This photograph taken in 1932 was part of a press report about the poverty that had gripped many villages in Thuringia, in central Germany, since the onset of the Great Depression. The picture shows a married couple at their kitchen table, which also serves as their workplace. The couple make medical glass instruments such as test tubes and thermometers, while their children play on the floor in the same room. Thuringia was one of the centers of the German glass industry at the time. Although most manufacturing in Germany had become machine-based, cottage industries continued to exist in many areas even in the 1930s. Due to the seasonal nature of agricultural work, many people living in rural areas were forced to take on additional work to make ends meet. The factory owners for whom they worked were mostly based in regional towns and took advantage of the lower wages in the countryside.