Marcinelle: 65 years later, the memory returns to the presence

Sixty-five years after the tragedy in which 262 miners lost their lives, including 136 Italians, the Unesco site of the Bois du Cazier in Marcinelle, Belgium, hosts today the commemoration ceremony again in attendance after the forced interruption of last year due to the Covid.

The ceremony started at 8 am with 262 bell tolls, followed by multi-confessional religious homages and official speeches. Italy was represented by Undersecretary Benedetto Della Vedova, Ambassador of Italy to Belgium Francesco Genuardi, Director General for Italians Abroad and Migration Policies, Luigi Maria Vignali, and Senator Raffaele Fantetti of the Foreign Commission. Also present were the Deputy Prime Minister of the Belgian Federal Government, Pierre-Yves Dermagne, the Municipal Councilor of Charleroi, Babette Jandrain, the Minister for Construction of the Walloon Government, Christophe Collignon, other political representatives and numerous exponents of the Italian and local community and of the miners' associations.

This year the ceremony takes on "a particular significance, taking place at a time when both Belgium and Italy are at the forefront of the European effort for a common recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic within the framework of Next Generation EU" , reads a note from the Italian embassy in Belgium. "All this takes place a few weeks after the terrible floods that hit the southern part of Belgium and which saw Italy as the protagonist of European aid in the context of the protection mechanism and the traditional and deep spirit of friendship that binds the two countries" .