[Leica] Photos from the Bethlehem Steel Works

[lug at steveunsworth.co.uk (Steve Unsworth)]

Nathan, the plant at Volklingen is a Unesco world heritage site and may be
the one you are thinking of.

The videos showed what working there was like, in particular I remember the
film of the coking plant. Men with long rakes were raking out the freshly
produced coke which burst into flames when it came into contact with air.
And the tapping of the furnaces - hell on earth.

Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+lug=steveunsworth.co.uk@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+lug=steveunsworth.co.uk@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Nathan Wajsman
Sent: 18 March 2006 07:47
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: Re: [Leica] Photos from the Bethlehem Steel Works

No kidding. In the summer of 1979, after graduating from high school in 
Denmark, I had a summer job at a brickyard to raise some money for my 
gap year, which I was going to spend in the US (that is when I met the 
girl who later became my wife and that is why I ended up moving there). 
In any event, if I had any doubts about going to college, those 6 weeks 
working in that kind of environment erased any lingering doubts.

As for the general issue of abandoned heavy industry--companies like 
Bethlehem Steel just did not change with the times and went bankrupt, 
which is a normal thing in a market economy. Much of the steel industry 
is now in developing countries--obviously sad for the workers in the US 
and Europe who lost their jobs, but this too is a normal pattern of 
development.

In the German Ruhr area there are sites like this too. They are now on 
the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites and can be visited.

Nathan

Steve Unsworth wrote:
> I visited Volklingen last year - well worth a visit if you're near
> Saarbrucken. I found the scale of the plant and the horrible nature of the
> work there very moving. After seeing some of the on-site videos, I'll
never
> complain about work again. The people who were employed there _really_
> worked for a living.
>
> Steve 

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