TRANSGRESSIONS AT THE POST OFFICE COUNTER
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INTERFACE CRITIQUE JOURNAL – VOL. I – 2018
TRANSGRESSIONS
AT THE POST
OFFICE COUNTER
by Susanne Jany
“The counter, thus, was not a space where a
simple difference – between clerks and
customers, internal and external, operational
and public – was established but where a
complex and seemingly ambivalent system of
mutually dependent acts of openings and
closings were enforced to keep business up
and running safe.”
Suggested citation: Jany, Susanne (2018). “Transgressions at the Post Office
Counter.” In: Interface Critique Journal Vol.1. Eds. Florian Hadler, Alice Soiné,
Daniel Irrgang
DOI: 10.11588/ic.2018.0.44722
This article is released under a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).
82JANY: TRANSGRESSIONS AT THE POST-OFFICE COUNTER
“Post office clerk behind letter collection counter in the post office Hamburg-
Wandsbek 1” by courtesy of Museumsstiftung Post und Telekommunikation
83INTERFACE CRITIQUE JOURNAL – VOL. I – 2018
The photograph depicts a postal photograph one of the counter win-
counter in a post office in Wandsbek, dows is drawn to the side for potential
Germany, during the first half of the customers. While the service hall
twentieth century. A large wooden seems abandoned, a postal clerk sits
counter dominates two third of the behind the opening gazing blankly at
image. The lower part of the massive something in front of him that is con-
wooden construction is paneled, the cealed by the covered windows.
upper part is composed of windows The original photograph is part of the
that are either etched or blocked with image collection at the Museumsstif-
translucent paper. A light source be- tung für Post und Telekommu-
hind the counter is directed towards nikation. The 219x167 mm black-and-
the opaque windows and produces white-print is titled “post office clerk
hard contrasts; another lamp from behind letter collection counter in the
above makes for dramatic shadows. post office Hamburg-Wandsbek 1” and
The lower middle pane is cracked and was shot by Hamburg based architect
1
seems to have been fixed with foil or and photographer Hubert Kapusta. It
additive paper that is partly torn is one among hundreds of photo-
down. Something lies on the small graphs in the collection picturing the
area in front of it – maybe the torn off modern history of the German post –
remains as if the act of vandalism had its buildings, its uniforms, its stamps,
just happened. On the left hand side, its vehicles, its equipment as well as
an opening can be made out, which is its day-to-day work routines. But does
marked as a letterbox; an unreadable Kapusta’s photograph really show an
document is adhered to the glass un- ordinary scene at the post office
derneath. On the right hand side counter? Compared to other images
stands a writing desk with a lamp in the comprehensive photographic
drawn down and towards the wall. It documentation, the picture seems
is either switched off or broken be- strangely staged. It almost appears
cause where its light-cone should hit like an artwork by photographer Jeff
the wall, its own shadow is cast. Be- Wall who is known for taking pictures
hind the lamp hangs a calendar sug- of orchestrated sceneries put to-
gesting that it is or has been the tenth gether in studios, set up with props,
of some undecipherable month of and fitted with actors in costumes.
some unmarked year. A blotting pad, There is a remarkable sense of artifi-
a quill, and a pile of forms lie on the ciality to Kapusta’s picture. The clerk,
desktop with the blotting paper loom- to begin with, doesn’t look busy with
ing over the edge. It looks as if it is just counter duties but, rather, with hold-
about to fall and join the crumbled pa- ing completely still so that his head
pers on the tiled floor that surround keeps perfectly fitting the counter
the wastebasket. In the middle of the opening. He is in fact so carefully
placed that, firstly, his semi-profile is
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
1 “Postbeamter hinter Briefannahmeschalter lampe, Papierkorb, Deutschen [sic] Reichspost”, In-
im Postamt Hamburg-Wandsbek 1, Schloßstraße 39 ventory number 3.2011.2955, Museumsstiftung Post
[sic], mit Schild ›Briefeinwurf‹, Schreibpult, Wand- und Telekommunikation, Museum für Kommunika-
tion Berlin.
