du Cazier tragedy with Belgian Minister Karine Lalieux. Credit: The Brussels Times / Margherita Bassi
The legacy of Marcinelle
Still, Italians continued migrating to Belgium even after the Marcinelle tragedy. Marco Recchia, for example, was one of them.
When the Belgian mining opportunity was first advertised, he'd been turned away after failing a medical exam in Milan. But years later — after the discontinuation of the men-for-coal agreement — Recchia nevertheless moved to Belgium to work in the mines, despite the dangers that were, at the time, more obvious than ever.
Recchia, now 95 years old and one of the last surviving Italian miners in Belgium, attended the commemoration on Tuesday. He remembers how government representatives had come to his family's property in Campobasso, Italy, to advertise work opportunities in Belgian mines, following the two countries had struck the man-for-coal deal in 1946.
Needless to say, all the great accommodations and amenities promised to Italian miners did not come to fruition after their arrival in Belgium. "A contract full of lies," said Franco Recchia, Marco Recchia's son, born in Belgium.
Ambassador Favi, however, believes that the silver lining of the mining accident was the rapid integration of Italians in Belgium after that followed. "Before, they were foreign workers. After Marcinelle, Italians became a respected and integrated community. They died together on Belgian land, after all," the Ambassador explained.
Marco Recchia carrying his old oil lamp next to his son Franco Recchia. Credit: The Brussels Times / Margherita Bassi
Some also point to the fire at Bois du Cazier as the turning point in European legislation protecting miners. Recchia, in fact, remembers some minor improvements. He still owns an old oil lamp that he had to carry around his neck for light in the mines, which were then replaced with headlamps.
Miners also began to receive regular medical exams. It was one of these exams, in fact, that informed Recchia six years into his mining career that he had too much pollution in his lungs to continue working.
However, Belgian historian Anne Morelli dispels the idea that the Marcinelle tragedy had any significant impact on workers' rights.
Morelli believes that any advancements in that regard should be attributed to the efforts of workers and their descendants alone. After all, Recchia's medical exam probably saved him from developing silicosis, but it also put a father of four out of a job with next to zero compensation. To this day, Recchia believes that he is still owed money.
Strikers at the Bois du Cazier mine. Credit: Belga Archives
A lesson on war?
Most speeches on Tuesday used the commemoration at Bois du Cazier as a lens to reflect on current crises of war and immigration, especially those caused by the conflict in Ukraine.
"Marcinelle was born in the post-war period, when our countries had been destroyed by the Second World War. Poverty brought Italians and Belgians to Marcinelle. War brings devastation and misery," Ambassador Favi concluded.
"So perhaps now that we have war in Europe once again, it is more important than ever to reflect on this."
