Hitler’s Happy People: Kraft durch Freude’s Everyday Production of Joy in the Third Reich By Julia Timpe M.A., Brown University 2007 Thesis Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History at Brown University Dissertation Committee: Prof. Omer Bartov Prof. Deborah Cohen Prof. Ethan Pollock PROVIDENCE, MAY 2013 © 2012 by Julia Timpe The dissertation by Julia Timpe is accepted in its present form by the Department of History as satisfying the dissertation requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ________________________ _____________________________________ Date Omer Bartov, Advisor Recommended to the Graduate Council _______________________ ______________________________________ Date Deborah Cohen, Reader _______________________ ______________________________________ Date Ethan Pollock, Reader Approved by the Graduate Council _______________________ ______________________________________ Date Peter Weber, Dean of the Graduate School iii CURRICULUM VITAE Julia Timpe was born on November 21, 1980 in Wolfenbüttel, Germany and came to Brown University, Providence, RI in 2004 as an exchange student from Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany, where she was enrolled in a Magister Artium program in the fields of Modern and Contemporary History (major,) Modern German Literature and European Ethnology (minors.) At Brown, she first worked as a Teaching Assistant in the Department of German Studies, before entering the Ph.D. program of Brown’s History Department in 2006. She received an A.M. in History from Brown in 2007 and passed her preliminary examinations with distinction in 2008 in her major field Modern German History (with Omer Bartov) and her minor fields Modern European History (with Deborah Cohen) and Modern Russian History (with Ethan Pollock.) At Brown, she has worked as a Teaching Assistant in the Departments of History and German Studies, taught several courses in Brown’s Summer Program and an undergraduate seminar on the history Weimar Germany in the History Department. She has presented her work at several conferences, amongst them the annual GSA meeting in 2011 and the 2011 Agricultural History Society Conference. She has been recipient of a Fulbright Travel Grant and of a GHI Archival Summer Seminar Fellowship. From Brown University’s Graduate School, she received several fellowships, including, amongst others, the Chancellor Stephen Robert Fellowship, a Travel Fellowship (to conduct archival research in Germany), and a Dissertation Completion Fellowship. Brown’s History Department awarded her a McLoughlin Fellowship (to support her conference travel) and she received the German Studies Department’s Brown-Berlin fellowship (declined.) From 2012 to 2013, Julia will be a College Fellow at Harvard University’s History Department. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project would not have been possible without my advisor Omer Bartov and his ongoing support, guidance and inspiration throughout my graduate career and the research and writing process of this dissertation. My thanks also go to Deborah Cohen and Ethan Pollock for their valuable critical feedback to this work. Ethan was also a challenging, but patient mentor when it came to my academic writing in English. I would also like to thank Norbert Frei, Ulrich Herbert and Hasso Spode for taking the time to meet to discuss my dissertation with me. Furthermore, I received constructive and friendly feedback on early drafts of several chapters from faculty and graduate students participating in the Modern European Workshop at Brown’s History Department. Special thanks go to Sonja Glaab, Heidi Tworek and Adam Webster for their crucial input on chapter four. Sonja also read the final versions of the war chapters, helping me through the crazy final phases of revising – vielen, vielen Dank. Thanks also to Chris Barthel and Oded Rabinovitch, whose “wisdom of the elders” helped me to survive my prelims, the dissertation defense and the graduate program overall. In addition, many different people and institutions at Brown and elsewhere helped me in many different ways. I am grateful to Brown’s German Studies Department, in particular Jane Sokolosky, for facilitating my initial time at Brown and later extending my stay an extra year. Thank you to the staff of the Rockefeller Library – my second home (in Providence) –, and to the Writing Center, especially Hannah Sikorski. Finally, a huge thank you to the resourceful and ever-supportive staff of Brown’s History Department, Cherrie Guerzon, Mary Beth Bryson and Julissa Bautista. My research time in Germany was made easier by the generous support of the German Historical Institute and its Archival Summer Seminar, and by my friend Johanna Bade, v who gave me a place to stay in Berlin. I cannot list here all the archives and other institutions that allowed me access their material, but without their generosity this project would not have been possible – thank you! Finally I would like to thank my friends and family. My parents, Hannelore and Wolfgang Timpe, and my sister Wiebke (almost