No, the two ex-miners from immigrant families didn’t first meet in the bowels of the earth, but by casually playing… soccer. It was 2002, and they both lived in the same town, Vanne-Eikel in the Ruhr region, which is inextricably linked with the history of the mineral industry in Germany. Erkan worked at the Prosper-Haniel mine, George was transferred there a year later, in 2003. But in that first moment of acquaintance, football was more important. They both liked to play. In the game they quickly discovered that they both did the same job. That they came from the same place, their immigrant parents came from the same area. And as usual, they exchanged experiences, images, as if they had known each other for a long time.

Common origin from Pontus

They met again on the job, or rather underground, at a depth of 1,000 meters. “The climate was very different compared to other jobs,” recalls Erkan. “The camaraderie prevailed. Hard and dangerous work acted as a connecting link. We worked together, took breaks together, ate snacks together. But we also met after work. They looked for each other and we talked about the difficulties, everyday life”.

“Our work was very dangerous, then the safety conditions were not the same as later,” says Giorgos, “the physical strain at high temperatures, humidity, dust and stench acted as adhesives. We were a bunch. Regardless of religion, race, political belief, Greeks, Turks, Italians, it didn’t matter. Erkan’s father, like mine, were uprooted from their homeland, came here as guest workers to find bread.”

George’s father – Jörg as he is called in German – Yiannis Laftsidis first came in 1962 to Dortmund via Yugoslavia with the famous Hellas-Express. In order to get the coveted contract and work at the Hannibal mine in Bochum he declared that he was born 3 months earlier . He retired in 1994. Tough years. Working in the mines cost him two fingers, black marks all over his body, a whole life wasted. George’s mother is German and currently lives in Herne with her daughter, Maria Laftsidou-Kriger*. German was almost always spoken at home. Language was never the problem. George’s grandfather, Lazaros Laftsidis, was uprooted in 1922 from Trabzon on the Pontos and came with his family first to Thessaloniki, then Nea Moudania and then Nea Roda.

Erkan was born in 1972 in Germany. His parents came to Germany in 1970 from the Pontus city of Bartin. It is the ancient Greek city of Parthenio and goes back to the river of the same name (today Bartın Çayı). His father worked hard in the mines. He never learned proper German, he lived with the dream of returning: “He wanted to make some money and come back to Turkey one day” recalls Erkan. “It was a constant struggle with the language, the bureaucracy, the difficulties in Germany were great”, he adds. His father died 13 years ago in Germany from a disease common to miners.

“Politics had no place in the mines”

The common path of the two families in life became a connecting link for the two men. “You can easily understand the positive energy, the open, honest behavior, you feel that this man suits you”, says Giorgos Laftsidis about Erkan. “Furthermore, Greeks and Turks have a special bond, not only because they are people of the south, but because they have a lot in common besides religion. Food, music, culture, history, dances, and this is something that strengthens a friendship even more. I had Turkish friends since I was little.” And politics? Did politics have a place in the miners’ lives? “Politics always plays a role, but not between us,” says George. “It was never a topic of discussion for us even since we played football with Erkan. And later at work we didn’t care, we didn’t ask each other what was happening in each other’s country, about Erdogan, or about anyone else, because it was something that concerned the country itself, it didn’t affect our relationship. Germany is used to pointing fingers at other countries, but politics never fit inside the mines.”

But also for Erkan, the friendship with Giorgos was special: “We feel closer as Turks and Greeks. No matter what our governments did. Politics didn’t affect us, it didn’t matter at all We are both human. What counted for me was humanity, honesty, from which country and culture it didn’t matter to us. We were a family, from Turkey, Greece, Asia, we are all flesh and blood”. The name of Giorgos Laftsidis was inextricably linked with the end of coal mining in the Ruhr region, when it became too expensive. On December 21, 2018, at the Prosper Haniel mine in Bottrop, the miners symbolically offered the last piece of hard coal from a German mine into the hands of the then and current President of the Republic, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. End credits after almost 200 years…

“At the ceremony 500 people were invited from politics, the economy, the president of the Republic, the then president of the Commission Junker, Lasset, it was a special day, I told my comrades, be careful, today we are writing German history”. Who knows how much resistant to hard work was Laftsidis in the mines, he was surprised to see in the newspaper photos his liquid blue eyes, which he inherited from his German mother – a reason for his father to fall in love with her…

Two hearts, one soul

Erkan and Giorgos keep in touch even today when they are in their well-earned retirement. They got out early, like all miners. The deep friendship that unites them becomes immediately visible under the ripe September sun that morning of our meeting at the Coal Mining Museum in Bochum (Bergbaumuseum). They never played football again. Erkan is recovering from meniscus surgery. He had hit his knee in the mine where he was working. George has no time, he is active in politics as a member of the Social Democratic Party, a councilor in his constituency of Hame/Hordel and unwavering in his voluntary work with the elderly and anyone else who needs his help. Last year, however, he organized a football match for the victims of the earthquake in Turkey. A Greek-Turkish friendship of immigrant children from the Pontus with two hearts, but one soul and a friendship forged in the mines of the Ruhr… in the bowels of the earth, language, origin, skin and hair color never played a role. And this can be seen in the friendship that all the miners developed among themselves.

*Maria Laftsidou-Kriger wrote a book about the history of her father and her family entitled “From Pontos to the Mines” (Von Pontos in den Pott).