Volksempfänger VE 301Wn
Radio "Volksempfänger" VE 301Wn
Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, Foto: LVR-ZMB - A. Hiller/ARTOTHEK

Radio "Volksempfänger" VE 301Wn, Design 1933

DesignWalter Maria Kersting, Münster 1889–1970 Waging am See
ManufacturerBraun, founded 1921
Radio case bakelite
(H x W x D)40 × 27 × 15,5 cm
Status
on display, room 026
About the workThe National Socialists had recognised the importance of radio as a powerful propaganda tool at an early stage. That is why, on the orders of the Reich Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, the Volksempfänger VE 301 – named after the date that Adolf Hitler seized power on 30 January 1933 – was offered to the general public at a unit price of 76 Reichsmarks from 1933 onwards. Due to its distinctive shape in the Art Deco style and the high number of units sold (830,000 in 1934 alone), it became one of the best-known design objects of the Nazi era, although the industrial designer Walter Maria Kersting had already developed the prototype before 1933.
AccessionAcquisition 2020
Provenance[...]; bis 2020 Privatsammlung, Westdeutschland; 26.6.2020 angekauft von vorgenannter Privtasammlung
Inventory numberP mkp 2020-3
de