Fornahl) supported me unconditionally throughout my years at Brown, even though they probably thought there were too many of them. The Germans at Brown, especially Katrin Dettmer and Silja Maehl, provided me with a little Heimat. Especially in the final phase, Silja sustained me with proofreading, moral support, company in the library and even warm food. I am thrilled that the submission of this dissertation is marked by her new baby Johan’s arrival. For alternatively providing encouragement or much- needed distraction while completing my degree, Mahir Hadzic also deserves special mention. Last, but definitely not least, this project and my life in Providence would have been unimaginable without the incredible help I received from Eoin Ryan. He learned more than he ever wanted to know about KdF, read the whole dissertation at least three times, engaged patiently in long nightly discussions about its (missing) arguments and supported me overall on every step in the long process of getting my Ph.D. For what it’s worth, I dedicate this work to him. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 PART I: KdF envisioned Chapter One: Strength and Joy for a Happy Volksgemeinschaft: The Work and Goals of KdF and its Departments 28 PART II: KdF at Work Chapter Two: “Nazi Fun Factories?” Implementation and Reception of KdF’s “Cultural” Activities for Workers 83 Chapter Three: The Shop Floor as Gym for the Volksgemeinschaft: KdF Sports for the German Working Class 132 Chapter Four: Beautiful Villages, Happy Peasants: The Work of Kraft Durch Freude in the German Countryside 181 PART II: KdF at War Chapter Five: KdF’s ‘Warfare for Joy’: Entertainment for the Wehrmacht and for Occupied Europe 236 Chapter. Six: “One Must Be Able to Enjoy Oneself”: KdF’s Leisure Activities for the German Home Front 294 Epilogue: Happiness and Destruction in the Third Reich 347 List of Archives 361 Bibliography 362 vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig 1.1: KdF horse-riding class (Unter dem Sonnenrad, 170.) Fig 1.2: Tennis with KdF (Unter dem Sonnenrad, 165.) Fig. 1.3: A swimming pool for factory workers (Das Taschenbuch Schönheit der Arbeit, 178.) Fig. 1.4: Factory Sports with KdF (Das Taschenbuch Schönheit der Arbeit, 174-5.) Fig. 1.5 Female Factory Sports Group (Unter dem Sonnenrad, 170.) Fig. 1.6 KdF tourists chatting with their “hosts” on a KdF trip in Silesia (Unter dem Sonnenrad, 99.) Fig. 1.7 Dancing on the KdF ship “Wilhelm Gustloff” (Unter dem Sonnenrad, 55.) Fig. 1.8 KdF- Factory-concert (Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Image No. 50071597) Fig. 1.9 Factory Exhibition in a Palatine Pumping station (Unter dem Sonnenrad, 150.) Fig. 1.10 Roof garden on top of a German plant (Unter dem Sonnenrad, 77.) Fig. 1.11 Recreation area in a chocolate factory built by “Beauty of Labor” (Unter dem Sonnenrad, 65.) Fig. 1. 12 Clean Workers in Clean Factories (Taschenbuch der Schönheit der Arbeit, 113.) Fig. 1. 13 Clean Workers in Clean Factories (Unter dem Sonnerad, 62.) Fig 1.14 KdF Sports with Music (KdF-Sport im Bild, 4.) Fig. 1.15 Happy Gymnastics for Men and Women (KdF-Sport im Bild, 4.) Fig. 1.16 Games and Fun at the Wannsee (Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Image Nr. 00005480.) Fig. 1.17 Tug-of-War on board a KdF’s Madeira trip (Arbeitertum, Sonderheft Madeirafahrt 1936, 11.) Fig. 1.18 Sack race on KdF ship (Arbeitertum, December 1, 1941, 10;) Fig. 1.19 Fun with Sports on Deck (Arbeitertum, Sonderheft Madeirafahrt 1936, rear page.) Fig. 2.1 Wehrmacht Factory Concert at Osram’s Plant A (DTMB, I 2 060 ALB 062) Fig. 2. 2 Wehrmacht Factory Concert at Osram’s Plant A (DTMB, I 2 060 ALB 062) Fig. 2.3 Werkspausenkonzert (Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Nr. 50064142) Fig. 2. 4 Werkspausenkonzert (Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Nr. 50064143.) Fig. 3.1 Banner of the monthly newsletter on sports at Osram (LA Berlin Rep. 231 Nr. 768.) Fig 3.2 Swim Day at Osram (LA Berlin Rep. 231 Nr. 768; Osram- Sport.) Fig 3.3 Indoor swimming for Osram workers (LA Berlin Rep. 231 Nr. 768; Osram- Sport.) Fig. 3.4. Osram workers doing sports. (LA Berlin Rep. 231 Nr. 768; Osram- Sport.)] Fig. 3.5 Factory Sports Muster (Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Image Nr. 300390640.)039 Fig. 3.6 “Sportappell des Guten Willens” (Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Image Nr. 30032184.) Fig. 3.7 “Antreten zum Betriebssport.” (Unter dem Sonnnenrad, 171.) Fig. 3.8 “Sports Muster of Good Will” (Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Image Nr. 30031928.) Fig. 3.9 KdF Factory Sports Event (Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Image Nr.300396063.) Fig. 4.1 Village Evening with Amateur Theater (Betreuung des Dorfes, 91.) Fig.4.2. Model Village (Arbeitertum, September 15, 1936, 25.) Fig. 4.3 A clean, orderly and “friendly village street.” (Unter dem Sonnenrad, 80.) Fig. 5.1 “Humor und gute Laune sind die besten Kameraden.” (Arbeitertum, Nov. 15, 1939, cover.) Fig. 5.2 KdF’s leisure work in the African desert (Die KdF-Truppenbetreuung, 17.) Fig.