The German Worker: Working-Class Autobiographies from the Age of Industrialization / Edition 1

by Alfred Kelly

Overview

In the two generations before World War I, Germany emerged as Europe's foremost industrial power. The basic facts of increasing industrial output, lengthening railroad lines, urbanization, and rising exports are well known. Behind those facts, in the historical shadows, stand millions of anonymous men and women: the workers who actually put down the railroad ties, hacked out the coal, sewed the shirt collars, printed the books, or carried the bricks that made Germany a great nation. This book contains translated selections from the autobiographies of nineteen of those now-forgotten millions. The thirteen men and six women who speak from these pages afford an intimate firsthand look at how massive social and economic changes are reflected on a personal level in the everyday lives of workers. Although some of these autobiographies are familiar to specialists in German labor history, they are virtually unknown and inaccessible to the broader audience they deserve. This book provides translations that are at once useful, interesting, and entertaining to a wide range of historians, students, and general readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520061248
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	11/20/1987
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	350
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.30(d)

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations    
Acknowledgments    
A Note about Currencies    
Introduction

Karl Fischer, Railroad Excavator    
Ottilie Baader, Seamstress    
Franz Bergg, Apprentice Waiter    
Wenzel Holek, Brickyard Worker    
Adelheid Popp, Factory Worker    
Doris Viersbeck, Cook and House Maid    
Nikolaus Osterroth, Clay Miner    
Franz Rehbein, Farm Worker    
A City Man on a Farm    
Moritz Bromme, Woodworker and Metalworker    
A Barmaid    
Otto Krille, Factory Worker    
Ernst Schuchardt, Workhouse Weaver    
Ludwig Turek, Child Tobacco Worker    
Max Lotz, Coal Miner    
Frau Hoffmann, Retired Maid    
Eugen May, Turner    
Aurelia Roth, Glass Grinder    
Fritz Pauk, Cigar Maker    

Suggestions for Further Reading in English    
Index