THE PARENT ORGINIZATION, THE LABOR FRONT, AND        
     THE RANGE OF BENEFICIARIES OF STRENGTH THROUGH JOY     
 
 
 Strength through Joy is the recreational division
of the German Labor Front, the vast national union of
workers and employers which was established to supplant
the separate employers' associations and labor unions
dissolved in 1933. In November of that year, Dr. Ley,
the leader of the Labor Front, was entrusted by Chancelor 
Hitler with the tasks of providing the working
men with better vacations and of organizing their
leisure time. Following the rapid development of
the Labor Front and its extension into every factory
and village in the country, it was possible to begin
the operation of Strength through Joy as early as April 1934. 
The utility, or what might be called the
mission, of Strength through Joy has in the meantime
been enhanced by the fact that during the last four
years the National Socialist Government has succeeded
in introducing by law a system of paid vacations whereby 
workers and employees, according to their trade and
length of service, receive vacations lasting from a
week to three weeks each year.
 
 With respect to precedents, it would appear that
despite the advanced labor standards which have always
prevailed in Germany, opportunities for entertainment
were not made available on the same gigantic scale before 
the National Socialists came to power, although
certain cities offered theater, opera and concerts to
the worker at low prices, and although it is understood 
that some of the former trade unions ran educa-