Editing Strength Through Joy (section)

{{Short description|Nazi leisure organization (1933–1945)}}
{{Infobox organization
| name                = Strength Through Joy
| native_name         = Kraft durch Freude
| native_name_lang = de
| logo                = KdF Symbol.svg
| formation           = {{start date|1933|11|27}}
| dissolved           = {{end date|1945|5|8}}
| type                = [[Party organization]]
| purpose             = Promote [[Nazism]] through subsidized [[leisure]] activities and holidays, and creation of [[Volksgemeinschaft]]
| headquarters        = Berlin
| location            = [[Nazi Germany]]
| leader_name         = [[Robert Ley]]
| parent_organization = [[German Labour Front]]
| staff               = 7,000 (1939)
| volunteers          = 135,000 (1939)
}}

'''NS''' '''Gemeinschaft''' {{Langnf|de|'''Kraft durch Freude'''|Strength Through Joy|paren=left}}; '''KdF''') was a German [[Nazi Party|NSDAP]]-operated [[leisure]] organization in [[Nazi Germany]].<ref name="Grunberger197">[[Richard Grunberger]], ''The 12-Year Reich'', p. 197, {{ISBN|0-03-076435-1}}</ref> It was part of the [[German Labour Front]] ({{langx|de|link=no|Deutsche Arbeitsfront}}), the national labour organization at that time.

Set up in November 1933 as a tool to promote the advantages of [[Nazism]] to the German people and internationally, it was also used to ease the process of the [[German rearmament|rearmament of Germany]]. Through its structure of organized events and promotion of propaganda, it was also intended to prevent dissident and anti-state behavior. By 1939, it became the world's largest tourism operator.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.spiegel.de/reise/aktuell/0,1518,494971,00.html |title=Wellness unterm Hakenkreuz |journal=[[Spiegel Online]] |date=19 July 2007 |language=de}}</ref>

KdF was composed of several departments with their own specific goals, with each department organizing different leisure activities. It organized activities such as sporting events on factory floors, art exhibitions, discounted concerts and, most famously and popularly, subsidized holidays and cruise trips. One of its largest departments, although sometimes considered a separate organization altogether, was [[Beauty of Labour]], which concerned itself with physical and sanitary improvements of the workplace. KdF was responsible for the improvement of several factories and sports facilities throughout its operations in the 1930s.

KdF was supposed to bridge the class divide by making middle-class leisure activities available to the masses.<ref>[[Richard Grunberger]], ''The 12-Year Reich'', pp. 197–198, {{ISBN|0-03-076435-1}}</ref> It also sought to bolster the German [[tourist industry]], something it did successfully up until the outbreak of [[World War II]]. Official statistics showed that in 1934, 2.3 million people took KdF holidays. By 1938, this figure rose to 10.3 million.<ref>Mason, T.W., ''Social Policy in the Third Reich: The Working Class and the 'National Community{{'}}'' (Oxford: Berg. 1993), p. 160</ref> With the outbreak of war in 1939, most of the organization's programs were suspended and several projects, such as the [[Prora]] holiday resort, were never completed.