Life at Schneeberg
Although its mining history goes back at least 800 years, it is still difficult to describe in general terms the conditions of life in Schneeberg, at an altitude of more than 2,300 metres. Except for periods during which work was interrupted, the economic and social conditions, and with them the number of workers, varied considerably. When the mines were flourishing, around the year 1500, the quality of life was quite good, and as many as one thousand workers were employed. The mine was quite a good source of earnings even for non-specialized workers, such as those working pullies, trucks and wagons inside the mine, and others dragging ore out, raising water, crushing ore and washing it. Specialized workers, pick-miners, were sought after and knew how to exploit their talents in the market place and extend their privileges. All those who were involved in mining had the right to mining liberty, which allowed them peaceful economic development, similar to that enjoyed by the inhabitants of convents and monasteries in Medieval cities. The supreme authority on earth was the mining judge, even though he was quite far away, first at Terlan in the Etsch valley and, from 1479, at Sterzing. The isolation of the miners’ village at Schneeberg guaranteed them a special position both inside the Tyrol mines and outside them. The working time-table of miners who had families in the valley was specially organized so that, in place of the usual eight hours a day underground, the miners worked ten. In this way, after two weeks’ work, they had accumulated one week off, and this meant that they needed to make the tiring journey up and down the mountains less often.
Little is known of the arduous life in the mine in more modern times. Various decrees by the local prince against the ‘bad behaviour of men, and their unpleasant vices, lusts and thoughtlessness’ (1578) and the exhortation to attend mass on Sundays and feast-days, so that the Omnipotent – irritated by the miners’ irregular lifestyle – should not bring an end to their mineral wealth, all indicate that the workers were negligent about the moral teachings of the church.
Instead, daily life is well-documented after 1870, when state-run mining started up again. As well as written sources, there are drawings and even early taped recordings and photographs, which give an even more authentic picture than any written description, and provide vivid impressions of life at Schneeberg and the enrichment plant at Maiern.
Life was hard for the mining folk. They were subject to a combination of pressures due to their work and the harshness of their environment: very strenuous labour, extreme climatic conditions, isolation from the outside world, and lack of space in dwellings – an often explosive mixture. Superiors, employees, educated people and the illiterate, men and women, married and single, workers (both men and women) from the various valleys, of various nationalities, speaking different languages and holding different political convictions, bold adventurers, ex-prisoners, old people and young . . . the potential for conflict inside the mining community was enormous. For all these reasons, quarrels often finished in personal tragedies like suicide, murder, fierce brawls, and grievous bodily harm; the possibility of imprisonment or loss of work were added dangers.
Instead, nearly a hundred years later, a note of humour appears in an anonymous letter dated October 1910, addressed to the imperial district mining office of Hall, in which a woman informed the authorities of her proposals for improving the composition of the workforce:
‘In the name of all the workers of Schneeberg, we again courteously request you to terminate the employment of Maria Fröhlich. In autumn, our request was complied with, but she is now up here again: a truly quarrelsome being, a liar, a malicious gossip and a horrible person. The same may be said of Mrs Filomena Urthaler. As long as these two women are here, we can have neither tranquillity nor peace. Often the whole population of Schneeberg is thoroughly upset because of these women. We could write entire pages, if we wished to reveal everything, but we have pretended to close our eyes to many things. Once again, we repeat our request.
The workers of Schneeberg.’
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