A hitchhiker and haymakers on the open land, 1937
A young woman with a suitcase waves for a lift on an empty road as a lorry sweeps past, and peasants rake and load hay in wide flat meadows.
On a straight country road through open fields a young woman in a dark dress stands beside her suitcase and waves; a peasant woman pushing a bicycle with a child on it passes, and the child waves back. The young woman kneels on her suitcase and smiles at the approaching traffic, and a lorry sweeps past without stopping. In a flat landscape of meadows two men load hay onto a small cart, and an old woman in a white headscarf rakes the hay into rows alone.
Hitchhiking was common among young Germans of the 1930s, who had little money and few cars to choose from. On the land the harvest still called on every hand, and the Reich Labour Service sent young townspeople to help.
