Untitled (Quality control of peas at Gifhorn canning facotry), ca. 1940

About the Work

Karl Theodor Gremmler belonged to the generation that embarked on their careers after the National Socialist accession to power. He specialized in photos of industrial food production. His customers included the biscuit manufacturer Bahlsen, “Kaffee HAG”, and above all the Hochseefischerei- Gesellschaft Hamburg, Andersen & Co. K. G. Gremmler photographed the products’ entire process chain from the harvest or catch to the packaging. The photo book Men at the Net, published in 1939 on his own initiative, is a detailed portrayal of navigation and fishing. With the aid of harsh shadows, oblique perspectives, and views from below, his scenes of workers in heroic poses were meant to convey the progressiveness of the German food industry. The design principles served the purposes of Nazi propaganda, which generously sponsored advertising measures of this kind.