84JANY: TRANSGRESSIONS AT THE POST-OFFICE COUNTER
well lit despite being in the uttermost less to do with the historical back-
background and, secondly, that the ground of the image but with the his-
light, which is reflected from his tory of what it depicts: the postal
glasses, produces a shimmer in the counter itself. Kapusta’s photograph, I
camera lens. The paper on the floor is would like to argue, envisions the
scattered a bit too evenly to be ran- counter as the highly critical and am-
dom – as if someone with an eye for biguous space that it historically al-
the overall photographic composition ways has been since it first emerged.
has planted it. Likewise, the piled up
paper sheets on the desk are evenly
fanned out and the blotting paper is
carefully balanced out. But if the pho-
SPATIAL
tograph is that deliberately arranged,
why didn’t the photographer stage a
AMBIVALENCES
more pleasant scene? Why does his
Post office counters, bank counters,
depicting of a postal counter situation
or ticket counters came up as a new
emanate an atmosphere of desertion,
service facility in Western European
decline, and crisis? There might be an
and North American public buildings
obvious answer: The clerk wears a
during the nineteenth century. In
uniform; his hat shows an imperial
most post-offices from the eight-
eagle and a swastika, making clear
eenth century only a window towards
that the historical background is the
the street allowed for business and
National Socialist regime in Ger- 2
communication with the public.
many. Kapusta took the picture in
Later, a corridor was added where
early 1939. Accordingly, the reason for
customers would wait before they
the photograph emitting an apocalyp- 3
were called up. Finally, high industri-
tic atmosphere of doom and menace
alization with its increased amounts
could be that it is a document of eve-
of traffic and operations led to func-
ryday-life under the Hitler dictator-
tional and spatial differentiation
ship. At least for the non-
within larger post offices. This pro-
contemporary viewer it might also
cess culminated in the introduction
evoke the dooming World War II. The
of larger service halls around 1870
Allied air bombing operation ›Gomor-
with counters and internal areas be-
rah‹, in fact, will eventually destroy
hind – a spatial scheme that proved
this post-office building in 1943 to-
so successful that it was almost in-
gether with vast areas of Wandsbek
stantly adopted in banks, railway sta-
and Hamburg. Still, I think that this
tions, theaters, and administration
mesmerizing photograph has to be
seen in the context of something
more than that, something that has
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
2 See Walther Schmidt, Amtsbauten. Aus Be- 3 See Rudolf Duffner, Das deutsche Posthaus
triebsvorgängen gestaltet, dargestellt am Beispiel der von seinen Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart (Berlin: Trilt-
bayerischen Postbauten (Ravensburg: Otto Maier Ver- sch & Huther, 1939), 75.
lag, 1949), 22.
85INTERFACE CRITIQUE JOURNAL – VOL. I – 2018
4
buildings as well. The strategy of ar- used during the first third of the
chitecturally organizing postal and twentieth century. It comprised a
other workflows was to divide public wooden wall spanning from floor to
and internal areas in order to prevent ceiling with several openings for
disturbances and keep postal opera- communication between clerks and
8
tions – the packing, unpacking, sort- clients. Of the six to nine panes per
ing, labeling, and directing of mail – workspace only the lower middle
5
running smoothly. Only at the coun- window had transparent glazing. This
ters were both spheres brought to- did not primarily serve the customer
gether spatially to allow for punctual but the clerk’s supervision of the ser-
interactions between employees and vice hall. The window could only be
the public. The relation between in- moved aside by the staff in order to
ternal and external spaces, architect open up communication with the cli-
Walter Schmidt wrote in his refer- ent and to exchange money, stamps,
ence book on post office buildings, or forms. The other panes were fixed
should be a tangential one: both areas and rippled, frosted, or simply cov-
should touch each other at the coun- ered with posters, announcements, or
6
ter but never overlap. Behind what adverts so that “the public couldn’t
seemed to be the architectural ges- oversee the objects on the clerk’s
9
ture of creating a service space for the desk, namely the money stock”.
