Scan Magazine – August 2018

Scan Magazine | Culture Feature | Søby Brunkulsmuseum

Web: http://www.brunkulsmuseum.dk

Søby Brunkulsmuseum (brown coal museum) offers a peek into the dangerous work

and lives of Denmark’s brown-coal workers. It also tells the intriguing story of how

the previously inconsequential brown-coal industry became pivotal in providing

Danes with fuel and work during the Second World War.

By Sigen Hansen | Photos: Søby Brunkulsmuseum

At its peak, Denmark’s brown-coal industry

employed more than 6,000 manual workers,

of which 2,000 worked at the Søby mine.

Chairman of the museum board, and au-

thor of the book Det Brune Guld (the brown

gold), Jan Svendsen explains: “Due to the

high level of unemployment in the 1930s,

the Danish government legislated that all

coal digging should be carried out manually

to create more jobs. It was done in open pits

and the risk of collapsing walls made it a

very dangerous occupation.”

Over nearly two decades of manual min-

ing, more than 100 people died in the indus-

try. Despite the dangers and hard labour,

however, many unskilled workers appre-

ciated the performance-paid work. “More

Explore the history of Denmark’s brown gold

than 1,000 people lived in the barracks on-

site and another 1,000 in the surrounding

area,” Svendsen explains. “It was hard work

and most people didn’t expect to be doing

it for more than a few months or years so

were willing to accept the rather squalid

living conditions.”

When the law on manual work was re-

pealed in 1954, however, the mining com-

munity quickly dissolved, leaving nothing

but a ghost town. Today, visitors can enjoy

guided tours around the old barracks, ex-

hibitions with both photos and text, and the

beautiful landscape around the pit lakes.

1 40,- /week

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At Søby Brunkulsmuseum, visitors can explore the

life and work of Denmark’s brown-coal miners.