Joy unconfined - 06/17/04 04:59 PM
I got trapped into some research, and although it’s a bit heavy, I’m determined to share it with *someone! Recent correspondence on another board made me remember a phrase that, although not English, was quite well used in these off-shore islands at one time, though often with a sneer. I dug into it and found that not only was the history interesting but there proved to be an unexpected (by me) link between the phrase and a certain cult car. So, here goes…
‘Kraft durch freude’ meaning 'strength through joy' represented one aspect of the ethos of german youth organisations, such as Hitler Jugend and Bund Deutscher Mädel, before and during the second world war. These organisations emphasised, amongst all the propaganda, the pursuit of mental and physical health and culture as a means of strengthening the nation. But the phrase had another application when abbreviated to KdF.
KdF was a part of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF), the state-controlled national German labour organization. KdF aimed to give structure to the German people’s leisure time by providing affordable leisure activities such as concerts, day-trips and holidays. Large ships, such as the Wilhelm Gustloff, were built specially for KdF cruises. As an aside, it is sad to relate that towards the end of the war this vessel was sunk by a Russian submarine with a loss of life in excess of 9000 souls – civilians, soldiers and sailors fleeing from the Russian advance on Gdynia.
And now here’s the fascinating bit, the KdF also set up a factory to produce a cheap car based on designs by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche and Erwin Komenda, first named the KdF-Wagen, it became the VW Beetle. KdF had a new town built for the factory workers, KdF-Stadt, now called Wolfsburg and they set up a scheme to enable the man in the street to afford a car. Unfortunately World War II put a stop to this and the factory turned to supporting the war effort. But, although increasingly modernised, the Beetles continued to roll off production lines until the last ‘original’ Beetle was produced in Mexico in July 2003! The New Beetle is still produced there.
There, I'm happy now.
‘Kraft durch freude’ meaning 'strength through joy' represented one aspect of the ethos of german youth organisations, such as Hitler Jugend and Bund Deutscher Mädel, before and during the second world war. These organisations emphasised, amongst all the propaganda, the pursuit of mental and physical health and culture as a means of strengthening the nation. But the phrase had another application when abbreviated to KdF.
KdF was a part of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF), the state-controlled national German labour organization. KdF aimed to give structure to the German people’s leisure time by providing affordable leisure activities such as concerts, day-trips and holidays. Large ships, such as the Wilhelm Gustloff, were built specially for KdF cruises. As an aside, it is sad to relate that towards the end of the war this vessel was sunk by a Russian submarine with a loss of life in excess of 9000 souls – civilians, soldiers and sailors fleeing from the Russian advance on Gdynia.
And now here’s the fascinating bit, the KdF also set up a factory to produce a cheap car based on designs by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche and Erwin Komenda, first named the KdF-Wagen, it became the VW Beetle. KdF had a new town built for the factory workers, KdF-Stadt, now called Wolfsburg and they set up a scheme to enable the man in the street to afford a car. Unfortunately World War II put a stop to this and the factory turned to supporting the war effort. But, although increasingly modernised, the Beetles continued to roll off production lines until the last ‘original’ Beetle was produced in Mexico in July 2003! The New Beetle is still produced there.
There, I'm happy now.