Bildjournalismus

“Man of labor wake up! And recognize your power! All wheels stand still when your strong arm wills it.” Over 100 years later, the power of the worker described in the 1863 song for the General German Workers’ Association by the socialist Georg Herwegh was also felt by the management board of Hannoversche Maschinenbau AG (Hanomag). After informing the workforce on April 26, 1967 that their wages were to be cut by 5%, the protest was not long in coming. When the workers went on strike a little later, Joachim Giesel was also present. In his photograph from May 17, the brick Hanomag factory with the white letters stretches monumentally upwards. In the foreground, six workers of different ages can be seen sitting demonstratively on the brick wall that juts diagonally into the depth of the picture. Due to the way they are lined up, Giesel’s shot is reminiscent of the iconic advertising photograph Lunch atop a Skyscraper (1932) by Charly Clyde Ebbets. In the background, a one-legged man with crutches, possibly a former Wehrmacht soldier, disappears along the sidewalk. The locked factory entrance symbolically refers to the closed factory. The strike is successful! On May 19, the Management Board has to correct its policy and withdraws the announced wage cuts. Giesel’s photographs are printed in the IG Metall magazine Der Gewerkschafter, which reports on the strike. “Bread is freedom, freedom is bread!”, goes Herwegh’s national song.

Jonathan Fulda