To feed the coal-fired power plant, the village of Mühlrose is set to disappear.
Photographer: Daniel Chatard for Bloomberg MarketsThe Coal Industry Is Wiping a Historic German Village Off the Map
As a country’s shift toward clean energy hits challenges, 200 villagers say goodbye to Mühlrose.
The village of Mühlrose in Germany’s far east has stood since the 13th century through wars, fires, unscrupulous lords, the division of the country and its reunification. Now its 200 people are packing up and leaving because of an industry they thought was also being consigned to history. Mühlrose will be wiped off the map to make way for a coal mine.
Only a few signs of the village’s once-fierce resistance remain. “Rescue our beautiful Mühlrose,” reads a flyer on a red brick home, its windows closed and shuttered.