Work 9

Anyone who moves about without work or a job, without being able to prove that he has the means to support himself or is looking for an opportunity to do so, must be imprisoned for at least six weeks or made to do forced labour for up to six months. After the punishment is over, foreigners are to be expelled from the country and nationals to be taken to a corrections facility.

Quote: Law on the Punishment of Vagrants, Beggars and the Work-shy. From January 6, 1843. In: Law Collection for the Royal Prussian States 1843. Berlin: Law Collection Office, p. 19. Picture: Wikimedia

Prussian Law on the Punishment of Vagrants (Prussia was a former German state).

The Prussian Law on the Punishment of Vagrants, Beggars and the Work Shy legalised the imprisonment of homeless people in work houses. The peak of discrimination against those without recognised jobs or homes was reached during the Nazi era. In 1933, the persecution, detention and murder of so-called ‘work shy’ and ‘anti-social’ people began.

*Peter Linebaugh & Marcus Rediker (2000): The Many-headed Hydra. New York: Verso. Chapter 2.

1843