paulie B had the opportunity to spend a couple of hours with the legendary Martha Cooper.

The law allowed firms to relocate residents and even entire villages for the brown gold that is located underneath their houses.

Till now around 30 villages have been relocated due to the mining activities in the region. The RWE is mining the brown coal from underneath the houses to power the big power station that is located between 2 big open mines. At this point a large group of people is fighting to stop the demolition of the villages but the only success they had was the village called Holzweiler. The people who live there are not happy because in the future there will be one road in and one road out. The rest outside of the village will be dug away.

In this photo series we do not only take a look at the disappearing villages and the people that live there but also the forest and animals that are moving away.

Welcome to my new website I hope you like the photos and content. If you have any suggestion or comments feel free to contact m