Then & Now

In 1941 Labor Minister Robert Ley promised German workers a grandiose housing program. In 1944, bombed-out workers were getting: a one-room house, 8 feet high from floor to roof peak, 12 by 18 feet of floor space. A curtain separated sleeping space from combined kitchen, living room. A privy hung on an outside wall. Families with more than five children were allowed two houses, two privies.

Such a home Germans called a Leyhaus, a bitter pun on Leihhaus, which means pawnbroker.

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