public, lay the functional claim of Small openings allowed for the han-
strictly keeping it out of the opera- dling of small objects and were to be
7
tional realm. To facilitate postal busi- closed for climatic and security rea-
ness was to isolate internal ope- sons whenever they were not in use.
rations to the greatest possible ex- Some counters were so closed off that
tent. The counter as the inter-face be- they were addressed and built as
tween the post and the public, thus, “glazed and barred cabins” with a flat
produced a seemingly contradictory money tray being the only opening
10
situation: It was supposed to serve the towards the service hall. Even verbal
public by excluding it from the core if exchange was mediated by a so-
its business. called ›speech diaphragm‹ – a mem-
Kapusta’s photograph from within brane made out of animal skin, silk, or
the post office at Schloßstraße 41 in rubber that transmits sound waves
Wandsbek shows a typical counter
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
4 See Susanne Jany, “Operative Räume: Pro- Reichspost, seine Entstehung und Entwicklung," Ar-
zessarchitekturen im späten 19. Jahrhundert,“ Zeit- chiv für Post- und Fernmeldewesen 3 (1951): 346f.
schrift für Medienwissenschaft: Medien/Architekturen 8 See Robert Neumann, Gebäude für den Post-
12 (2015): 33–43. , Telegraphen- und Fernsprechdienst. Handbuch der
5 See Susanne Jany, “Postalische Prozessar- Architektur. 4. Teil, 2. Halbband, 3. Heft. 1. Auflage
chitekturen. Die Organisation des Postdienstes im (Darmstadt: Bergsträsser, 1896), 22–24.
Medium der Architektur,“ Archiv für Medienge- 9 Ibid. 22. [All translations by the author]
schichte, eds. Friedrich Balke, Bernhard Siegert, and 10 For the ticket counter at the railway-station,
Joseph Vogl (Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 2013): see: [Carl] Cornelius, “Das Entwerfen und der Bau der
135–145. Eisenbahn-Empfangsgebäude,“ Zeitschrift für Bauwe-
6 See Schmidt, Amtsbauten, 16. sen 63 (1913): 434.
7 See Postdienst-Instruction in vier Bänden
(reprint), Beisel, "Der Postbaudienst der Deutschen
86JANY: TRANSGRESSIONS AT THE POST-OFFICE COUNTER
from inside the cabin to the cus- being able to see what the
11
tomer’s side. The massive wall that clerk was actually doing be-
was the counter pared every interac- hind the inscrutable counter
14
tion between clients and clerks down wall.
12
to utterly minimal openings. The
Even with only tiny transparently
counter, thus, provided for physical
glazed openings left, “one has put up
and verbal exchange under highly
postings and inhibitions to complete
controlled circumstances; its opening
the exclusion of the public.” The result
was conditioned by the highest possi-
was: One “speaks against a wall and
ble degree of closing. This generated 15
from another room hears the reply.”
a potentially conflict-laden situation:
When a client was displeased with
Communication and interaction at
the post office workings and could
the counter were enabled by the fun-
only advance up to the counter, frus-
damental acts of segregation and
tration was unloaded on what was
control.
