Disappearing profession
In German they do not say: “He drinks like a shoemaker”, but there is an expression “Der Schuster trägt immer die schlechtesten Stiefel” (“Shoemaker without shoes”). But if your heel is broken or heels are worn out, it is not so easy to find a shoemaker’s booth in modern Germany. And why, it would seem, pay for expensive repairs when you can already buy a new pair of shoes for 40-50 euros? How do German shoemakers survive in the era of mass production?
Bettina Forbeck has been fixing shoes for 30 years. First, she studied shoemaking in her father’s workshop in Stuttgart, then in another company. She studied, passed the exams to become a master, got married, gave birth to a son, and returned to the family business, where, in addition to her and her father, Dieter Mayer, my mother also helps. These family businesses are typical of Germany. Otherwise, you will not survive …
– My grandfather opened a workshop in 1934. Then there were 500 shoemakers in Stuttgart, and shoes could be sent for repairs at almost every corner, – told Bettina FORBEK our editorial office… – In 1984, when I went to study, there were only 94 shoemakers in the city.
Now in the capital of Baden-Württemberg you will find no more than 5-6 real masters who have received professional education and are united in a guild (Schuhmacher-Innung).
─ Things are going well in our company, but this business will never make us rich. You need to work very hard to stay afloat. My dad, although he is over 70 years old, works from 9 am to 9-10 pm in the workshop …
A shoemaker is not a woman’s business? “Of course, there are more men in our profession, but with the development of machines, this craft has become possible for women as well. After all, we no longer work as before, only manually. “
But the shoes are carried to the workshop by representatives of both sexes. In my presence, the client asked the master what can be done with her almost new pair.
─ When people buy shoes for 500-600 euros, they have the right to make the strictest claims both to the shoes themselves and to their repairs, Frau Forbeck is convinced. ─ Our service is not cheap, but we guarantee high quality. And those who offer quality services are provided with work for a long time.
Those Germans who go to the workshop take care of their shoes in advance. In the summer they bring winter boots to Mayer, and in the winter they ponder whether to send their sandals for repair … So the job of a good shoemaker will always find …
─ Would you like your son to repeat your profession? – I ask the master?
─ I don’t know. He still goes to school, and I’m not sure that he has the ability for our business, while he has other interests. But in general it is a very interesting, creative profession, especially if the shoemaker sews his own shoes. We are, however, only doing repairs. We have no space, no tools, and no time for manual production …
Shoes – for a thousand euros?
But the senior foreman Michael Lutz from the city of Vaihingen an der Ence (Baden-Württemberg) is not only engaged in repairs, but also makes orthopedic shoes himself. “People come to me who pay attention to high quality or simply have certain physiological characteristics and cannot wear cheap clothes,” says the shoemaker. – For one of my clients, for example, the difference between the left and right legs is two sizes. In what store can she find such non-standard shoes ?! “
Despite the fact that a pair of orthopedic shoes cost from 800-1000 euros and more, master Lutz cannot live only by production. “I make two or three pairs a month, and the rest of the time I’m doing repairs: nailing heels, rolling … Of course, they don’t bring me shoes bought for 40-50 euros. These shoes cannot be repaired, they are immediately discarded. “
Very fast service
There are very few shoemakers like Mayer and Lutz left in Germany, and they are increasingly being replaced by the so-called “fast service”. Employees of these companies not only repair shoes, but also do all other services, for example, make keys according to a sample or make engravings. Prices here are, of course, lower than in traditional workshops, but the quality …
The fact is that, as a rule, untrained shoemakers work in the “fast service”. And you can understand young people, because the path to this profession is very long. Professional training for a shoemaker (Schuhmacher) lasts three years in Germany, and training in orthopedic production lasts even longer. The scholarship for vocational students in the old lands of Germany is small: 390 euros in the first year of study and 535 euros in the third and last year. In the east, the scholarship is even lower. After graduation, a young graduate must work as an apprentice in one of the shoe companies for two or three years, and only then he has the right to take the master exam.
How much does a budding shoemaker earn? No more than 1900 euros “dirty” (before taxes and deductions) per month. “As a craftsman in a company other than my father, I would require at least 20 euros per hour,” says Bettina Forbeck. – The only problem is that most of the workshops cannot pay their employees a lower salary. Shoemakers who have studied in Russia or in Georgia often come to us in search of work, most likely very good professionals. But we cannot offer them anything, unfortunately, we simply do not have vacancies for them … “
In order to avoid such a difficult path to shoemaking, young people who do not have a profession come to the “fast service” bureau. True, many of these firms are short-lived. Here I read a notice on the door of a former shoemaker’s shop in Esslingen. “Sancak is no longer in shoe repair.” “We have no shoemakers left, so now we have just switched to making keys and engraving,” explains the owner of the company Mehmet Sankak.
In the village and in the city
… Once in Germany, shoes for the rich were made of leather, for the poor they were made of wood (Holzschuhmacherei). Both that, and another, was considered a complex affair, requiring knowledge, experience. Therefore, already in those days, Swiss leatherworkers and wood shoe makers had to undergo training and then pass a special examination (Meisterprüfung). Along with the shoemakers who made new shoes, there were also the so-called “patchwork” (Flickschuster), who were engaged in the repair of worn-out shoes, and the old-timers (Altmacher), who bought old-fashioned shoes for subsequent repair and sale.
In the 17th century, a dismissive reference to the bungler, hack came into use: “Schuster” (shoemaker), while Schuhmacher (this word is translated into Russian in the same way) remained quite a respectable and profitable craft …
But this is already history before the mass production of shoes. Does this once highly respected profession have a future in Germany? According to statistics from the Central Association of the Union of German Craftsmen (Zentralverband des Deutschen Handwerks), in 2013 there were 2,664 shoemakers in the country, in 2007 there were much more such enterprises – 3,492.
Not only is the number of shoemakers declining, this profession is no longer attractive to young people. And what will happen next?
“Who dreams of becoming a shoemaker today ?! Young people want to study at universities, ”says Dieter Mayer, a master from Stuttgart.
─ Yes, young people today are not attracted to this stressful and not well-paid work, says Peter Schulz, head of the Central Association of the German Shoemakers’ Union (ZDS). – But this applies not only to ours, but also to many other working professions. Every year hundreds of thousands of vocational training places in Germany remain unoccupied. This is also due to the unfavorable demographic situation: today there are more places than the students themselves … And this is very sad, because unqualified personnel come to replace experienced craftsmen. But the shoemaking profession needs a long study, it is not just a craft, it is a real art …
However, Peter Schultz looks to the future with hope:
─ As long as millions of people in Germany are wearing shoes, they will need shoemakers. There will always be people willing to pay for handmade shoes or high-quality repairs.
But his colleague, senior master Michael Lutz, is not so optimistic:
─ I think that in the future, shoe makers will remain only in megacities. Already now, according to statistics, a foreman, in order to have orders, must work in a city where at least 300 thousand people live. So after a dozen years you will no longer find shoemakers in villages and small towns …
Irina FROLOVA,
photo of the author.
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