On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Mattmark disaster, an event that occurred on August 30, 1965, in Switzerland, causing one of the most serious workplace tragedies involving Italian emigrants, especially from the Belluno area, The Bellunesi Association in The World aims to remember what happened through an immersive exhibition composed of photographs, documents, films, and video interviews with survivors and family members of the victims.
During the construction of the largest dam in Europe, a massive chunk of ice from the Allalin glacier (about two million cubic meters) broke off and overwhelmed the workers’ accommodations, causing 88 deaths, of which 56 were Italians and 17 were from Belluno. The last body was found two years later. The warning signs had been ignored, but in the trials of 1972, all the defendants were acquitted, and the victims’ families even had to pay half of the legal costs. A tragedy without justice that profoundly marked the collective memory of the area.
An exhibition to understand what happened from the voice of those who were there, from the words of those who saw their lives change in that disaster. A testimony to keep the memory alive.
The inauguration of the exhibition is scheduled for Thursday, August 28, 2025, at 5:00 PM, at MiM Belluno - Interactive Migration Museum, Via Cavour 3, Belluno.
For more information: tel. 0437 941160 - info@mimbelluno.it
