MOTION. POWERS. HISTORY
The permanent exhibition – MOTION POWERS HISTORY – offers new perspectives on the flows of raw materials, people and products that made the history of Völklingen Ironworks possible.
Over the decades, the ores needed for iron production came to Völklingen not just from Lorraine and Luxembourg but from all over the world from the 1960s onwards.
By the post-war period, the end products were being shipped all over the world. A key element of the exhibition is the theme of human mobility in all its facets – including the drastically violent ones: from the migrant workers and impoverished peasants from the wider region in the 19th century, to the dark chapter of forced labourers from across Europe in the First and Second World Wars, to the labour migration from Italy and Turkey that contributed to the rapid post-war economic recovery of West Germany.
At the heart of the exhibition is a film installation that combines extensive archive footage and 3D elements to create a concise history of the ironworks told through contemporary imagery.