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“Niemiecki – Polnisch – Deutsch – Polskie”. A photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region

Maria Steffen: A photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region, exhibition poster, Wuppertal, 20/10/1996
©
Porta Polonica 2025 / Julia Gehrmann

The exhibition was created in conjunction with the thesis by Maria Steffen in 1996 at the Ruhrakademie Schwerte, supervised by Professor Gerd Aretz (photography) and Jörg Meyer (typography). 

The camera used was a Canon EF (lens: 135 mm, 50 mm, 35 mm, 24 mm, films: TRI X 400, developer: E 56, development: 20° 16 seconds with a dilution of 1:3, enlargements: Ilford Multigrade Baryta paper FB 1K, formats: 18 x 24 cm and 30 x 40 cm). 

The exhibition panels consist of Finnish wood pulp, covered with adhesive film on both sides and parachute silk. The German and Polish texts were applied as a “rub-on” in white.

Mediathek Sorted

Media library
  • Fig. 1: Photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region - Maria Steffen, thesis, Ruhrakademie Schwerte, 1996
  • Fig. 2: Photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region - Maria Steffen, thesis, Ruhrakademie Schwerte, 1996
  • Fig. 3: Photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region - Maria Steffen, thesis, Ruhrakademie Schwerte, 1996
  • Fig. 4: Photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region - Maria Steffen, thesis, Ruhrakademie Schwerte, 1996
  • Fig. 5: Photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region - Maria Steffen, thesis, Ruhrakademie Schwerte, 1996
  • Fig. 6: Photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region - Maria Steffen, thesis, Ruhrakademie Schwerte, 1996
  • Fig. 7: Photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region - Maria Steffen, thesis, Ruhrakademie Schwerte, 1996
  • Fig. 8: Photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region - Maria Steffen, thesis, Ruhrakademie Schwerte, 1996
  • Fig. 9: Photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region - Maria Steffen, thesis, Ruhrakademie Schwerte, 1996
  • Fig. 10: Photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region - Maria Steffen, thesis, Ruhrakademie Schwerte, 1996
  • Fig. 11: Photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region - Maria Steffen, thesis, Ruhrakademie Schwerte, 1996
  • Fig. 12: Photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region - Maria Steffen, thesis, Ruhrakademie Schwerte, 1996
  • Fig. 13: Photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region - Maria Steffen, thesis, Ruhrakademie Schwerte, 1996
  • Fig. 14: Photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region - Maria Steffen, thesis, Ruhrakademie Schwerte, 1996
  • Fig. 15: Photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region - Maria Steffen, thesis, Ruhrakademie Schwerte, 1996
  • Fig. 16: Photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region - Maria Steffen, thesis, Ruhrakademie Schwerte, 1996
  • Fig. 17: Photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region - Maria Steffen, thesis, Ruhrakademie Schwerte, 1996
  • Fig. 18: Photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region - Maria Steffen, thesis, Ruhrakademie Schwerte, 1996
  • Fig. 19: Photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region - Maria Steffen, thesis, Ruhrakademie Schwerte, 1996
  • Fig. 20: Photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region - Maria Steffen, thesis, Ruhrakademie Schwerte, 1996
  • Fig. 21: Photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region - Maria Steffen, thesis, Ruhrakademie Schwerte, 1996

“Niemiecki – Polnisch – Deutsch – Polskie”. A photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region

Maria Steffen: A photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region, exhibition poster, Wuppertal, 20/10/1996
Maria Steffen: A photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region, exhibition poster, Wuppertal, 20/10/1996
©
Porta Polonica 2025 / Julia Gehrmann

The idea for my photo reportage “Poles in the Ruhr Region” (“Polen im Ruhrgebiet”) came from a desire to capture a piece of the Ruhr Region’s identity. While I was fascinated by the historical architecture of the collieries, I was particularly interested in the people who live there, and I wanted to hear the personal stories they had to tell. I wanted to know more about the agricultural workers from Poland who had been recruited to work in the mines by large businesses such as Thyssen and Krupp – often over the course of several generations.

Through Pastor Mroziuk, who at that time was the priest of the Catholic community in Dortmund-Eving, I came into contact with the Polish community from this part of the city. We first met in Recklinghausen at a carolling event in the church, followed by coffee and biscuits. I was quickly made to feel welcome in the jolly, friendly Polish congregation and had the opportunity to spend several months among them.

My photographs include twelve self-contained stories. Once, I joined a bus trip to attend the visit of Pope John Paul II in Paderborn. It was an incredible day. A huge patch of cloud had covered the sky, and there were some heavy showers, but when the Pope called the blessing, rays of sunshine dazzled the crowd of the probably more than 80,000 believers who had gathered there. At exactly the moment when the Pope said his farewells with his entourage, the rays of sun disappeared again.

I wanted my exhibition to portray “normal” Polish everyday life in the Ruhr Region. Perhaps some people will be reminded of similar situations in their own lives when they look at the images. I am very grateful to have learned so much about a community about which I had known nothing before, and to have done so through countless unforgettable situations and encounters.

Many thanks to Porta Polonica for digitalising and publishing my work almost three decades after it was produced.

 

Maria Steffen, October 2025

 

Maria Steffen: A photo reportage about Poles in the Ruhr Region, exhibition poster, Wuppertal, 20/10/1996
©
Porta Polonica 2025 / Julia Gehrmann
Porta Polonica