• About
  • Books
  • Films

Postwar Germany

~ 1945-1949

Postwar Germany

Category Archives: Everyday life

Living Museum Online – German History

01 Saturday Nov 2014

Posted by Anika in Everyday life, postwar

≈ Comments Off on Living Museum Online – German History

Tags

artifacts, bundesrepublik, care, germany, museum, online

care packageEver wanted a close look at a CARE package, a pair of POW trousers or other artifacts?

The German Historical Museum, the Stiftung of the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland and the Bundesarchiv have a nice website called the Living Museum Online, or LEMO. It combines facts about the eras in German history with eyewitness reports, multimedia and objects for exploration.

The postwar eyewitness page is here. All in German, but there’s still much to explore even if you don’t know the language. The photos and videos are also worth a look. And if you want a look at those trousers, try the 360-degree objects page.

Lost Tunnels

20 Monday Oct 2014

Posted by Anika in Everyday life, postwar

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

air, bombs, bunker, essen, Krupp Steel Works, tunnels, war

The true tragedy of the bombing war in World War II was measured in human lives. The numbers can vary, but here’s an idea of the devastation bombardments brought to the Axis Powers. (I think 70 years after the war, we can admit the bombs were awful for common people without getting into an argument about who deserved what).

The end of the war meant the end of bombs, but it would be years before reconstruction in Germany made a dent in the damage. In Essen, the city I live in,  the Allies targeted anything within range of the Krupp Steel Works. Ninety percent of the city center was destroyed or severely damaged.

90%. I can imagine my hometown in Michigan, the main drag where all the shops and restaurants are clustered — in ruins.

bunker feiheit mapBut back to Essen. Hard to believe, but thousands of people lived under those ruins. For years. Not just in cellars of collapsed or shaky buildings. Many lived in a tunnel system near the main train station. Some if not all the tunnels were from old coal mines — some hundreds of years old and lost to memory — that still snake under the city. Not long ago, the authorities closed down a part of the Autobahn near here because of one of these lost tunnels. They’re everywhere.

In one of my next posts, I’ll describe how people lived down in the dark.

 

 

The Beetle

24 Wednesday Sep 2014

Posted by Anika in Everyday life, postwar

≈ Comments Off on The Beetle

Tags

beetle, car, volkswagen

Pink_VW_Beetle_(2490867150)One of the icons of postwar car culture got its start before the war.

The Beetle was born in 1938 as the KdF Wagen, designed by Ferdinand Porsche and built by the new Volkswagen auto works in what became the city of Wolfsburg. It was supposed to be a car anyone could afford. Even the working class could — supposedly — afford the 990 Reichsmark (about $4,000) price tag. If they saved up. Anyone itching for the snazzy little car filled special coupon booklets with stamps that showed they’d deposited a minimum of 5 marks a week toward the future car.

By the way, Kraft durch Freude (KdF) was a Nazi organization that brought leisure activities to a broad mass of Germans. It’s perhaps best known for its organized holidays that made vacation possible for some Germans for the first time.

But when Germany started World War 2, there was no time for leisure. And no room at the Volkswagen factory to produce civilian cars. The KdF Wagen was transformed into a military vehicle of various designs.

Few cars ever reached the 350,000 people who saved up for one. By the end of the war, the Reichsmark had collapsed. The savings were all but worthless. The Germans who tried to get their money back saw only a tiny part of their investment returned in cash. They got a somewhat larger discount if they bought a new Volkswagen Beetle. Production started up again in 1946, and the new Beetle would become one of the symbols of the German Wirtschaftswunder.

*Photo: Pink Volkswagen Beetle by dave_7 via http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en, Wikimedia Commons

Postwar Artifacts

10 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by Anika in Everyday life, postwar

≈ Comments Off on Postwar Artifacts

Tags

artifacts, nachkriegszeit, postwar

For those of you interested in seeing postwar artifacts, here’s a quick link from my horde of bookmarks.

Nachkriegszeit.de is all in German, and is mostly lists and links of stuff you can look at like toys or clothes or shoes from the mid-40s and so on. It’s run by a group that offers its collections to museums. I don’t know anything about them, but the website is interesting for anyone who appreciates everyday life objects from the past. If you read German, there’s a lot of good information on the site too.

Newer posts →
Follow Postwar Germany on WordPress.com

Categories

  • 1945
  • Allies
    • British
    • French
    • Soviets
  • Americans
  • berlin
  • Books
  • Children
  • Crime
  • Culture
  • Denazification
  • Everyday life
  • general
  • Hunger
  • Jewish life
  • Media
  • Personalities
  • Politics and government
  • postwar
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Women

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Postwar Germany
    • Join 89 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Postwar Germany
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...