Abstract
To compensate workers for low salaries and long work-weeks, the
“Beauty of Labor” office launched a campaign in November 1933 to improve
conditions in the German workplace. Slogans such as “Cleaning up the
factory,” or “Good light, good work,” were supposed to encourage
employers to provide better hygienic and safety conditions for their
employees, as well as various leisure activities. The idea, of course,
was that clean, healthy, and happy workers would work harder and be more
productive. Various incentives were used to encourage employer
participation: these included tax breaks, as well as competitions and
prizes. For instance, on May 1st of each year, Hitler honored
outstanding factories as “National Socialist Model Factories.” According
to official figures, by 1938 about 34,000 firms had responded to the
call for improvements. In actuality, the costs associated with many of
those measures were borne by the workers, since they were often
responsible for making the improvements themselves, without pay and on
their own time. The photograph below features one of Hitler’s “model
factories.” A swastika embedded in a cogged wheel decorates its facade,
as does the slogan of the German Labor Front: “We’re marching with
you.”