Collection entry
Kraft Durch Freude
Sixteen supplied titles place labour, recreation and popular entertainment under the name of the Nazi leisure organization. Their context includes the destruction of independent unions and exclusion from the promised community; the recordings remain unidentified.
Language not yet verified
16 tracks · About 49 minutes
Download only · No physical CD
Audio language and vocal or instrumental content have not yet been verified.
Listen before you buy
Deutsche Arbitsfront Lied
$9.99
Digital record download
Download details
MP3 recordings in one ZIP download (about 93.6 MB). Download only · No physical record or CD.
Tracklists, historical notes and sources are available on this website.
The recordings
Deutsche Arbitsfront Lied3:12
Historical Context
A US Embassy report from Berlin on 4 December 1933 described pressure on workers to join the Labour Front and the exclusion of Jewish people from membership. It also recorded plans to organize leisure alongside work, exposing the coercion behind the promise of national community.
Recording details
This is institutional context for the supplied Labour Front title. The report does not identify its musical work, performers, beliefs, commissioning body or recording date.
Sources & Resources
Lied Der Arbeit3:11
Historical Context
Josef Scheu set Lied der Arbeit in 1868 within the Austrian workers’ movement. The Wienbibliothek preserves an undated autograph score excerpt crediting Scheu and the poet Josef Zapf. This older tradition demonstrates why a labour-themed title cannot be identified simply from a later compilation label.
Recording details
The Scheu/Zapf score is a comparison work, not an identification of this track. Its four-part male-choir scoring and the work’s date are not assigned to the supplied recording.
- Frohsinn Am Laufenden Band5:41
- Arbeit Ist Gluck3:53
- Ich Bin Der Bub Von Westerwald3:07
- Berliner Jungs2:36
- Ein Student Geht Vorbei3:04
- Kind'fahr'wieder In Die Heimat2:40
- Rote Rosen2:18
- Nach Jedem Abschied Gibt's Ein Wiederseh'n3:09
- 1,2,3,4,5,6,7-Wo Ist Meine Braut Geblieben_2:46
Spatzenkonzert2:36
Historical Context
Schott’s catalogue gives Spatzenkonzert credits to Erich Börschel and Rudi Burkhardt, with words by Peter Igelhoff. The listed edition is Albrecht Rosenstengel’s arrangement for recorder groups, piano and percussion: a useful example of how a familiar entertainment title can circulate in a different musical setting.
Recording details
These are credits for a specific printed arrangement. The work match, instruments, arrangement and performers in the supplied audio remain unverified.
Sources & Resources
Indexed source text was checked; full-page extraction remains unavailable or incomplete.
- Bremer Stadtmusikanten2:28
- Frisch Auf!3:04
- Ein Prosit2:32
- Anno Dazumal3:00
Behind the sound
Organized leisure, coercion and exclusion
Kraft durch Freude was established on 27 November 1933 within the Deutsche Arbeitsfront. The German Historical Museum situates its recreation programmes within Nazi control of working life, promotion of national unity and efforts to raise productivity. Earlier that year, Nazi organizations occupied trade-union offices, arrested leaders and seized assets. Organized leisure developed after independent representation had been destroyed.
A US Embassy report from Berlin, dated 4 December 1933, described strong pressure to join the Labour Front and the exclusion of Jewish people from membership. It also recorded plans to organize leisure alongside working hours. This contemporary account exposes the coercion and exclusion behind claims of a universal national community, without identifying the musicians or their beliefs.
Lied der Arbeit belongs to more than one musical tradition. Austrian library records document Josef Scheu’s 1868 setting within the workers’ movement and credit Josef Zapf’s words. Spatzenkonzert has a separate entertainment-music history in the Austrian Mediathek and Schott’s score catalogue. These are work-level comparisons: the record title cannot select a composition, text or arrangement, or establish a KdF performance.
Presented for critical historical study of propaganda, labour coercion and exclusion, including the exclusion of Jewish people from the Labour Front. Nazi ideology and dictatorship are not endorsed.