The exhileration of the consumer Society

In the 1950‘s, daily life in Hamburg was largely determined by the consequences of the Second World War. Against the background of the cold war, the political commitment towards the West strengthend, at the same time, with the rapid economical recovery the orientation towards fashion, music and the colourful consumer world, escpecially that of America began. In the cinema, or the new medium television, in the places of amusement on the Reeperbahn, in the warehouses or at the hairdresser, the american influence was clearly visible everywhere after the years of hardship. The hungry years were over, the standard of living rose. The Otto-Versand company, founded in 1949 proved new successful marketing methods for clothing and household goods. The modern building of the Alsterpavillion became a symbol for the new way of life in 1953 and the international horticulture exhibition in Planten un Blomen in the same year underlined the pleasant side of Hamburg during the economic recovery. In 1957 Miss Germany came from Hamburg. Like many other germans the inhabitants of Hamburg began to travel. Those who could afford it went on holiday, as far as Italy.

The start of the consumer and leisure society was characterized by effusive future prospects. Until the 1960´s though, bomb sites in a lot of areas of town were a reminder of the results of the NS- period not yet overcome. Those who spent the time between 1933 and 1945, if they were not victims, deluded themselves by saying that not everything had been that bad in Hamburg.

In the 1950´s Hamburg was regarded as the „capital of the expelled“, because in 1954, 275.000 refugees from the eastern parts of Germany (former German territories east of the Oder-Neisse line) lived in Hamburg, most of them hoping to be able to return to their home towns. Families torn apart had to live with the fact that their relatives were either dead or had suffered unsolved fates during bombing raids, a victim of the National Socialists terror or as soldiers at the front; severe emotions were roused by the home coming of the remaining prisoners of war in 1955. And only 40 km away from the borders of the city Hamburg, a second german state which sealed itself off from the west, developed, in August 1961.


Hamburg in the 20th. century (2)
-    Winter food shortages, refugee misery, black market trading
-    From occupied city to federal state
-    The modern metropolis
-    The exhileration of the consumer Society
-    The ups and downs of the Economic Miracle
-    Social policy and alternative politics
-    The limits of growth
-    Cultural city Hamburg
-    At the end of the Millennium

Hamburg in the 20th. century (1)