One of the most popular organizations to advance socialism and harmony in Germany was the DAF’s recreational division, “Strength through Joy.” In German KdF, its role was to provide diversion for the working population. Ley announced upon its founding, “We should not just ask what the person does on the job, but we also have the responsibility to be concerned about what the person does when off work. We have to be aware that boredom does not rejuvenate someone, but amusement in varied forms does. To organize this entertainment, this relaxation, will become our most important task."96 Hitler considered travel an excellent activity for regenerating mind, body and spirit. Ley stated, “The Führer wants every laborer and every employee to be able to take a good-value KdF trip at least once a year. In so doing, the person should not only visit the loveliest German vacation spots, but also go on sea voyages abroad."97
Few Germans could afford to travel prior to Hitler’s chancellorship. In 1933, just 18 percent of employed persons did so. All were people with above-average salaries. The KdF began sponsoring low-cost excursions the following year, partly subsidized by the DAF, that were affordable for lower income families. Package deals covered the cost of transportation, lodging, meals and tours. Options included outings to swimming or mountain resorts, health retreats, popular attractions in cities and provinces, hiking and camping trips. In 1934, 2,120,751 people took short vacation tours. The number grew annually, with 7,080,934 participating in 1938. KdF “Wanderings"-- backpacking excursions in scenic areas— drew 60,000 the first year. In 1938 there were 1,223,362 Germans on the trails.98 The influx of visitors boosted commerce in economically depressed resort towns.
These activities were only possible because Hitler, upon founding the “Strength through Joy” agency in November 1933, ordered all German businesses and industry to grant sufficient paid time off for employees. Prior to that year, nearly a third of the country’s labor force had no union contract and hence worked without vacations. In 1931, just 30 percent of laborers with wage agreements received four to six days off per year. The majority, 61 percent, received three days."99 The National Socialist government required that all working people be guaranteed a minimum of six days off after six months' tenure with a company. As seniority increased, the employee was to earn twelve paid vacation days per annum. The state extended the same benefits to Germany’s roughly half a million Heimarbeiter, people holding small contracts with industry who manufactured components at home. Contracting corporations financed their holidays as well. Ley fought the labor ministry for years before finally extending the work force’s paid annual leave to four weeks.
Many choosing to travel during their vacation took advantage of inexpensive cruises sponsored by the KdF. The agency initially charted two passenger ships early in 1934. On May 3, the Dresden left Bremerhafen with 969 vacationers for a five-day voyage. The Monte Olivia, carrying 1,800 passengers, put out from Hamburg the same day. Both vessels steamed to the Isle of Wight off the English coast and back. Few aboard had ever experienced a cruise, and they returned to port exhilarated. In well-publicized interviews, travelers enthusiastically described the new KdF fleet as “dream ships for workers.” News coverage enhanced interest in the program. With applications for bookings flooding the KdF, the vessels began a continuous shuttle of five-day cruises to and from Norway, offering passengers a tour of the coastline’s majestic fjords.
