From the text Idealization and Industrialization – Village Life in the Braunschweig Region around 1900 by Anika Kreft

“The industrialization of the Braunschweig region, a process which accelerated during the late nineteenth century, was characterized by a time of agricultural prosperity. (...) The machine-made products jute and cotton had displaced linen on the market. At the same time, traditional rural practices such as spinning, wearing traditional costumes, and embroidering festive ornamental towels declined in the second half of the nineteenth century, or were maintained only by older villagers. The institution of meeting in so-called “spinning rooms” persisted. At the women’s gatherings, however, communicative exchange and other handicrafts besides spinning became increasingly important”.

Anika Kreft is a historian and heads the Department of Contemporary History at the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum. As a curator, she has been involved in various projects; most recently, an exhibition and research project on the work commandos of the GDR State Security at the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial.