Uhelná, 2019
“The whole horrible hole was hidden behind the forest”
Milan Starec and his family moved to Uhelná in 2017. He was excited by the possibility of living in an old half-timbered house in a place where the road ends and there is only a forest behind the yard. He knew about the existence of the mine, of course, but at the time he could only see the chimney of the power plant and the tops of the cooling towers. The mining pit was hidden by the forest and almost nothing could be heard. The forest, which had formed a barrier against the noise, dust, and headlights of Turów, gradually disappeared hectares by hectares, and together with the illegally expanding mine, the fears of Milan’s family and several other residents grew. The need to be actively involved in further development and at the same time the desire to improve the surroundings of Uhelná soon led to the establishment of the Uhelná Neighborhood Association.
