Page 177 - Mellinato, Giulio, and Aleksander Panjek. Eds. 2022. Complex Gateways. Labour and Urban History of Maritime Port Cities: The Northern Adriaticin a Comparative Perspective. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 177
A Respected Profession After All: Work Structures and Self-Perceptions ...
called HafenCity, a vast restructuring project, occurring in several oth-
er European port cities. Characteristic features of the former port and
its labour remain in the form of warehouses and cranes and function as
the scenery for this event-space, where the profound change of maritime
economy materializes.
Apart from material and tangible transformations, several new pro-
tagonists began to appropriate the former port area: city marketing, art-
ists, city guides, students, researchers, etc. discovered the district for
themselves. However, the port’s specific history, and above all that of
its workers, remains rather underrepresented. Besides the International
Maritime Museum, which is devoted primarily to the history of shipping
and maritime culture in general, the Speicherstadtmuseum is another
private institution dedicated to a specific section of former dock work
in the warehouse district. This marginality of the history of dock work
in the city’s representation is surprising, as the port has always played a
central role in Hamburg’s economic policy and in the city’s self-image and
marketing (Amenda and Grünen 2008, 56 ff.).
As last witnesses of the old port, several workers not only experi-
enced this process passively but became involved and accompanied it ac-
tively. Hence, besides the technical transformation, a parallel process
of historicizing the port and disappearing working methods has taken
place since 1989, when historical ships turned into museum sites for the
first time. Already in 1986, some former port workers and trade unionists
raised the idea of a museum, which finally opened its doors in 2005. The
Harbour Museum, in which the old working world is preserved and made
tangible, is situated opposite Speicherstadt and HafenCity in one of the
last heritage-protected quay sheds built in 1908. It is located within close
range of the container terminals. While the Harbour Museum is the fo-
rum where former workers in the port convey their experiences and meet
up, at the same time, it has been established as a venue for events in the
local cultural scene and for cultural tourism (Schemmer 2018b). The cul-
tural commitment testifies to a strong awareness of the significance of
the changes regarding not only the profession but also the port and the
shaping of the city. Such consciousness also informs the narratives of my
interview partners.
177
called HafenCity, a vast restructuring project, occurring in several oth-
er European port cities. Characteristic features of the former port and
its labour remain in the form of warehouses and cranes and function as
the scenery for this event-space, where the profound change of maritime
economy materializes.
Apart from material and tangible transformations, several new pro-
tagonists began to appropriate the former port area: city marketing, art-
ists, city guides, students, researchers, etc. discovered the district for
themselves. However, the port’s specific history, and above all that of
its workers, remains rather underrepresented. Besides the International
Maritime Museum, which is devoted primarily to the history of shipping
and maritime culture in general, the Speicherstadtmuseum is another
private institution dedicated to a specific section of former dock work
in the warehouse district. This marginality of the history of dock work
in the city’s representation is surprising, as the port has always played a
central role in Hamburg’s economic policy and in the city’s self-image and
marketing (Amenda and Grünen 2008, 56 ff.).
As last witnesses of the old port, several workers not only experi-
enced this process passively but became involved and accompanied it ac-
tively. Hence, besides the technical transformation, a parallel process
of historicizing the port and disappearing working methods has taken
place since 1989, when historical ships turned into museum sites for the
first time. Already in 1986, some former port workers and trade unionists
raised the idea of a museum, which finally opened its doors in 2005. The
Harbour Museum, in which the old working world is preserved and made
tangible, is situated opposite Speicherstadt and HafenCity in one of the
last heritage-protected quay sheds built in 1908. It is located within close
range of the container terminals. While the Harbour Museum is the fo-
rum where former workers in the port convey their experiences and meet
up, at the same time, it has been established as a venue for events in the
local cultural scene and for cultural tourism (Schemmer 2018b). The cul-
tural commitment testifies to a strong awareness of the significance of
the changes regarding not only the profession but also the port and the
shaping of the city. Such consciousness also informs the narratives of my
interview partners.
177
