In this archive presentation, the Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge looks back at the Deutscher Werkbund and its links to National Socialism. The focus lies on examining the source material held in the archive, shedding light on the institutional and ideological developments of the Werkbund during the National Socialist period. This research takes place in the context of current discourse, in which the cultural and design achievements of Modernism are increasingly being questioned by the right wing or discredited as “misguided”.
Documents from the collection illustrate political and design discourse in the 1930s within the Werkbund and the association’s rapid transformation – from a free association to a subdivision of the National Socialist Reich Chamber of Fine Arts. The biographies of Werkbund members Margarete Heymann, Carl Christoph Lörcher and Wilhelm Wagenfeld reveal contrasting subsequent lives as a result of persecution, adaptation or collaboration.
Few sources have survived: the historical archive of the German Werkbund was destroyed during the war. Furthermore, only few academic studies have been carried out on this period of the Werkbund. This presentation features loans and archive holdings that the Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge has built up since 1972. It is intended as a starting point for further research and is accompanied by thematic events.
We invite you to the opening at 18:00 on November 27, 2025.
With a lecture (in German) by Christoph Wowarra on Wilhelm Wagenfeld during the National Socialist period.
The Object Stage in the Open Storage offers space for collaborations, artistic interventions, and new perspectives on the collection. It opens up access to previously hidden questions and gaps.
