Wismut (mining Company) - Impacts For The Employees

Impacts For The Employees

Although the Erzgebirge had a nearly 700 year old mining history when uranium mining started after World War II, mining had nearly ceased in the area. Resulting, there was neither a qualified workforce nor mining equipment which could be used. However, after the war the unemployment rate was high in Germany, and the Soviet Administration in East Germany ordered the employment centers across the country to supply them with workers. Within few years thousands of people from all across Germany including refugees from the formerly German regions now being part of Poland and the Soviet Union were drafted to the uranium mining centers. People got orders that they had to start working in the uranium mines otherwise there would be strict sanctions for them. At the end of the 1940s, more than 100,000 people worked for the SAG Wismut. This also included women, although they did not work on the stopes itself but operated machinery (locomotives, hoisting machines) on the mines, worked in the mills, laboratories and administration. In contrast to the Czech Republic and the Soviet Union, no prisoners were forced to work in the mines. Most of these people had never worked in the mining industry before and had no qualifications. This and the lack of mining equipment caused that the mines were operated like centuries ago with a high number of deadly work accidents. Forced drafting of workers ended in 1949, however security measures on the mine sites remained very strict. Between 1951 and 1953, 73 miners accused of espionage and sabotage were deported to the USSR and executed. The low technology standards caused significant health risks to the miners. Drill hammers arriving for the mines in the late 1940s did not allow wet drilling which led to the exposures of thousands of miners to the dangerous quartz dust. Furthermore, the narrow galleries in combination with the lack of proper ventilation leading to high concentrations of radon and its decay products in the mines. The quartz dust and radon were responsible for the two most serious work related diseases, silicosis and lung cancer. By beginning of 1997, 14,592 cases of silicoses and 5,275 of lung cancer were officially recognised as work-related disease for miners at the Wismut. It is estimated that there were 200 deadly accidents between 1946 and 1948 and 376 in the years between 1949 and 1964, including 33 miners being killed in a fire on a mine in Schlema in 1955. The total number of deadly accidents including the estimates for the early years is 772. During the 1950s the technological equipment and the skill of the work force of the Wismut improved dramatically. The exposure to radon and quartz dust was reduced significantly by improving mining methods, equipment, ventilation and knowledge of the miners. But at this time it was already to late for the health of thousands of miners starting earlier in the company. During the 1950s, the workforce of the company shrank to about 45,000 and stabilised at this level to the end of the 1980s. During these later years, the Wismut had one of the best educated workforces of all companies in East Germany with the highest number of degrees per employee.