Nach der Schicht

Here, hikers can immerse themselves in the not always easy, often hardship-filled life of the Penth mining family, who may have lived in Welschbach around 100 years ago. Numerous information boards and experience stations provide an insight into the various everyday situations of the time.

The closure of coal mining on the Saar on June 30, 2012 marked the end of an era that shaped Saarland economically, socially and culturally for more than two centuries. Since then, it has been a state-wide concern to keep the culture of remembrance and the history of mining alive for future generations. Many museum facilities and exhibitions focus on the "work underground".

With the "After the shift" adventure trail, the municipality of Illingen wants to focus on the life of miners and their families - at a time when miners earned their living on the shift in the mine and, in the limited time after the shift, farmed a piece of land for self-sufficiency as a so-called miner's farmer. Information boards and experience stations provide an insight into the not always easy and often deprived everyday life of the Penth mining family. Although the family, who may have lived in Welschbach around 100 years ago, is financially active, their life story and the conditions at the time are not.