Industrial Museums as Documentations and Memories of Labor: The Case of Zollern Colliery in Dortmund, Germany

Abstract

The Zollern colliery in Dortmund, Germany, constructed in the late 19th- early 20th centuries, is a symbol of the German Empire’s successful steel-mining industry, and a monument to its industrial architecture. In the late 1960s, some artists began a campaign against plans to demolish it, which lead to the conception and development of Industriekultur as the German counterpart to the concept of “industrial heritage.” Based on field research and related literature, this study examines it through four categories: mining architecture, social movement, museum, and exhibition concepts. De-industrialization requires a restructuring of the economy, urban spaces, and lifestyles. A social movement against such changes in urban spaces, caused by de-industrialization, began in the Ruhr area. It was aided by social and political upheavals in the 1960s and 1970s, resulting in the successful institutionalization of Industriekutlur. Th is led to the transformation of the Zollern colliery into a museum depicting the social and cultural history of miners. Despite criticisms for its de-politicization of industrial heritage, the Zollern remains a core institution (re)presenting labor in the historical context.