Pochjungen on the Bastenberg (Mining Trail 19)

Once the ore had been extracted, the metal-bearing lumps were pre-sorted at the mouth of the tunnel and separated from the waste rock. This work was often carried out by children aged 10 to 14, the so-called "Pochjungen", under the guidance of older miners. Under the supervision of a foreman, they smashed the ore with a Hamme on thick metal plates before it was collected for transportation.

The work was physically demanding and dangerous: from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., the boys toiled in the dust and smell of lead, fortified only with a few slices of bread and water. In order to combine education and work, a mining school was set up in Ramsbeck in 1842: Early in the morning from 4.30 to 7.30 a.m., the Poch boys received lessons before the daily work began.

With the introduction of legal age limits, the number of working children fell and the daily routine became better organized: School in the morning, work in the afternoon.

Even today, in some regions of the world, there are still children working in mines under difficult conditions - an indication that the problem of child labor is by no means a thing of the past.