Industriemuseum Geschichtswerkstatt Herrenwyk

Description

On the edge of Lübeck-Herrenwyk, the Industriemuseum Herrenwyk examines the industrial past of the region; it is housed in the former department store of the Hochofenwerk Lübeck AG and historically links place, production and working life.

The museum primarily documents work in the blast-furnace plant and everyday life in the works' colony, with a focus on the 1920s and 1930s. This focus is complemented by the presentation of the rise and decline of the Flender-Werft. As a Geschichtswerkstatt the institution furthermore researches and presents Lübeck’s broader industrial culture and the history of workers’ culture. It is run by the Kulturstiftung Hansestadt Lübeck.

The collection has its roots in a 1983 exhibition shown by the Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte der Hansestadt Lübeck; the success of that presentation led to the permanent use of the department store as a museum with permanent and temporary exhibitions.

The exhibition holdings include materials on the social situation of the workforce, political movements and the history of associations. Reconstructions such as a merchant’s shop and a forge with historical tools illustrate working and living environments; a steam forging hammer is also part of the display. Production processes are exemplarily illustrated with documents on the manufacture of submarine parts and one-man submarines at the Flender-Werke.

A dedicated room is devoted to research on forced labor: maps show the companies active in Lübeck that used forced laborers during the Second World War, as well as the locations of the camps. The maps are complemented by individual case histories in a loose-leaf collection, which is also used by relatives for tracing.

The depots preserve machines, tools and objects of workers’ everyday culture as well as an extensive toy collection. The archive comprises photographs, blueprints, employee card files and diaries, including photographic holdings on the Hochofenwerk, the Flender-Werft and the Lübecker Maschinenbau Gesellschaft.