within immediate reach: The clerk
now served as an objective for objec-
tions, for distrust, resentment, and
SYMBOLIC contempt. In addition, the client, as
Couvé had observed, often perceived
TRANSGRESSIONS the postal clerks as exaggeratedly ac-
curate and petty, as “strict, dry, mat-
Minimal architectural openings re- ter-of-fact official[s]” sometimes
sulted in minimal modes of commu- “buttoned-up, at worst even grum-
nication. Due to the specific counter 16
py”. These conceptions might ap-
architecture the post office clerk pear stereotypical, but the clerk’s ar-
could avoid any eye contact with the rogance and condescension towards
customer and reduce conversation to clients was something that the au-
13
its absolute necessities. Not surpris- thorities openly admitted:
ingly, this caused unease, impatience,
and disapproval with the public: The improper conversational
tone with the public that can
Often, customers would com- often be heard at the counters
plain vividly, when they had to is mostly due to apprentices
stand behind closed windows and beginners, who while ful-
and wait for service for an in- filling this important civil ser-
determinate period without vice have an exaggerated
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
11 See Schmidt, Amtsbauten, 22; Dietrich Lang, 13 See Jürgen Bräunlein, “'Die Pflicht der Artig-
Briefschalterhallen der Deutschen Reichspost, ihre keit'. Kundenfreundlichkeit bei der Post – damals und
Entwicklung und ihr Aufbau (Würzburg: K. Triltsch, heute,“ Das Archiv. Magazin für Post- und Telekom-
1932), 51. munikationsgeschichte 2 (2007): 94.
12 For a mediatheoretical approach towards 14 Wiese: “Neuzeitliche Schalter in Postgebäu-
the opening in architecture: Wolfgang Schäffner, den,“ Deutsche Bauzeitung 61 (1927): 211.
“Architecture of the Openings. Windows, Doors and 15 Richard Couvé, Beamte und Publikum: Richt-
Switches,“ in: Architecture of the Medial Spaces, eds. linien für die Bestgestaltung des Verkehrs der Beam-
Joachim Krausse, and Stephan Pinkau (Dessau: ten und des Publikums (Leipzig: Weimann ,1930), 34f.
Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, 2006), 74–79. 16 Couvé, Beamte und Publikum, 12.
87INTERFACE CRITIQUE JOURNAL – VOL. I – 2018
sense of their own dignity and makes the customer file an of-
exhibit a too ›spirited‹ appear- ficial report, and eventually
17
ance. claims the attention of further
21
clerks.
In light of this, it became clear that
the coming together of two qualita- So, often enough, the counter became
tively different spheres at the counter a scene of misunderstandings, in-
18 22
was per se a form of confrontation. sults, threats, and abuse; the site for
Clerk and customer, wrote railway symbolic transgressions that clearly
professional Richard Couvé in 1930 undermined the architectural princi-
about station buildings, tended to ple of two spaces touching each other
clash at the ticket counter because but never merging.
here they were “brought together par- In order to prevent this, a
19
ticularly close to each other”. Due to whole apparatus of literature, guide-
the mutuality of this encounter, the lines, measures, and training films
clerk would not only annoy the cus- was enforced in the early twentieth
tomer but the customer would also century trying to educate both clerks
annoy the clerk. The reason could be and customers. While the public
“unapt guests hindering” business be- could only be kindly asked to behave
cause they didn’t know what they and be prepared when approaching
wanted, because they were rude, or the counter, employees could actually
because they plainly talked too be made to maintain strict rules, is-
20
much. This implied a not-to-be-un- sued by the German Reichspost: All
derestimated potential for escala- counters were to be opened during big
tions: An agitated traveller, Couvé rushes, personal conversations were
stated, to be omitted, clothes needed to be
kept clean, and predefined polite
who requests information and 23
phrases were to be used. At the end
is treated brashly, doesn’t un- of the nineteenth century, Heinrich
derstand the information, gets von Stephan had aligned the German
more agitated, asks again, post with a modern, economical, and
threatens with complaints. If service-oriented enterprise. As the
the clerk responds as agitat- counter was the representative inter-
edly, a quarrel follows that face between the post and the general
slows the clerk’s work down, public – even more so than the direc-
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
17 Richard Couvé, Vom Verkehr mit den Reisen- 21 Couvé, Vom Verkehr mit den Reisenden, 12.
den. Ein Ratgeber für Verkehrsbeamte (Berlin: Verlag 22 See Couvé, Beamte und Publikum, 5.
