Kraft durch Freude (abbreviated KdF and meaning 'strength through joy'), was a large state-controlled leisure organization in Nazi Germany, a part of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF), the national German labour organization.
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.
The KdF also set up production of an affordable car, the KdF-Wagen, later called VW Beetle. A new town was built for the production 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.
KraftdurchFreude (abbreviated KdF and meaning 'strength through joy'), was a large state-controlled leisure organization in Nazi Germany, a part of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF), the national German labour organization.
KdF organized a special saving scheme to allow ordinary workers the luxury of a car.
However, due to the start of World War 2 very little of this was realised and both the factory and the rest of KdF became focused on supporting the war efforts.
The NS Gemeinschaft KraftdurchFreude, the National Socialist Organization Strength through Joy, was a subset of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront, the national German labor organization.
The largest and most famous KdF ship, the Wilhelm Gustloff, served initially as a hospital ship during WWII, later as a barracks ship, and was sunk in January of 1945 with a loss of 9,343 lives, the largest single naval loss in history.
The NS Society KraftdurchFreude gave German workers the possibility of vacationing at the beach or in the mountains, or to explore the homeland.
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