Former coal mining towns in Zuid-Limburg are seeking compensation for the social and economic damage caused by the closure of privately owned coal mines in 1975.

The area received economic support from the state, which owned part of the mines, but none was forthcoming from four private companies. The closure of the mines left 75,000 people without a job, and the formerly prosperous province went into a decline.

The call for compensation first came from Limburg historian Marc Hermans, who found the companies had not done anything to support the out-of-work coal miners. “They made a lot of money and they should have provided aftercare,” he told broadcaster NOS.

The lack of compensation is “immoral”, he said. “They closed the book and never looked back at a region where they were responsible for 75,000 people.”

Heerlen mayor Roel Wever, whose town was among the most prosperous at the time, is one of seven ex-mining town mayors to support the call. “We shared a past with these companies; now let’s see if we can share a future,” he said.

Former miner, Jo Wiertz, who is a tour guide at the oldest mine in Limburg in Kerkrade, said the owners of the mines “just left, never to be heard from again. We felt let down and we still do,” he said.

The mayors have invited the families who owned the mines to discuss the shape the compensation should take, the most prominent being the Van der Vorm family, currently a major shareholder in HAL Investments.

However, a spokesman for the company said no investments were ever made in the Limburg mines.

The Wendel family, who also owned mines, said it  “did what was necessary with humanity and in financially immaculate circumstances”. “The closure of their mines was ‘”done with the greatest respect for our former workers’ and “in the best possible circumstances”, the family told current affairs programme Nieuwsuur.

The Van der Vorm family earned a large part of its fortune in the port of Rotterdam. One of their philanthropic projects in the city involves taking on poor families’ debts.

“That would be a good idea for Zuid-Limburg,” Hermans said. “The Kerkrade mine was the personal possession of Willem van der Vorm. If they felt they had a debt of honour towards the port workers, they should feel the same about the miners. Because this mine is at the root of the family fortune.”