der Verkehrswissenschaftlichen Lehrmittelgesell- 23 See Reichpostdirektion Berlin, Hundert Fra-
schaft m.b.H. bei der Deutschen Reichsbahn, 1926), gen und Antworten am Schalter in deutscher, französi-
15. scher und englischer Sprache (Berlin: 1936);
18 Jany, “Postalische Prozessarchitekturen,“ Taschenbuch für den Postbetriebsbeamten. Bd. 1:
142–145. Schalterdienst, ed. Postinspektor Maetz (Berlin: Ko-
19 Couvé, Beamte und Publikum, 5. enig. 1925), 20f.
20 Ibid., 3, 5; N.N., “Das Publikum,“ Das Neue
Posthorn. Illustriertes Familienblatt 18 (1926/27):
294.
88JANY: TRANSGRESSIONS AT THE POST-OFFICE COUNTER
tor’s office or the façade of the build- eliminated. Rather, power imbal-
ing – the clerk had to weather any dif- ances at the counter were kept up in
24
ficulties: The postal clerk was favor for the client. The immanent
ambiguity of the counter, thus, was
the flagship of the company, actively enabled and maintained.
the face of the German
Reichspost. This he has to re-
member! According to his ex-
pertise, his sophistication, his PHYSICAL
appearance, and his manners
the outsider judges the whole
TRANSGRESSIONS
25
institution.
Transgressions at the counter were
The underlying logic was: A helpful not only tackled in the realm of the
employee makes for grateful and po- symbolic but also materially: In the
lite guests, which smoothens the 1920s and 1930s, the postal admin-
overall operations – eventually lead- istration tried to improve counter
ing to happy customers and maxi- communication by deconstructing its
mum profits. One would think that massive architecture. The novel
behind all these measures stood the ›open counters‹ were supposed to be a
rational that critical and ambivalent step towards the customer by getting
situations at the counter ought to be rid of wooden panels and using glass
neutralized instantaneously. This walls as transparent divisions be-
was not the case; at least not for the tween the counters. Material separa-
postal clerk. Efficient counter ser- tions between client and clerk were
vices were only guaranteed when the given up completely. The underlying
most central of all rules was met: In- idea was that architectural openness
sults, impoliteness, and verbal trans- and proximity between clerk and cli-
gressions from guests were never to ent would automatically lead to a new
be replied but to be tolerated and en- kind of interpersonal closeness,
dured; any frictions whatsoever were openness, and cooperation. These
to be obviated in order to avert the transformations of the counter archi-
kind of escalations mentioned before. tecture were, in fact, validated posi-
Couvé pushed for “most comfortable tively. Architect Peisker observed in
service”, general acceptance of most the main post office in Potsdam:
customer wishes, and a general good-
will-attitude. Even though an open, On the strength of the past ex-
equal, and balanced relationship be- periences, the following can be
tween both parties was aimed for, at said about the purposefulness
the core of counter duty stood the of the new counter facility.
principle that differences between There is a bigger, almost sol-
clerk and customer were not to be emn quietude in the service
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
24 See Peter Becker, “Überlegungen zu einer 25 Schalterdienst, 19; cf.: Firsching, “Schalter-
Kulturgeschichte der Verwaltung,“ Jahrbuch für Euro- räume,“ Verkehrs- und Betriebswissenschaft in Post
päische Verwaltungsgeschichte 15 (2003): 332. und Telegraphie 8, no. 14/15 (1932): 214.
