Kultur im Heim explained

Publisher:Verlag die Wirtschaft
Founded:1956
Finaldate:1989
Country:German Democratic Republic
Based:East Berlin
Language:German
Issn:0323-4967
Oclc:9366612

Kultur im Heim (German: Culture at Home) was an East German women's magazine specializing on home decoration and home design. The magazine was published between 1956 and 1989.

History and profile

Kultur im Heim was started in 1956.[1] [2] It was first appeared as a supplement to an interior design magazine Möbel und Wohnraum, but then became an independent publication.[3] Its foundation was an indicator of the change in the East Germany's cultural policy.[4] Because in the early days of the state housing architecture and city planning were emphasized as the preferred sites of socialist cultural identity.[4] However, from the mid-1950s its cultural policy became focused on commodities and domestic spaces.[4]

Kultur im Heim was published by Verlag die Wirtschaft in East Berlin.[5] [6] Target audience of the magazine was women. The magazine functioned as a mediator between the professional design community and East German consumers.

Kultur im Heim provided its readers with several suggestions about home design and leisure activities.[2] [7] It advised them to prefer a simple and functional design at their home.[8] The magazine also featured articles on the new designs of the East German furniture industry and on the modern and functional prefabricated furniture. All articles published in the magazine were based on the findings of the studies by social scientists, philosophers and designers about the relationship between socialism, aesthetics and taste.[9]

The magazine folded in 1989.[10]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Greg Castillo. Domesticating the Cold War: Household Consumption as Propaganda in Marshall Plan Germany. Journal of Contemporary History. April 2005. 40. 2. 261–288 . 10.1177/0022009405051553. 159585852.
  2. Book: Greg Castillo. Cold War on the Home Front: The Soft Power of Midcentury Design. 978-0-8166-4691-3. 2010. U of Minnesota Press. 180. Minneapolis, MI; London.
  3. Book: Curtis Swope. Building Socialism: Architecture and Urbanism in East German Literature, 1955-1973. Bloomsbury Publishing. 2017. 978-1-5013-2813-8. New York. 112.
  4. Paul Betts. The Twilight of the Idols: East German Memory and Material Culture. The Journal of Modern History. 2000. 72. 3. 758. 10.1086/316046. 144800205.
  5. Web site: Kultur im Heim. Catalog. 19 May 2015. University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries.
  6. Web site: DDR-Zeitschriften zum Themenfeld Gestaltung. Stiftung Industrie. 29 January 2017. de.
  7. Book: Eli Rubin. Synthetic Socialism: Plastics and Dictatorship in the German Democratic Republic. 2009. UNC Press. Chapel Hill, NC. 978-1-4696-0677-4. 365.
  8. Milena Veelis. Consumption in East Germany. The Seduction and Betrayal of Things. Journal of Material Culture. March 1999. 4. 1. 92. 10.1177/135918359900400105. 145425303.
  9. Book: 2012. Natalie Scholz. Milena Veenis. Peter Romijn. et.al.. Divided Dreamworlds?. Amsterdam University Press. Amsterdam. 9789048516704. http://dare.uva.nl/document/2/139474. Cold War Modernism and Post-War German Homes. An East-West Comparison.
  10. Web site: Exhibiting East Germany: Doing Public History at the Wende Museum. May 2013. Loyola Marymount University. 19 May 2015.