Office beauty of work

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The office "Beauty of Work" was an organization of the German Labor Front (DAF) led by Robert Ley and thus a division of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). The office was founded on November 27, 1933, and on the following day it was incorporated into the Nazi community Kraft durch Freude .

Its seat was in the Kaiserallee 25 (today Bundesallee ) in Berlin; Leader was Albert Speer , Julius Schulte-Frohlinde his deputy.

tasks

The tasks included the beautification of workplaces, the improvement of working conditions, ergonomics and occupational safety . The initially tiny organization took on a hybrid position with the trade supervisory offices: on the one hand, company visits were often carried out jointly, on the other hand, the office acted as a constant critic and driver of the trade supervisory authority, which was made responsible for the existing grievances. It has been correctly pointed out that the suggestions for improvement only superficially envisaged a more beautiful working environment; In fact, they served to increase productivity, the increased exploitation of labor and means of production, the precedence of a National Socialist community of leadership and workforce, and the saving of metals, which should be reserved for the armaments industry.

activities

The community house of Linden & Funke in Iserlohn was built according to plans of the ASdA and opened in 1936.
Canteen crockery was shown with a floor mark as exemplary in terms of the ASdA, here a soup cup from Bauscher for Deurag-Nerag .
Companies that were able to show the quality mark for exemplary factory equipment could hope for lucrative government contracts.

The office published various brochures with detailed sample plans, for example for setting up washrooms and toilets. At the instigation of the office, canteens, lounges, works libraries, sports and sanitary facilities were set up and camaraderie evenings and works sports festivals were organized. The costs of these measures amounted to around 200 million Reichsmarks until 1939 , which had to be borne by the companies. Companies that were particularly keen to implement the requirements of the office received the honorary title of "National Socialist Model Company".

The actions of the office “Beauty of Work” were under annually changing mottos: 1934 “Clearing out the factories”, 1935 “Combating operational noise”, 1936 “Good light, good work”, 1937 “Clean people in a clean company”, 1938 “Healthy Air in the work room ”and in 1939“ Hot meals in the company ”.

With the outbreak of war, the motive of increasing productivity pushed other efforts completely into the background: better lighting of workplaces served to reduce rejects, and improved hygiene reduced the number of sick days. If the employees ate their meals in the company, the consumption could be better controlled, especially that of unwanted imported products. In addition, the conversations of the employees could be overheard centrally and thus the solidarity in the small group at the workplace could be contained. Company sport always served to strengthen the defense.

Publications of the Office Beauty of Work (selection)

Monographs

  • The paperback beauty of work . Compiled by Anatol von Hübbenet, with a foreword by the Reichsamtsleiter Prof. Albert Speer, Verlag der Deutschen Arbeitsfront, Berlin 1938. With photos a. a. by Hugo Schmölz and Dr. P. Wolff & Tritschler
  • Karl Nothelfer, Hans Stolper: The furniture book "Beauty of Work" (Bd. 2), Berlin 1937
  • Herbert Steinwarz: The changing room, washing and bathing room in commercial operations (Vol. 3), Berlin 1936
  • The toilets of commercial enterprises (Vol. 4)
  • Herbert Steinwarz: The accommodation of crews on German seagoing ships (vol. 5), Berlin 1936
  • Herbert Steinwarz: Dining rooms and kitchens in commercial operations (Vol. 6), Berlin 1939
  • Herbert Steinwarz, Georg Mewes, Paul Simma: The Comradeship House in Operation (Vol. 7), Berlin 1939

Information brochures From November 1934 to June 1938, 20 brochures were published, including

  • Nature, tasks and goals of the 'Beauty of Work' office by Herbert Steinwarz (1937)
  • The works welfare. DAF, Gau Essen, ed. Essen 1938

Monthly magazine

  • Beauty of Work , since May 1936

Special issues of other magazines

  • Beauty of Work (Die Form, magazine for creative work, issue 7, 1935)
  • The beauty of work on construction sites and the beauty of work (Baugilde, February 1935 and May 1937)
  • The beauty of work on construction sites (Das Bauwerk, May 1936)
  • Beauty of work (trade journal for woodwork, November 1936)
  • Beauty of Work (Westermanns monthly notebooks, February 1937)

literature

  • Matthias Frese: Company policy in the “Third Reich”. German Labor Front, Entrepreneurs and State Bureaucracy in West German Large-Scale Industry 1933-1939. (Research on regional history 2, also. Diss. Phil. University of Heidelberg 1989), Paderborn 1991. ISBN 3-506-79574-0 , pp. 334-351
  • Chup Friemert : Production Aesthetics in Fascism. The office beauty work from 1933-1939 . Diemert, Munich 1980 (Diss. Phil. University of Bremen 1977). Table of contents and foreword
    • ders .: The office beauty of work. Das Argument Heft 3/4, 1972, pp. 258-275.
  • Anna Teut: Architecture in the Third Reich 1933-1945. Ullstein, Berlin 1967 (online at google books )
    • therein: Karl Kretzschmer: About the tasks of the office for "beauty of work". Document 86, pp. 282f.
  • German architects. Biographical entanglements 1900-1970 . Writings of the German Architecture Museum on the history of architecture and the theory of architecture, Braunschweig 1986, new edition. Stuttgart 2001
  • Numerous German literature references can be found at: Neil Gregor: Nazism. Series: Oxford Readers. Oxford University Press , New York 1996 ISBN 0192892819 (Extract 60, p. 407f .; available online)

Web links

Commons : Office for beauty of work  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ according to handbook ... 1938, p. 262: Reichsamt "Beauty of Work", Berlin S 42 , Curthdamm 2. ( Kreuzberg ; today Segitzdamm).
  2. ^ According to the paperback 1938, p. 261 Speers was the permanent representative in this office Dipl.-Ing. Herbert Steinwarz.
  3. ^ Matthias Frese: Company policy in the "Third Reich" , p. 336.
  4. ↑ In detail on this from a perspective critical of capitalism: Chup Friemert, Das Amt Schönheit der Arbeit. Das Argument Heft 3/4, 1972, pp. 258-275.