Buildings once used for coal mining make up the Parc Explor Wendel complex in Petite-Rosselle, France, one of the most well-preserved coal mining sites in the country. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
Many Americans know the story of U.S. troops helping to liberate France from Nazi rule during World War II. What is less often talked about is what came next and how the country rebuilt in the years that followed.
Coal played a critical role in that recovery, powering factories, railways and homes. And much of it was mined in northeastern France, about an hour’s drive from what is now the largest U.S. military community overseas, in Kaiserslautern, Germany.
That history is still visible today at the Wendel Mine Museum, part of the Parc Explor Wendel complex, a former coal mine site in Petite-Rosselle, near the German border. The complex is named after the Wendel family, an influential industrial dynasty that helped develop mining and steel production in the region.
The Wendel 2 shaft is one of three shafts at Parc Explor Wendel. It was sunk in 1871, not long after coal was discovered at the site in 1865. The shaft is nearly a half mile deep, and 16 feet in diameter. The headframe rises about 177 feet above ground. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
The Electra 2000 is one of several large coal-cutting machines on display at the Wendel Mine, which features reconstructed mine galleries. Guided tours are offered three times a day. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
Rusting headframes tower over Parc Explor Wendel in Petite-Rosselle, France, where visitors can learn about coal mining in the area dating back to the 19th century. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
During a recent visit, the site was quiet, far removed from a time when thousands of miners earned their living here. Rusting headframes rose above the grounds, and a few people walked their dogs along a path next to weathered buildings.
In the museum, a video plays soon after visitors enter, framing coal miners as central to France’s postwar recovery. The tone is striking. Today, coal is often seen as dirty and outdated, but the film makes clear how essential mines like Wendel once were for industrial development.
At its peak, the Lorraine coal basin produced roughly a quarter of France’s coal. Mining in the area dates back to the 19th century, with industrial operations beginning in Petite-Rosselle in 1856.
A statue of St. Barbara is displayed at the Wendel Mine Museum. Statues of the saint, the patron of miners and those in other dangerous professions, were traditionally placed at the entrance to mine tunnels. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
Photographs along the walls of the Wendel Mine Museum show what life was like at the mine complex, where coal mining began in the 19th century and continued into the early 2000s. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
The museum traces that history in detail. Early tools and lamps show how dangerous the work once was. The first lamps used open flames, which could ignite methane and cause deadly explosions.
Moving through the exhibits, I found myself focusing less on the machinery and more on the experiences of the miners.
After their shifts, the miners had to take collective showers to clean off the coal dust that clung to them during the physically demanding work. They helped scrub each other’s backs, often singing and whistling in the shower rooms that visitors now walk through, according to descriptions in the museum.
Outside the showers, their clothes hung from ceiling-mounted hooks, lifted out of the way to dry. This impressive system is also on display.
Clothes hang from ceiling-mounted hooks in the Wendel Mine Museum, part of the Parc Explor Wendel complex in Petite-Rosselle, France. Each miner had a numbered hook for storing street and work clothes while showering. The clothes were dried using a compressed air system under the ceiling. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
Numerous photographs help bring the preserved spaces back to life, showing what the average workday was like and how tightly connected the workers were to one another.
In addition to the museum, a guided tour takes visitors into reconstructed mine galleries.
My guide spoke only French, but the displays along the route were in English. At the start of the tour, we stepped into an elevator, where a video showed miners in a cage descending into a pit. When the doors opened, we walked into a series of tunnels filled with massive machinery.
For a while, I believed we were far below the surface. It was only after about 15 minutes, when I said something to the guide, that he laughed and explained we had never left ground level. The descent had been a simulation, and a very convincing one.
The re-created mine shows techniques used up until the final years of coal mining in France, which ended in 2004. Walking through the tunnels, it is easy to imagine the noise, heat and repetition miners faced day after day.
The Wendel site is part of the European Route of Industrial Heritage, a network of historic sites across Europe that helped drive the Industrial Revolution and are now preserved and open to the public.
Before leaving, I stopped at Café Kaffeeklatsch, a small café on site with cakes and vintage decor. After spending hours learning about the harsh conditions underground, sitting down with a large slice of cheesecake offered a quiet moment to appreciate the past and feel happy to be living in the present.
A slice of cheesecake and hot chocolate at Café Kaffeeklatsch, a small café at Parc Explor Wendel known for its cakes and vintage decor. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
A trail running alongside Parc Explor Wendel offers visitors an up-close look at an old coal mining building that has fallen into disrepair. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
Park Explor Wendel
Address: Lieutenant Joseph Nau street, 57540 Petite-Rosselle, France
Cost: Adults (museum and mine) 12 euros, adults (museum or the mine) 8 euros, children 6-18 (museum and mine) 6 euros, children (museum or the mine) 4 euros, children under 6 free.
Hours: Open all year Tuesdays to Sundays 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., closed January 1, May 1, December 24-26 and 31.
Information: Online: https://parc-explor.com; phone: +33 (0)3 87 87 08 54
