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.
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2.
“Amerikanische Verkehrsentwicklung” [American traffic development], Die Fahrt18 (1930), 412.
3.
ArnswaldE., “Berlin-Wien im Omnibus—Erlebnisse eines BVGers” [Berlin-Vienna by bus—experiences of a BVG employee], Die Fahrt7 (1938), 105.
4.
“Berlin’s transport policy”, Die Fahrt2 (1931), 21.
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“Der Aufschwung unseres Verkehrs seit der Machtübernahme” [The upswing in our transport system since the takeover], Die Fahrt8 (1939), 155.
6.
“Der BVG-Schellenbaum” [The BVG bell tree], Die Fahrt1 (1934), 2.
7.
“Der Weg zum Nationalsozialistischen Musterbetrieb” [The path to the National Socialist model factory], Die Fahrt16 (1939), 298.
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“Deutsche Kolonialgeschichte”, Die Fahrt7 (1939), 121–23.
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“Die BVG auf der Ausstellung ‘Deutsches Volk – Deutsche Arbeit’” [The BVG at the exhibition ‘German People – German Work’], Die Fahrt9 (1934), 135–38.
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12.
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13.
EngelJohannes, “Zum Geleit!” [Foreword!], Die Fahrt1 (1934), 2.
14.
EngelbrechtOttilie, “Kameradschaft Wien-Berlin” [Vienna-Berlin Fellowship], Die Fahrt9 (1938), 143.
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18.
HohmannV., “Zur Eröffnung des neuen BVG-Schwimmbades” [For the opening of the new BVG swimming pool], Die Fahrt13 (1939), 248–50.
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21.
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22.
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Leonhardt, “Ski Heil!”, Die Fahrt10 (1939), 192–193.
24.
“Metro erobert Paris” [Metro conquers Paris], Die Fahrt4 (1939), 67–69.
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26.
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28.
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35.
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