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The magazine offered here is a rare example of the Third Reich international magazine Freude und Arbeit (Joy and Labor - Gioia e Lavoro - Alegria y Trabajo - Joie et Travail) published by Nazi Organization Leader Dr. Robert Ley for distribution around the world.

For a comprehensive overview of both Dr. Ley and his magazine Freude und Arbeit see additional background information at the bottom of this USMBOOKS web page. *

The Freude und Arbeit magazine we offer here is the heavily illustrated 120-page Issue 2 of Year 4. Behind a colorful big 10-½ x 14-½ inch cover there are photo features about the Diplomatic Reception at the New Reichschancellery in Berlin on 12 January 1939, Another Meeting with Hermann Göring, American Aviator Charles Lindbergh in Germany for the Lilienthal Conference, Hitler and Albert Speer and their New Work, an Interview with SS-Obergruppenführer Bruno Lorenz, Industrial Planning in England, Dr. Ley visits Marshal Italo Balbo in Tripolis, the World Congress Meeting in London, Foreign Press Reception in Berlin by Reichspressechef Dr. Otto Dietrich, With the Graf Zeppelin above the Sudetenland, Dr. Ley Visits Sudetenland, the New German-Italian Study Foundation, Greetings from Cuba, Cities on the German Baltic Coast, Foreign Artists in Berlin, the National Fitness Council in London, Reichsminister von Ribbentrop and Diplomatic News, and the introduction of the new book Das Antlitz der deutschen Frau (The Face of the German Woman) with a foreword Emmy Göring.

Few people know it but World War I flying veteran and close friend of Adolf Hitler, Dr. Robert Ley was the genius behind most of the organization of the Nazi Party. As Reichs Organization Leader from 1931 onward, he was responsible for the publication of the Organisationsbuch der NSDAP, which outlined how every Nazi paramilitary unit from the SS to the Hitler Youth was organized, what uniforms they wore and what their mission was. As Reichsleiter of the DAF he built the Ordensburg Castles at Vogelsang, Crössensee and Sonthofen. He built the towns and factories that produced everything from Volkswagens to tanks and airplanes to ships and plywood. He oversaw every laborer that worked on the Reichsautobahn.

This 84 year old issue of Freude und Arbeit also has photos of Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess greeting members of the Hitler Youth who had recently returned from a visit to Japan, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, Minister of Economics Funk in Rome, British Prime Minister Chamberlain, Mrs. Joachim von Ribbentrop, Italian Ambassador Attolico and his wife during the opening of the Haus des deutschen Rundfunks, Reception of the Nationalsozialistische Reichsbund für Leibesübungen hosted by Reichssportfuehrer Hans von Tschammer und Osten at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Hermann and Emmy Goering with their young daughter Edda, Dr. Ley among his workers, candid snapshots taken during the Nürnberger Plattnersberg, etc.

This issue of Freude und Arbeit also has colorful Norwegian Art, Nazi labor themed watercolors by Gerhard Benzig from Bautzen, folklore dress from Egerland, as well as a beautiful full-page color illustration of Elizabeth, the Duchess of Argyle and the Pavilion at Lord’s Cricket Ground.

There is display advertising by Dresdner Bank, Hohner, Mauser, Ideal Typewriters, Böhler Edelstahl, Union bicycles, Junghans watches, Philips radios, Steyr-Daimler-Puch, and the back cover has a full-page ad for the Spring 1939 Messe in Reichsmessestadt Leipzig.

Many of the captions and articles in Freude und Arbeit are in English as well as in German, French, Dutch and Italian, depending on the subject. This Third Reich magazine is complete and in good used condition. It has no offensive odor.

The part played by Dr. Ley in organizing the rag-tag political party Hitler dreamed up, is without parallel and is poorly reported on or understood today. The NSDAP could not have existed without Dr. Ley, and no one should attempt to discuss, write, or lecture on the subject of Nazi Germany without first gaining a good grounding with regard to Dr. Ley. It is absolutely fundamental to any understanding of the Nazi Party, or any aspect of the history of the country of Germany from 1920 to the present day.

An understanding of Ley’s renown outside of Germany may be gotten from the fact that at the World Congress for Leisure Time and Recreation in Hamburg, Germany in 1936 Dr. Robert Ley was elected President. This was not a German organization but an international organization of 51 independent countries. Ley used his position in the World Congress for Leisure Time and Recreation to create an Internationale Zentralbüro Freude und Arbeit (International Headquarters of Joy and Work) which in turn published a huge, beautiful, multi-lingual 10-1/2 x 14-1/2 inch, magazine called Freude und Arbeit (Joy and Labor - Gioia e Lavoro - Alegria y Trabajo - Joie et Travail).

* THE BACKGROUND OF DR. LEY AND THE MAGAZINE FREUDE UND ARBEIT