Reichsausstellung Schaffendes Volk
1937 | |
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![]() Postcard showing the confectionary house | |
Overview | |
BIE-class | Unrecognized exposition |
Name | The Reich's Exhibition of a Productive People |
Visitors | 6 million |
Organized by | Ernst Poensgen (director) |
Timeline | |
Opening | 8 May 1937 |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Nordpark_Rosseb%C3%A4ndiger.jpg/250px-Nordpark_Rosseb%C3%A4ndiger.jpg)
The Reichsausstellung Schaffendes Volk (The Reich's Exhibition of a Productive People) of 1937 was held in today's North Park district of Düsseldorf, Germany, along one mile of the Rhine shoreline. It was opened on May 8, 1937 by Hermann Göring. Through October of the same year it attracted about six million visitors.
Description
Originally planned as an exhibition of the Deutscher Werkbund it finally turned into a rival to the 1937 International Exposition of Modern Life in Paris. The exhibition was meant to showcase the domestic accomplishments of the National Socialists in new housing, art, and science and to prepare the German people for the upcoming four-year plan which aimed at German autarky in (natural) resources. The fair's director was Dr. Ernst Poensgen.
The exhibition was laid out in four main divisions:
- industry and economics
- land utilization and city planning
- material progress (with an emphasis on progress in synthetics/ersatz products)
- arts and culture.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Eva_Braun%27s_trips_-_D%C3%BCsseldorf_Exhibition_1937_%28242-EB-4-05C%29.jpg/220px-Eva_Braun%27s_trips_-_D%C3%BCsseldorf_Exhibition_1937_%28242-EB-4-05C%29.jpg)
Through the publicity efforts of its CEO, Max Keith, a functioning Coca-Cola GmbH bottling plant stood at the center of the fairgrounds, with a miniature train for children, and immediately adjacent to the Propaganda Office.
Sources
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- New York Times, April 26, 1937
- Mark Pendergrast (2000). For God, Country and Coca-Cola. Basic Books, pg. 220
- Stefanie Schäfers (2001). Vom Werkbund zum Vierjahresplan. Die Ausstellung 'Schaffendes Volk', Düsseldorf 1937. Droste 2001
- Düsseldorf municipal history site, with photos
- v
- t
- e
- 1890 Nord West Deutsche Gewerbe und Industrie Ausstellung (Bremen)
- 1891 International Electrotechnical Exhibition (Frankfurt)
- 1896 Great Industrial Exposition of Berlin
- 1898 Kraft und Arbeitsmaschinen (Munich)
- 1907 Internationale Kunst Ausstellung (Mannheim)
- 1911 International Hygiene Exhibition (Dresden)
- 1914 Werkbund Exhibition (Cologne)
- 1926 Internationale Polizeiausstellung (Berlin)
- 1927 Werkbund Exhibition – The Dwelling (Stuttgart)
- 1928 Pressa (Cologne)
- 1937 Reichsausstellung Schaffendes Volk (Düsseldorf)
- 1937 Ausstellung (Berlin)
- 1939 Deutsche Kolonial Ausstellung (Dresden)