Coal workers at the very moment they receive their notice; the last shift before they have to dismantle their own plant; self-confident glances into the camera from the so-called “coal women” to the No-Future generation of the 2000s. From 1982 to 2006, photographer Christina Glanz closely documented the often dramatic transformation processes in the East German lignite region of Niederlausitz. As the Lauchhammer coal and briquette factories have almost completely disappeared today, Christina Glanz’s series of photographs, some of which have never been published before, provide an insight into the historical transformation of a region and its identity. Complemented by an introduction from Katalin Krasznahorkai, an essay by Sonia Voss and transcripts from Christina Glanz’s conversations with coal women after the German reunification, this publication revisits a story of empowerment, confidence and resistance against all the odds from a time of transition to a new world.

CHRISTINA GLANZ (*1946, Eichsfeld, Germany) studied architecture in Dresden and at the Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin. From 1973 – 78 she worked at tthe state department for urban development, where she was concerned with one of East Berlin’s major housing projects, the development of the Marzahn district. In 1979, Glanz became a research assistant in architecture and photography at the Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin, and has worked as a freelance photographer since 1982.