Interview with Karl-Heinz Cewe, a former lignite industry employee from Welzow, Brandenburg.

By Tine Langkamp

Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Karl-Heinz Cewe and I was born in 1955 on the outskirts of Wolkenberg. Wolkenberg is a village that was demolished to make way for an opencast coal mine. The residents lost their homes, and to make matters worse, they were poorly compensated. I now live in Welzow right next to the mine.

Did you work in the coal industry here in Lusatia?

Yes, I began working in the coal industry in 1970. I started out working in the various divisions of the briquette factory. I was let go in 1991, but shortly after that I was rehired in the Jänschwalde opencast mine, where I was on the Cottbus Nord payroll. I haven’t worked in the coal industry since 1997. I’m now working as a facility manager and provide transport services.

The situation back then was like some kind of macabre game. Vattenfall wanted to continue operating the mine, even though it had already been decided to shut down the mine. Cottbus Nord served as a back-up mine for times when there were additional power requirements, and it was to employ just one team. (The last coal train left Cottbus Nord on Christmas Day 2015. A lake called “Cottbusser Ostsee” will be created on the site.) So 300 people were let go, including me. I subsequently started legal proceedings three times to challenge this decision. I had to go to court three times because the name of the company changed three times over this period (from Kohle-Energie-Cottbus to Rheinbraun to Lausitzer Braunkohleenergie). Then Vattenfall took over eight years ago. But in reality it was the same style, the same employees and the same management.

The mine was very profitable back then, but only a few people benefited from this. At the same time, jobs were being cut. Out of the original 85,000 employees, only 7,000 managed to hold on to their jobs. It’s incredible that anyone who buys a piece of land in Germany has to disclose the property price and pay land transfer tax, while Vattenfall is making deals worth billions of Euros but agrees on purchase prices behind closed doors. It is swindling citizens and the state, and we abet it. The company actually claims money back from inland revenue because the coal business is doing so badly.

Vattenfall produces energy from wind, gas power plants, water and coal, but none of the profits end up in Germany or with the workers. There are French, Dutch and other divisions, but we don’t benefit. Our leaders just play along.

How are the people who live here getting on?

The citizens who live next to the mine have been completely abandoned. The company breaks out in a cold sweat at the prospect of a tribunal or legislation to protect local residents who have been negatively affected by the mine.

However, the opinions of people living in the region are divided, because Vattenfall is the only employer, and investment in other sectors was prevented in the past. Other sectors had no secure basis for planning here, because there was always a chance that the strata could fracture or that entire areas would be bulldozed. As a result, even coal industry contracts were outsourced to other regions.

Nevertheless, lots of people stick by Vattenfall, because they want to see their children grow up here. But the younger generation is leaving the region. The secondary school only has classes in the lower levels. We have fantastic playgrounds, but no kids. Our villages are made of cardboard. It’s like during World War II, when cardboard villages were erected and tanks were made of rubber. Vattenfall is doing exactly the same thing with its prestige projects in the region. There’s no substance.

Why are you actively involved in the anti-coal movement?

I feel cheated by Vattenfall. We had a farmhouse that was bulldozed in 1991, and the compensation we received was measly. They shouldn’t have been allowed to destroy this village. The former East Germany followed ten-year plans. After that, the coal industry had huge power over the villages here. For example, it imposed building bans so that you weren’t even allowed to repair your own house. When bans are being imposed like this, the next generation doesn’t want to stay. Capitalism couldn’t resolve this situation. After reunification [of Western and Eastern Germany in 1989], the government had the chance to create fair conditions, but it didn’t. The CDU [the party Christian democratic union] is primarily responsible for this. Pegida [Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident [German anti-Islamic movement] and other movements are the consequences of their shoddy work.

What exactly do you do in the anti-coal movement?

I contribute to the campaign for local residents who are living at the edge of the mines and thus directly affected. The town council has a working group that negotiates with Vattenfall. Now we have to question all the work this group has done, because the mines are going to be sold. We demand at least €10,000 compensation for each property that is destroyed. And we want affordable energy and water. Sprinkler systems are supposed to ward off hazardous coal dust, but they’re only turned on when journalists are around.

I don’t know for sure if I’m doing the right thing, but I think I am.

I’ll retire in four years. If we were still under communism, I’d be in prison by now.