Heritage and history: Germany’s industrial museums and the (re-) presentation of labour

Abstract

From the 1970s onwards many traditional industries such as coalmining and steelmaking, textiles and clothing declined in Western Europe and were transferred first to Eastern Europe, then to East Asia. The mines and factories that employed hundreds of thousands of people were closed und demolished. A new type of museum came into existence for the first time: the industrial museum, initially in Great Britain, then in other European countries. This paper starts by giving an insight into Germany’s first industrial museum and its work. It then proceeds to present the other major museums of industrial and labour history in Germany. It focuses on the representation of labour and the various related aspects. The paper ends with some suggestions for updating the representation of labour in a period when – after it disappeared into museums – it now seems to be disappearing within them.

Keywords:

• industrial museum
• industrial history
• preservation of monuments
• social history
• labour history
• Germany

Notes

1. Smaller museums with a focus on industrial heritage are: the Porzellanikum in Selb/Bavaria, which consists of the European Industrial Museum for Porcelain, the Rosenthal (firm) Museum and European Museum for Technical Ceramics (http://www.porzellanikon.org/in-Selb.14.0.html, the recently-opened Bavarian Textile and Industrial Museum (tim) in Augsburg, with an emphasis on work, working looms and fashion (http://www.timbayern.de/ausstellung/dauerausstellung, the Industriemuseum Brandenburg an der Havel in a former steelworks containing a Siemens-Martin-Furnace (http://www.industriemuseum-brandenburg.de/050_hof4.htm, the Industrie Museum Lohne (near Osnabrück) in a former joiner’s workshop and a new building (http://www.industriemuseum-lohne.de/start/index.html, and the Museum Industriekultur in Osnabrück in a former coalmine (http://www.industriekultur-museumos.de. The Bergbau- und Industriemuseum Theuern in Eastern Bavaria consists of translocated buildings and is one of the few industrial open-air museums (http://www.museumtheuern.de).