Parents & Children Group Visits Historic Copper Mine Published May 5, 2011 By German American and International Women's Club 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany -- A group of families from the GAIWC's Parents and Children Group recently visited the historic copper mine in Fishbach. Twenty-three children and 14 adults took a mostly English language tour of this medieval mine and copperworks and learned a bit about life in the middle ages. Mining was actually one of the better paying jobs, paying four times as much as farming. Miners also were allowed certain privileges, such as the right to wear a beard. Still, mining was a very difficult life. Men began work in the mines at age 16 and because of the working conditions were often blind and nearly crippled by age 30. Women and children worked in the smelting area where they were exposed to dangerous fumes. Because of this exposure, miners were extremely small in stature. The group took a look at prospecting tunnel where a full grown man of the middle ages would have stood upright to work. It was the height of 8-year-old Anna! Interestingly, miners lived relatively long lives, probably due to the better nutrition afforded them by their better wages. Still, the group concurred, it couldn't have been a pleasant retirement. For general club information, visit www.GAIWC.com.