Public transportation and propaganda: Mobility, modernity, and ideology in Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe 's employee periodical Die Fahrt (1929–1945)
Abstract
This article examines how the Berlin Transport Authority's (BVG) employee periodical Die Fahrt , published between 1929 and 1945, shaped discussions and representations of urban mobility and the BVG's company identity around the historical shift of 1932/33. Specifically, the essay looks at how the new National Socialist editorial board appropriated one of the most significant technological transformations of the German Empire and Weimar Republic, namely Berlin's public transit network, into broader discussions that reinforced both their vision of modernisation and ideological agenda. The close readings trace how the periodical's representations of mobility, labour, and leisure supported competing mobility regimes across the Weimar and National Socialist eras. Rather than passively documenting political and ideological shifts, I argue, Die Fahrt actively contributed to the reframing of public transit as a site of ideological performance under National Socialism.
Fields of Study & Subjects
European history and politics
German History and Society
Military history and social perspectives
Publication details
- Journal / source
- The Journal of Transport History
- Publication date
- 10 February 2026
- Language
- EN