This photograph is the final plate in "Antlitz der Zeit" ("Face of the Time"), Sander's typological study of German citizens. A poignant image of disempowerment, the picture reveals Sander's prescient understanding of the social and economic forces at work in the Weimar Republic. Taking Sander's sympathetic portrayal of Germans of all occupations and ethnicities as a serious threat, the Fascists destroyed the printing blocks and most copies of this book in 1934. This print of the whole negative, showing both the "last" man and his desolate corner, is the only one known to survive.
