Coal Men

The good times are over: anyone still heating their home with coal has to dig deep in their pockets. This fact is also responsible for the disappearance of a particular line of work. Martin Krüger’s respectful narrative documentation follows the working days of Germany's few remaining coal men.

LFI: Your work is repeatedly dedicated to disappearing professions – is the purpose of your images to preserve history?
Martin Krüger: In part, yes. However, for me, the decisive factor in this case was the pre-industrial way of working, which, within the context of digitalisation and the changes in the working world, shows a milieu that has come to a standstill, without the help of machines: up stairs; down stairs; a break for a quick bite in the car; and a sip of coffee, sponsored by the client. Aching muscles and sweat define the daily lives of coal men. The aim of this series is to make visible the kind of everyday working situations that often appear casual or banal, and to give space for a questioning of the mundane to emerge.

How many “coal men” remain in Germany, and how did they react to your project?
At first they were sceptical. The tone in a coal yard is raw, and it took time for them to tolerate me as a photographer. There are only a few coal men left here, maybe a couple of dozen, if that. The profession is slowly dying. It’s hard and dirty work; the days are long and the pay is bad. We’re seeing the last of the “coal men” here. With the government’s plan to phase out coal, they will all disappear.

Black as coal – was your use of monochrome imagery a natural consequence?
Yes, definitely. The hard work, reflected in faces and bodies, the memories of the history and origins of a line of work from days long gone and forgotten – all this meant that reducing the series to a finely chiselled monochromatic piece of work was preordained.

How did you find working with the Leica M? What did you want to highlight in particular?
Working with the Leica M is always very withdrawn, pointed, and unobtrusive, allowing a playful proximity to the subject. My focus lay on the heaviness – the effort it takes to keep going. I also wanted to make it possible to get a sense of the exhaustion, the loneliness and the quiet moments that come with this work.