Apartment meeting (Berlin)
The Berlin Housing Enquête was an action organized between 1903–1920 by the Berlin local health insurance fund for merchants, traders and pharmacists to document the living spaces in the slums of Berlin with photographs. The photos were made by Heinrich Lichte and Co. and published by Albert Kohn.
At that time it was already known that catastrophic housing conditions were one of the main causes of illness. With the publication, Kohn pursued the goal of making the state and local authorities aware of the misery of housing and of combating the disease-causing housing conditions in the interests of the fund members and the population.
For each documented apartment and for each resident, Kohn gave data such as living space, number of windows, people per room, people per bed, humidity or illnesses. The photos themselves are not aimed at sentimental pity. There is no evidence that they were not objective and representative of the conditions in the slums at the time. Some of the photos could only be made with the help of a flash, which makes the depicted rooms appear brighter and friendlier than in reality.
Apartment, 1903
Hof, 1904
Apartment, 1905
Basement apartment, 1905
literature
- Gesine Asmus (Ed.): Backyard, cellar and attic. Insights into Berlin housing misery 1901–1920. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1982, ISBN 3-499-17668-8
- Albert Kohn (Ed.): Our apartment inquiry in the year…. Local health insurance fund for the business operations of merchants, traders and pharmacists, Berlin 1902–1913
- Albert Kohn (ed.): Our apartment examinations in the years…. Local health insurance fund for the business of merchants, traders and pharmacists, Berlin 1913–1922