89INTERFACE CRITIQUE JOURNAL – VOL. I – 2018
hall. The guests experience the need for security: Protection against
waiting for service as less tir- clients as well as protection against
27
ing and irritating than the pre- colleagues.” The general suspicion
vious standing before a closed was directed against greedy robbers
counter because the customer and thieving staff alike. On February
actually sees the clerks work- 12th in 1880, an armed robbery hap-
ing. Heated disputes or discus- pened in the Wandsbek post office of
sions of people at the end of the time, located at the corner of
the queue are ceased almost Lübecker Straße and Schulstraße, in
completely. Frictions occur which a twenty-two year old post of-
only rarely because both par- fice worker was killed. A man pre-
ties inflict more restraints on tending to buy stamps lingered near
themselves. […] The supervi- the counters. In an unattended mo-
sors and counter clerks can ment he opened a window lock in the
easily oversee the service hall service hall. During the following
and in case of standstills night he entered through the window,
quickly intervene. […] The oral encountered the young night guard
understanding without divid- and subsequently killed him. Alt-
ing walls is more convenient. hough there were more than 3900
The clerk can instantly and Mark stored in the post office, the in-
clearly see his opposite in- truder could only lay hands on 500
stead of just a head in a win- Mark before he fled the scene. The
dow. Therewith alone, both next day, the employee of a nearby
parties are brought closer to guesthouse noticed a man with a
26
each other. crowbar and a lock pick and called
the police. Upon searching his room,
Still, there was a reason that a full
the police found 500 Mark, burglary
opening towards the general public
tools, bloody clothes, and a sleeping
was never realized: The walls and di-
person that later confessed to both
visions at the glazed counter never
the robbery and murder. In another
completely disappeared because ver-
post office in the western part of Ger-
bal transgressions were not the only
many, to name just one more exam-
transgressions at the post office
ple, another incident took place. The
counter. As the counter was the site
report from 1883 recounts:
for the exchange of various valuables,
it, at the same time, became the very An incredible brash robbery at-
site for criminal acts: for theft, fraud, tack happened in the evening
and robberies. Actually, these threats hours of January 13th to the
were the background against which counter of post office no. 1 in
the former massive and fully-closed Hagen (Westphalia). It might
cabin-counter was introduced in the have been 6.30 pm when two
first place: It “evolved out of a double men appeared in the vacant
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
26 Peisker, “Die neuzeitlichen Schalteranlagen 27 Schmidt, Amtsbauten, 22.
des Hauptpostamts in Potsdam,“ Archiv für Post und
Telegraphie 55, no. 1 (1927): 4.
90JANY: TRANSGRESSIONS AT THE POST-OFFICE COUNTER
service hall, one of which and 1930s in order to improve the ma-
asked the postal clerk Langen- terial conditions of customer-clerk-
bach at the counter for letters relations, in fact, produced just more
poste restante under the name subtle separations. The counter stay-
›Meyer‹. While Langenbach ed the central barrier between clerk
searched for the required mail, and customer that it always had been.
for which he had to turn to- Glass walls displaced wooden walls
wards the cabinet where the and in order to keep valuables and
letters were stored, the man documents safe, lockable compart-
broke up the window at the ments were introduced. Also, the
counter with the help of a tool, clerk’s desk was turned away from
reached for the cash box inside the customer in a 90° angle in order to
the bureau and together with preserve privacy of correspondence.
28
it, he took to his heels. Grids were drawn straight through
the service hall to secure the building
When towards the end of the nine- 29
after hours. Even if there were no di-
teenth century, big amounts of
visions between clerk and client,
money were no longer transported
walls behind the clerks’ desks kept
via overland mail coaches, but rather
the general public away from internal
transfers were ordered telegraph-
areas and therefore from critical in-
ically, the respective amounts of
telligence about workflows, money
money were received, dispensed, and 30
stashes, and security measures.
stored at local post offices. So eventu-
Just as the internal areas were hid-
ally, the counter became the ultimate
den away, so were the emergency
target for raids and robberies.
bells that the clerk could reach when
Generally speaking, for the opera- 31
he felt the need to call for help. The
tions manager, the counter was the
architectural challenge, therefore,
operational space that stood for fore-
was not to plainly enforce security in
closure, separation, and security,
a both symbolic and material way, but
where internal information and val-
to guarantee for business under these
ues were closed off from the public.
conditions. The counter, thus, was not
For the criminal, on the other hand,
a space where a simple difference –
the counters in post offices and sav-
between clerks and customers, inter-
ing banks symbolized the best possi-
nal and external, operational and
ble point of access, the operational
public – was established but where a
weak-point. Physical transgressions
complex and seemingly ambivalent
actively undermined Schmidt’s claim
system of mutually dependent acts of
of never having public areas merge
openings and closings were enforced
with internal ones. So, what seemed
like an opening of the heavy and iso-
lated counter cabin during the 1920s
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
28 “Gewaltsame Beraubung der Schalterkasse 29 See Peisker, “Die neuzeitlichen Schalteranla-
des Postamts in Hagen,“ Deutsche Verkehrs-Zeitung gen,“ 2.
