Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 November 2018
This article explores the case of Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau (DWH)—a furniture and interior manufacturer founded in 1898—through state socialism after 1945 and reprivatization in the 1990s. Our analysis suggests that the firm's survival through multiple systemic disruptions was partly due to the preservation of a unique identity despite heavy institutional pressures for conformity. DWH adopted a “mixed conformity” strategy that attempted to pitch multiple concerns (cultural-aesthetic, ideological, economic) of political authorities against one another to buffer sociopolitical pressures, thus ultimately conforming to some (identity-consistent) demands, while violating other (identity-threatening) ones. This allowed DWH to successfully navigate tensions between sociopolitical expectations and the need to preserve a collective sense of distinctiveness and continuity over time.
We would especially like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their critical comments and helpful suggestions. We are thankful to the Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau for giving us access to their archival documents and historical pictures, with special thanks to Annette Hellmuth for her support. For their time and expertise, we thank the interviewees of this project: Fritz Straub, Werner Kreische, and Klaus Rudel. We gratefully acknowledge the participants at the conference “The Nationality of the Company” (Nov. 2017, Frankfurt), in particular Alfred Reckendrees and Ralf Ahrens, for their insightful comments on an earlier draft of this article. Finally, we are indebted to Paolo Aversa, who suggested this collaboration of two scholars who share an interest in similar questions from quite different disciplinary perspectives.
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23 Typification describes ideal types of shapes developed by architecture and design experts, based on professional experience and skill, applied to a task until the best, universally accepted solution is found. Impressed by the dire domestic economic situation of World War I, Schmidt actively promoted typification to become the standard nationwide under a system of managed, or “organized,” capitalism he called “state socialism.” He believed that under centralized economic and aesthetic control Germany could reach its full potential as an international cultural leader and export power. Mass production was not the end of typification, but rather the means to diffuse good taste among the general population. See letters from Schmidt to Dr. Else Meisner, 10 Mar. 1916–1 Nov. 1917, collection Deutscher Werkbund, Werkbundarchiv—Museum der Dinge, Berlin (hereafter, WbA-MdD).
24 DWH, Mythos Hellerau, 38.
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27 Harrod, “Deutsche Werkstätten,” 39–40.
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30 “Hellerau,” Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau, accessed 10 Aug. 2016, http://www.dwh.de/en/hellerau/.
31 H. Exner, Möbel und Innenräume (unpublished illustrated booklet, 1953), DC 20/3945, Bundesarchiv, Berlin (hereafter, Barch).
32 Walter Ulbricht to Fritz Apelt (Director of Office for Literature and Publishing), 30 Nov. 1953, DC 20/3945, Barch.
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34 Selman Selmanagić, “Der VEB Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau in den Jahren 1945 bis 1951” (1951), in Exner, Möbel und Innenräume, 115. Wurzler had been DWH's business administration manager under Schmidt before the end of the war. Nabert, Möbel für Alle, 187.
35 Considering the political context of the time, this decision may seem surprising because it put the company in opposition to centralized economic policy. It is less surprising, however, if we consider that the “suggested” changes would have required DWH to relinquish its distinctive approach to furniture making and design. Wurzler and the board likely viewed the integrity of the identity and heritage of the company as more important than political support—and willingly incurred the ire of the authorities in order to defend it.
36 “Sitzmöbel aus Formholz,” in Exner, Möbel und Innenräume, 116.
37 Selmanagić, “Der VEB Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau,” 115.
38 Ibid. All translations from archival sources are by the authors.
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41 For a defense of DWH by a former employee, see Georg Bruse, letter to the editor, Berliner Zeitung, 8 May 1953, 5.
42 For instance, see “Bericht über die zweite künstlerische Unterweisung der Leiter der Entwicklungsstellen durch die Deutsche Bauakademie Berlin am 14.4.1954,” signed by Kant, 20 Apr. 1954, 11764/313.1, Sächsisches Staatsarchiv, Dresden (hereafter, SStA).
43 DWH to Bruno Paul, 19 Oct. 1954, 11764/2222, SStA.
44 At this point in time, DWH only manufactured and produced small series models that were designed by the Bauakademie or that found the expressed approval of the artistic board of the Bauakademie. DWH to Ministry for Light Industry—HV Holz- und Kulturwaren Koordinierungsstelle, “betr. Überprüfung der laufenden Produktion,” 29 Sept. 1954, 11764/3131, SStA.
45 “Bericht über die Ausstellung von Möbel-Entwürfen unserer Techniker,” 20 April 1954, 11764/3131, SStA.
46 Kant to Wurzler and Weber, “betr. Vorbereitung K A S und B K V, hier: Notiz von Koll. Weber 10.11.54,” 10 Nov. 1954, 11764/3131, SStA.
47 Protocol, Ministry for Light Industry, HV Holz- und Kulturwaren Koordinierungsstelle, 23 Dec. 1954, 11764/2222, SStA.
48 See Nabert, Möbel für Alle, 227–36.
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51 Correspondence and travel reports, folder 11764/1169.2, SStA.
52 DWH to DIA Kulturwaren, “betr. Export 1959,” 16 June 1958, 11764/941.1, SStA.
53 Re: Messe Köln, 27 Jan. 1960, 11764/1225, SStA.
54 Correspondence and orders, folder 11764/507.2, SStA; Granz (DWH export manager), “Reisebericht über die vom 14.8. bis 21.8.1971 durchgeführte Dienstreise nach England,” 23 Sept. 1971, 11764/1692, SStA.
55 See Oskar Schwarzer, Sozialistische Zentralplanwirtschaft in der SBZ/DDR: Ergebnisse eines ordnungspolitischen Experiments, 1945–1989, Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte no. 143 (Stuttgart, 1999); and, on the motivations behind NES, see Kopstein, Politics of Economic Decline, 41–72.
56 Schickling (DW Frankfurt) to DWH, 10 Oct. 1966, 11764/3468, SStA; Walter Heyn (DW Munich) to Horst Zaunik (DWH director), 26 Jan. 1967, 11764/3468, SStA.
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59 Travel report, DIA Holz und Papier—Kontor 4 to Sweden, 24 Nov. 1972, 11764/1692, SStA.
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61 Horst Zaunik, “Announcement Vereinigung zum VEB MK Hellerau ab 1.1.1970,” 12 Dec. 1969, 11764/2284, SStA. See also Nabert, Möbel für Alle, 269. Forty-six companies belonged to the Dresden-Hellerau combine after the restructuring in 1980. The furniture combine Zeulenroda, by comparison, included only twenty-eight. Lauber, Andreas, Wohnkultur in der DDR—Dokumentation ihrer materiellen Sachkultur: Eine Untersuchung zu Gestaltung, Produktion und Bedingungen des Erwerbs von Wohnungseinrichtungen in der DDR (Eisenhüttenstadt, 2003), 89–92Google Scholar.
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63 Ibid., 303.
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65 Correspondence and contracts, 11764/2390, SStA.
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72 Kreische interview.
73 Fritz Straub, managing director, interview by authors, 27 July 2017.
74 Nabert, Möbel für Alle, 346.
75 Straub interview; Kreische interview. See also Nabert, Möbel für Alle, 346.
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78 Straub interview.
79 DWH, Mythos Hellerau, 60.
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81 Straub interview.