One of the figures inseparably connected with Upper Silesian mining and Zabrze was Walther Steinhoff who was born on January 15, 1872 in Katowice. Later, he moved to Chorzów at Rynek No. 11. Initially, he started working in the "Król" mine (Königsgrube) in Chorzów. In 1901 he became a mining assessor. In the years 1906-1918 he was employed as an inspector at the Mining Inspection in Chorzów. In 1918, as a mining advisor, he took over the management of the Mining Inspection in Zabrze, which had just moved to a new seat. In the same year, he became the director of the "Królowa Luiza" (Königin-Luise-Grube) mine, the later "Zabrze" mine. It was the time of Germany's war defeat, workers' uprisings and strikes, Silesian uprisings and a plebiscite. Employment and production fell. The director had to cope with all these adversities.
He died suddenly on June 23, 1923. He was most likely buried in the Evangelical cemetery in Chorzów, where he was an honorary councilor of the city for many years. During his work at the "Król" mine in Chorzów, he introduced many improvements, and in the "Królowa Luiza" mine in Zabrze, he was the first in Europe to implement coal mining using the bucket method. Between Zaborze and Pawłów, he established a folk and sports park for the commune
Zaborze. There was, among other things, a playground and a large pond. This is today's Pilecki Park.