Outwork @museum.de

A simple metal base, a knife, the wooden cigar moulds and a press – those are the tools which mainly women in rural areas used to roll cigars. They worked from home, doing piece work. It’s said a skilled worker could roll up to a thousand cigars a day. The women didn’t grow rich, but at least their livelihood was secure.

An entrepreneurial spirit had been born, and in the second half of the 19th century industrialists building new factories could barely keep up. So without more ado, the ballrooms of the local hostelries were provisionally repurposed for cigar production.

It was a time of emigration. People in absolute penury sent some of their children off to America – a fate shared by many people in the neighbouring Black Forest. Economic conditions along the Upper Rhine were better, so the rural population there was able to stay put.