Der Spiegel has a nice
13-image photoessay offering a tribute to the "rubble women" who cleaned up wartime debris.
The Trummerfrauen would form human chains to pass usable bricks to a collection point where they were cleaned and stacked... Once the old bricks were collected, they had to be meticulously cleaned and sorted so they could be reused. The work done by the Trümmerfrauen kicked off decades of reconstruction in Germany... In addition to their valuable contribution to cleaning up Germany after the war, the Trümmerfrauen also went a long way toward changing attitudes about gender roles. Until then, manual labor had been performed almost exclusively by men.
They should have toured Europe after the war doing this!
ReplyDeleteIn addition to their valuable contribution to cleaning up Germany after the war, the Trümmerfrauen also went a long way toward changing attitudes about gender roles.
ReplyDeleteThat, and the fact that there were almost no men left to do the work.