The voyages became enormously popular, leading Ley to charter five more ships that summer. By the end of 1934, the KdF fleet had provided five-day cruises, mostly to Norway, for 80,000 German workers and their families. The KdF introduced Mediterranean cruises the following season. Voyages to Italy allowed passengers to go ashore at Genoa, Naples, Palermo and Bari. The Portugal cruise docked at Lisbon or Madeira. During the first 1935 voyage beginning March 15, four KdF ships carried 3,000 passengers to Madeira, among them Ley. Portuguese and Italian residents of ports of call saw for the first time working class Germans enjoying a recreational activity previously associated with the upper class. During 1935, over 138,000 Germans took KdF cruises.100
Ley contracted the Hamburg shipyard Blohm & Voss to construct the first KdF liner in 1936. Taking considerable interest in the design, Ley insisted that all decks be free of ventilators, machinery and equipment. There was to be sufficient deck space for all the passengers to enjoy it on reclining chairs at one time. Promenade decks, game and exercise rooms, concert and dance halls, auditoriums and large, brightly lit salons with comfortable chairs were also requirements. Every passenger cabin was to face outward with portholes, and crew members were to receive cabins as well. There were no first or second class accommodations; all passenger quarters were identical in size and furnishings. Hitler attended the launching of the 25,484 ton Wilhelm Gustloff on May 5, 1937. At the ceremony, Ley told the crowd, “It is wonderful, amazing, it is unique in the world, that any state would endeavor to build such a great ship for its workers. We Germans don't get old tubs for our working people, but instead the best is just good enough for our German worker."101
With 1,465 passengers aboard, the Wilhelm Gustloff began its first cruise on March 15, 1938. It was a free voyage, and the guests were Blohm & Voss workers who had built the ship and their spouses, as well as female sales clerks and office personnel from Hamburg retail stores. From that day on until August 1939, the ship undertook 50 KdF cruises to Norway, Spain, Portugal, Italy or Tripoli. Employers enabled poorer working class families to participate in the vacations by voluntarily subsidizing a share of the ticket costs.102 Some firms financed the entire cost of family cruises for employees including pocket money. The national railroad discounted fares for Germans travelling to Hamburg and Bremen by rail for KdF voyages. In March 1939, the brand new Robert Ley, an even larger passenger liner built for “Strength through Joy” cruises, joined the KdF fleet as its tenth ship.
The sports office of the DAF sponsored labor’s involvement in other “exclusive” activities such as tennis, skiing, horseback riding and sailing. It offered inexpensive courses in these sports and built new facilities. Interest in the programs became so widespread that the DAF had to train a large number of additional instructors. In 1934 alone, 470,928 Germans took part in DAF sports courses. In 1938, the number had swollen to 22,474,906.103 The agency also promoted sports clubs in factories and businesses. Within two years, there were over 11,000 company clubs competing in team events against those from other firms or departments.
In its endeavors to fully integrate labor into German society, the KdF introduced cultural activities as well. Its 70 music schools offered basic instruction in playing musical instruments for members of working class families. The KdF arranged theater productions and classical concerts for labor throughout the country. The 1938 Bayreuth Festspiel, the summer season of Richard Wagner operas, gave performances of Tristan und Isolde and Parsifal for laborers and their families. The KdF also established travelling theaters and concert tours to visit rural towns in Germany where cultural events seldom took place.
The “Strength through Joy” agency’s recreational programs had many positive benefits for labor. As Ley stated, it offered the working man the opportunity “to satisfy his urge to learn more about life in all areas of endeavor, and release the forces of creativity and industriousness resting within him."104 The goal was not just to improve the material circumstances of this stratum, but to help the workers develop an inner harmony through the balance of useful work for the nation and playful diversion during leisure time. It supported Hitler’s ambition to craft a genuinely socialist state, to which he himself contributed with various policies. For example, few in Germany could afford an automobile prior to the Führer’s order to design and mass-produce the “KdF Car,” known later as the Volkswagen. Sales of this robust, inexpensive vehicle to average-income households eliminated the status previously connected with car ownership. Generous improvements in Germany’s highway system made automobile travel practical and popular.
Hitler’s practice of instituting uniforms for the labor service, youth and women’s organizations, state and party functionaries, veterans' clubs and so forth also advanced the socialist agenda. The uniform equalized Germans, rich or poor. It identified them only as belonging to a particular group contributing to national life. Hitler stated in 1930, “We must get to a point where Germans can walk together arm in arm without respect to social position. Today unfortunately, the fine creases in one’s suit and another’s blue mechanic overalls are often a source of division."105
The goal of Hitler’s policies was to realize a cooperative, harmonious society, a fair and reasonable distribution of national assets, and a life for the working population as free from anxiety and want as possible. In 1942, General Walther Scherff, a military historian in the German army, summarized the popular impression of his Führer during the times: “Hitler’s principle of life was the same as that of his role model, Friedrich the Great; that it is not war, but civilized, creative activity such as works of art, social institutions, and travel routes that will bring the German people a practical, carefree and secure future existence."106 Hitler once described himself as living for the future of his nation, for “these countless millions of people who work hard and possess so little of life."107