STRENGTH THROUGH JOY: CONSUMERISM AND MASS TOURISM IN THE THIRD REICH

Description

"Based on extensive archival research, this is the first major book on the Nazi leisure and tourism agency, Strength through Joy (KdF). The Third Reich aimed to unify Germans in preparation for war and the acquisition of "living space." Yet it was also sensitive to German consumers, whose wish for higher living standards threatened national cohesion and rearmament. The leisure organization Strength through Joy became the Nazi regime's most determined attempt to ease the tension between collective goals and individual desires, as well as between "guns and butter." Its factory beautification, organized sports, cultural events, and mass tourism sought to raise the status of workers and integrate them in the nation, while keeping its costs low so that its clientele could afford its programs without wage increases that compromised rearmament. Nevertheless, if KdF did attract workers, it also drew the middle classes, which sought adventure, personal comfort, and pleasure - especially through its tourism. Although the motivations of Strength through Joy's constituencies often diverged from the Nazi ideal of a united, politicized "racial community," kdF's accommodation to consumer expectations made it the regime's most popular institution. KdF mitigated present sacrifices while presenting visions of a prosperous future once "living space" was acquired. As a privilege extended to racially acceptable Germans, it segregated the Nazi regime's victims from the German "racial community" (Volksgemeinschaft)."--Jacket.