The village that came back from the dead
In Germany 300 villages have been destroyed since the Second World War because of the coal that lay beneath them. Sometimes there’s a reprieve. But does it come too late?
In Germany some 300 villages have been destroyed since the Second World War because of the coal that lay beneath them. Villagers have grown up in the knowledge that one day their house will be torn down and generally they’ve accepted the deal on offer: the mine buys their house and they build a new one in a brand-new village. But the demands of climate change and the need to curb CO2 emissions has changed attitudes to fossil fuels. In one region west of Cologne all mining activity will cease by 2030, 15 years earlier than planned. Which means that villages designated for demolition are now going to survive. That news isn’t always welcome. Tim Mansel has visited one of them.
Produced and presented by Tim Mansel
Studio Manager: Rod Farquhar
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Penny Murphy
The programme includes music composed and performed by Bernd Servos
(Image: Bürgewald, once doomed to demolition, now the “village of the future. Credit: Tim Mansel/BBC)
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