A memorial house will open in Yangje, southern Seoul, next month to commemorate the hard work and contributions of Korean miners and nurses who went to Germany in the 1960s and 1970s as immigrant workers to make money to send home.

This year marks the 130th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and Germany, and also the 50th anniversary of the dispatch of Korean immigrant miners to Germany.

According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Human Resources Development Service of Korea and the Korea-Deutschland Gesellschaft, a lobby for miners, nurses and nurse assistants who were sent to Germany as immigrant workers, renovation on a building is underway to complete the memorial house in Yangje in February. 

The four-story building with one basement will house two exhibition halls, a seminar room, an office, a shelter and more.

The exhibition halls to be located in the basement and the first floor will showcase hundreds of items, including diaries kept by the miners and nurses, letters exchanged between them and their families back in Korea, and the tools they used at work sites.

The fourth floor will be used as a shelter for those who have no relatives here when they visit Korea.

According to the association, the house will be also used for an educational space to help immigrant workers settle in Korea.

About 20,000 Koreans went to Germany to work as miners, nurses and nurse assistants from 1963 to 1977.

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)