Behind the image: “Little Man, What Now?”

Project Summary

The images in ‘31 explore social and political parallels between the present and the late 1920s and 1930s.

The project’s limited-edition archival pigment prints measure 28 x 42 cm (11 x 16.5 inches).

Caption to “Little man, what now?”

"Little Man, What Now?", the title of Hans Fallada’s popular 1932 novel, evokes the hopelessness of ordinary people in the throes of financial hardship and impending war. It offered a realistic account of how the Weimar Republic’s high unemployment, hyperinflation, corporate abuses caused by the worldwide depression, and the increasing influence of National Socialism were affecting its time’s faceless citizens.

Ninety years later, the narrative of Little Man, What Now seems shockingly relevant to the state of the modern world. Unlike 1932, a big contributor is the Covid pandemic, but global circumstances are otherwise much the same, including job insecurity, corporate misconduct, and shortages and inflation of consumer goods. In 1930s Germany, fascism and a totalitarian regime became the solution to these problems; today, for similar reasons, ordinary people are embracing anti-democratic and regressive ideologies. The final cost of solving these economic problems will be massive. Will governments, big corporations, and the rich pick up the majority of the tab, or will it lead to another major war and create yet another burden for “little people"?

The Title

The title of the image "Kleiner Mann - Was Nun?" (“Little Man, What Now?”) is adopted from Hans Fallada's eponymous novel. The story is about the gradual descent of an educated, white-collar worker towards the bottom of society. The novel's protagonists struggle for survival, hope, and joy against a grim landscape of poverty and depression.

Unemployment was around 40% in the Weimar Republic when Hans Fallada published this novel about its society’s desperate situation. The country was consumed by hyperinflation, with more and more citizens falling into a nameless, faceless condition in which they no longer mattered to anyone with influence.

What makes Little Man, What Now painful to read is that Fallada makes no use of melodrama and sentimental description. He tells his story in a matter-of-fact, realistic way. He captures perfectly the constant anxiety and loss of dignity caused by desperation for paying work, and the way it slowly devours a person from the inside out. From its unflinching depiction of such things as troubled human relationships and managers' cruelty toward their employees, Little Man, What Now is a journey into 1930s reality that had nothing to do with dictatorial dystopias or science fiction.

Ninety years later, as the Covid-19 pandemic still grips much of the world, one might wonder if the novel’s scenario is repeating itself. Although many governments try to offer help to their citizens during these difficult times, it's not always easy to enact it, and in any case it will further drain their economies. Will the rich pay their dues this time, or will it be another burden for “little people” to bear?

The Scene

In the scene depicted, a seemingly well-dressed man sits in front of an empty house. The windows are dirty, the home’s street number is missing, the mailbox's door is hanging open, and the garden is overgrown. All of this suggests the property has been unoccupied for a long time. Did it ever belong to him? Why is he there?

Next to the man are a cheap, prepackaged meal and a backpack. Along with these elements, his cellphone and wristwatch tie him to the 21st century. However, the newspaper he is reading makes the viewer wonder about the time in which he lives. He sits at the edge of light and shadow.

The man is wearing a suit. By the 1930s, collared shirts and suits were standard dress for office work. Soft collar shirts and suits were mainly reserved for formal occasions and the office. By the early years of the 21st century, casual men's wear had replaced suits in many workplaces. The image’s choice of clothing aims to strengthen viewers' sense of the past.

On the left side a man in a cap and jumper blends into the shadow. His clothing and the plastic bag at the back of his bicycle strengthen the image’s ties to present-day reality. Is he a glimpse into the future of the middle class?

News versus Propaganda

Viewers also see an English anti-war polemic printed across the entire back page of the man’s newspaper. In the 1920s and 1930s, anti-war movements were at their height. The horrors of World War I were vivid, not just in memory but in the presence of its former soldiers who suffered from visible physical disabilities and less visible psychological ones.

Most of today’s population has no firsthand experience of the destruction of war nor the hardship of rebuilding a country from the ground up. However, this may change at any minute. One doesn't have to think too hard to recall the escalation of tensions escalation between the US and North Korea in 2018, the People’s Republic of China’s clampdown on freedom situation in Hong Kong or , or the war currently raging in Ukraine. As a result, propaganda for or against war is gaining momentum again. 

As the Doomsday Clock has been reset to just one hundred seconds before midnight. Does the “little man” in this image warn against another war or the power of propaganda? Is it a deliberate act from the protagonist, or is he disinterested in propaganda? We may never know.