Reich Labour Service: camp life and the world map, 1937
Young men queue with mess tins and eat in the grass, a column marches past the barracks, and a veteran leader teaches them at a world map.
Young men hold out mess tins at the end of a hut beside a tent and sit eating in the grass; one lies with his hands behind his head in the sun. A uniformed column marches past a long wooden barrack below jagged peaks, a leader with an Iron Cross on his tunic shades his eyes above the valley, and under a tree the recruits sit in rows before a framed world map while a leader in a field cap spreads his hand across northern Asia.
Political instruction was part of every day in the camps. Many of the service's leaders were soldiers of the First World War, and what they taught at the map was the regime's view of Germany's place in the world, and of the vast eastern spaces beyond it.
Film The leader's hand on the map of Asia, 1937
Film Dinner at the field kitchen, Reich Labour Service 1937
Film Eating from mess tins in the grass, Reich Labour Service 1937
Film A rest in the grass, then a column past the barracks, 1937
Film A leader with the Iron Cross above the valley, 1937
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