The museum site was chosen in hopes of reversing the fortunes of the depressed Lens mining community, which was devastated by both World Wars and the Nazi occupation, and suffered multiple mining catastrophes including the Courrières mine disaster, the worst in European history, and a 1974 tragedy killing 42 miners.[1][3][4] The last mine in Lens closed in 1986, which caused the unemployment rate to rise well above the French national average.