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Object Timeline
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1938 |
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1986 |
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2024 |
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Volksempfänger ("People's Receiver") VE 301 DYN Radio
This is a radio. It was manufactured by Hornyphon and Telefunken and retailed by Franz Meyer Radiohaus. It is dated ca. 1938 and we acquired it in 1986. Its medium is bakelite (tm), textiles. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.
In his final speech at the Nuremberg trials, Albert Speer, Nazi Minister of Armaments and War Production, described how under Adolf Hitler’s dictatorship the use of "technical devices like the radio and the loudspeaker, 80 million people were deprived of independent thought. It was thereby possible to subject them to the will of one man." These Volksempfängers, or "people’s receivers," are material evidence of Hitler’s technological manipulation. Developed at the request of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels and designed to be cheaply produced, these basic, Bakelite-encased receivers made radio technology available to the general public. With tuners indicating only those German and Austrian stations that broadcasted Nazi propaganda, these devices played a central role in Hitler’s regime. However, clever listeners could tune in to Allied wavelengths using external antennae, a bold act considering it was a criminal offense punishable by fines, deportation to concentration camps, or even capital punishment. These radios thus encapsulate the dual nature and powerful potential of communication in modern times. Though intended as vehicles for Nazi propaganda, the Volksempfänger was transformed by brave citizens into tools for resistance.
This object was
donated by
Barry Friedman and Patricia Pastor.
It is credited Gift of Barry Friedman and Patricia Pastor.
- Volksempfänger Radio
- Overall: 23.8 x 24.3 x 12 cm (9 3/8 x 9 9/16 x 4 3/4 in.).
- Gift of Barry Friedman and Patricia Pastor.
- 1986-99-8
![Here we have a black, rectangular radio with curved edges and corners and small feet for the base. On the front, there is a large circular speaker on covered with brown and black woven fabric. Below the speaker is an decorative arch design with a curved station indicator at the top, textured plastic on the sides, and logo with embossed numbers and tuner below. The logo is a small picture of a simple bird's head, with its beak turning a small circle with concentric rings around. Below the logo and above the center dial is embossed letters and numbers, [VE 301] above three small circular dials. To the left and right of the central dial, outside of the arches, are two knobs with gripped edges and small arrows above curving to the right.](https://images.collection.cooperhewitt.org/169328_dbbf157d3060f907_n.jpg "Volksempfänger (\"People's Receiver\") VE 301 Radio")
- Volksempfänger ("People's Receiver") VE 301 Radio
- bakelite (tm), textiles.
- Gift of Barry Friedman and Patricia Pastor.
- 1986-99-7
- 2R51 Radio
- molded plastic, metal.
- Gift of Anonymous Donor.
- 1996-72-2
Our curators have highlighted 1 object that are related to this one.
- Radio Radio
- bentwood, plastic.
- Gift of George R. Kravis II.
- 2016-5-18
Its dimensions are
Overall: 31 x 28.5 x 18 cm (12 3/16 x 11 1/4 x 7 1/16 in.)
Cite this object as
Volksempfänger ("People's Receiver") VE 301 DYN Radio; Manufactured by Hornyphon, Telefunken; Retailed by Franz Meyer Radiohaus; Germany; bakelite (tm), textiles; Overall: 31 x 28.5 x 18 cm (12 3/16 x 11 1/4 x 7 1/16 in.); Gift of Barry Friedman and Patricia Pastor; 1986-99-9
This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition The World of Radio.