(1883): 20. 30 See Lang, Briefschalterhallen, 48.
31 See ibid., 47.
91INTERFACE CRITIQUE JOURNAL – VOL. I – 2018
to keep businesses up and running become too small for the growing city
32
safely. of Wandsbek and its increasing mail
quantities. The year before, in 1938,
the official decision had been made to
erect a new post office building. In
COUNTER STORIES early 1939, just when building work
was about to start and Kapusta shot
Spaces of exclusion fuel the collec- his photograph, a general building
tive imagination. In a post office like freeze for official non-military build-
the one in Kapusta’s photograh, a ci- ings was declared. Suddenly, the al-
vilian could only advance up to the ready given up post office was not
counters when entering a public demolished after all but had to keep
agency. Wooden panels, frosted glass up provisional postal service together
screens, and the barring of the coun- with a nearby barrack, before later
ter wall normally blocked one’s sight that year more and more clerks were
into the offices and the procedures called for military service. So, what
there. Additionally, low and small we witness in the photograph is the
windows, bill postings, and minimal moment when the postal service in
pass-through features left anything Wandsbek was institutionally falling
beyond the counter in the dark. When apart. Still, what the image also
the counter black boxes its business, evokes, is the history of its very sub-
an information gap between the in- ject: the counter as a critical and
volved parties is produced – the highly ambivalent space where two
phantasm of an obscure, bureau- qualitatively different spheres are
cratic, and cumbersome apparatus brought together under highly con-
emerges that Franz Kafka in his novel trolled conditions; where they are
The Trial put into haunting literary supposed to touch each other but
form. Is that what Kapusta’s photo- never to merge. The encounter at the
graph evokes? Does it express the ex- counter, this is what I intended to
perience of an obscure, conflict- show, turns it into a space of diverse
laden, and highly critical counter that transgressions, of misunderstand-
inheres the potential for diverse ings and misbehavior, of insults and
forms of transgressions? However, assaults; a space where an institu-
there is a historical explanation for its tion’s reputation and profits, a per-
atmosphere of crisis, abandonment, son’s strength of nerves and
33
and decadence. When the photo- sometimes even an employee’s life is
graph was taken in 1939, the building at stake. The post office counter is by
at Schloßstrasse, built in 1770 and re- no means the dull, trivial, and predict-
modeled as a post office in 1890, had able setting of conventional every-
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
32 As a general strategy in architecture: cf. Dirk 33 For the following historical synopsis see:
Baecker, “Die Dekonstruktion der Schachtel. Innen Postgeschichtliche Blätter Hamburg (special issue
und Außen in der Architektur,“ in Unbeobachtbare Wandsbek) 23 (1890): 54–56.; Walter Kindermann,
Welt. Über Kunst und Architektur, eds. Niklas Luh- “Zur Postgeschichte Wansbeks“, Wandsbek früher
mann, Frederick D. Bunsen, and Dirk Baecker (Biele- und heute (Hamburg-Wandsbek: 1965), 48–50.
feld: Haux, 1990), 99.
92JANY: TRANSGRESSIONS AT THE POST-OFFICE COUNTER
day services. That it evinces just that
– the ambiguity, perilousness, and
uneasiness that comes with the
counter – is what makes Kapusta’s
photograph exceptional within the
hundreds of images conserved in the
museum’s collection documenting
the modern history of the German
post.
93INTERFACE CRITIQUE JOURNAL – VOL. I – 2018
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