Strength Through Joy
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Kraft durch Freude (KdF, literally "strength through joy" ) was a large state-controlled leisure organization in Third Reich, a part of the German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeiterfront (DAF)), the national German labour organization.
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[edit] Activities
From 1933 it provided affordable leisure activities such as concerts, day-trips and holidays as in Prora. Large ships, such as the Wilhelm Gustloff, were built specially for KdF cruises. Above all, KdF would bridge the class divide by making middle-class leisure activities available to the masses. Borrowing from the Italian Fascist organization 'After Work' (Dopolavoro), but extending its tentacles into the workplace as well, KdF rapidly developed a wide range of activities, and quickly mushroomed into one of the Third Reich's largest organizations. By 1939, it had over 7,000 paid employees and 135,000 voluntary workers, organized into divisions covering such areas as sport, education, and tourism, with wardens in every factory and workshop employing more than twenty people. Some estimate that over 25 million people were participating by 1939.
KdF was awarded the Olympic Cup for the year 1939 by the International Olympic Committee[1].
[edit] The KdF-Wagen
The KdF also set up production of an affordable car, the Kdf-Wagen, which later became known as the Volkswagen (People's car). A new town was built for the production of the car and for housing the workers, KdF-Stadt, now called Wolfsburg. KdF organized a special saving scheme to allow ordinary workers the luxury of a car. However, due to the start of World War II very little of this was realised and both the factory and the rest of KdF became focused on supporting the war efforts. The intention was that ordinary Germans would buy the car by means of a savings scheme ("Fünf Mark die Woche musst Du sparen, willst Du im eigenen Wagen fahren" — "Save five Marks a week, if you desire to drive your own car") which around 336,000 people eventually paid into. Volkswagen honored its savings agreements after World War II; Ford, which had a similar "coupon" savings system, reportedly did not.
[edit] The "euthanasia" program
The KdF, in the beginnings of World War II became involved in the euphemistically named "euthanasia" program (actually Action T4). Children seen as diseased or deformed had to be eliminated in order to create Hitler's "proper racial community". The involvement of KdF had been primarily kept a secret until its exposure in 1939 when Adolf Hitler decided to focus more attention on the eradication of physically handicapped adults.
[edit] References
- ^ The Olympic Cup from the IOC website.
