Bogumil,
As an American, I would like to bring something to your attention regarding the housing policy of the German Reich. In preceding ARPLAN posts concerning the NSDAP, there were proposals being forward on how to alleviate the housing shortage in the German Reich during the Interwar years. The topic was mentioned in passing on a few occasions. The SPD, the political party covered in the latest ARPLAN post, was also the same party which proposed Rent Control as a way of mitigating the housing shortage. Meanwhile, in an earlier post, Gottfried Feder was proposing for a nationalized commercial bank that would finance urban development and construction projects.
What I have yet to ascertain regarding the NSDAP was how well they handled the housing shortage from the Weimar years. Yes, I am aware that the NSDAP promoted socioeconomic policies that would make radio receivers and automobiles affordable to the average family, resulting in limited production runs of the Volksempfänger and Volkswagen respectively. I am curious about the outcome of the German Reich’s housing policies because, from my understanding, they appeared to have inherited their policies from ones which dated back to the Weimar years.
Apparently, Chancellor Heinrich Brüning in 1931 managed to implement a “Settlement Housing Program” to address the housing shortage. In the cities, apartment complexes would be designed to house entire families and small businesses. Meanwhile, out in the countryside, there would be these neighborhoods of single-family homes with adjacent infrastructure accommodating gardens and animal husbandry. They would be self-contained and self-sufficient enough to support themselves. The Hitlerists had to have continued aspects of these policies because some of those structures are still around and there are people who do consider them as their personal residencies.
On my Blog, I am currently delving into questions related to housing and transportation policies. An important area of focus happens to be addressing the problems of American Suburbia, from its environmental impact and overreliance on automobiles to its inability to be self-sustaining and difficulties financing its long-term expenses. If there was something that caught my attention to those policies from the German Reich, it had confirmed my long-standing conclusions about the German-speaking world continuing to maintain well-defined distinctions between urban and rural areas. Even the concept of the “Vorort,” the closest equivalent to our English-speaking world’s conceptions of Suburbia, is not a precise one insofar as Suburbia itself is generally understood as separate spatial entities existing between urban and rural areas.


There is another WordPress Blog which I have been using as a general frame of reference in formulating my own arguments. It’s called “Envisioning the American Dream.” Some relevant posts in particular stood out to me that served as stark contrasts to everything that Jung stood for. If there was relevant quote that should be made into an aphorism to summarize them it ought to be this one: “Through the power of the mania for gold, Ahasuerus, the ruler of the world, brandishes the whip over the trembling slaves who believe themselves free simply because they are permitted to babble about freedom!”
A Blueprint for the Middle Class: https://envisioningtheamericandream.com/2012/09/24/a-blueprint-for-the-middle-class/
A Soaring Economy: https://envisioningtheamericandream.com/2013/09/26/a-soaring-economy-2/
In Praise of the Small Businessman: https://envisioningtheamericandream.com/2014/11/28/in-praise-of-the-small-businessman/
Plugged into the American Dream: https://envisioningtheamericandream.com/2014/09/25/plugged-into-the-american-dream/
The Gold Standard for the American Dream: https://envisioningtheamericandream.com/2015/12/17/the-gold-standard-for-the-american-dream/
In closing, there is much that I have yet to accomplish before I can finally finish my ongoing explorations on housing and transportation policies. “As can be seen, the field is rich enough. May it be cultivated properly!”
Signed,
-DAH
Categories: Philosophy
Leave a Reply