Original Item: Only One Available. The Volksempfänger (German: [ˈfɔlks.ɛmˌpfɛŋɐ], "people's receiver") was a range of radio receivers developed by engineer Otto Griessing at the request of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels.

The purpose of the Volksempfänger-program was to make radio reception technology affordable to the general public. Joseph Goebbels realized the great propaganda potential of this relatively new medium and thus considered widespread availability of receivers highly important.

The original Volksempfänger VE301 model was presented on August 18, 1933 at the 10. Große Deutsche Funkausstellung in Berlin. The VE301 was available at a readily affordable price of 76 German Reichsmark (equivalent to two weeks' average salary), and a cheaper 35 Reichsmark model (which was even sold on installment plan). After this there were various other versions, such as the VE301W, VE301Wn, and this, the WE301Dyn, which all differ slightly in design.

There is a famous 1936 NSDAP propaganda poster, promoting the use of the Volksempfänger. The translated text reads, "All of Germany hears the Führer with the People's Receiver."

This very nice example appears to have mostly complete electronics, however the tuning dial is broken and the small white board that shows the tuning is broken, with the piece that sat in place having fallen into the radio. It could be fixed by taking apart the radio. It appears that the power cord has been replaced in an attempt to fix the radio. However the prong system is not modern so we could not test it. The pressed fiber back plate is retained and still secured by two screws. 

The three knobs on the front all still turn, but the central knob is broken and not functional as the frequency board is broken. The front grille cloth is still intact with no tearing, however it has definitely lost elasticity over the years.

The original data plate reads:

JDEAL-WERKE A.G.
TYPE VE 301 W
110/220 Volt 50~
App. Nr. 18272

There are some small parts shaking around inside, so this would be a great restoration project. All three vacuum tubes appear present, but one of them is removed from the plug and is wedged into a spot. We are unsure if any of them are working. 

We have no way of testing the tubes or radio for functionality. This is a rare chance to own an iconic piece of propaganda technology from AH’s Third Reich.

Dimensions: 15” x 6” x 11”
Weight: 12 lbs

The Volksempfänger was designed to be produced as cheaply as possible, as a consequence they generally lacked shortwave bands and did not follow the practice, common at the time, of marking the approximate dial positions of major European stations on its tuning scale. Only German and Austrian stations were marked and cheaper models only listed arbitrary numbers. Sensitivity was limited to reduce production costs further, so long as the set could receive Deutschlandsender and the local Reichssender it was considered sensitive enough, although foreign stations could be received after dark with an external antenna, particularly as stations such as the BBC European service increased transmission power during the course of the war.

Listening to foreign stations became a criminal offense in NSDAP Germany when the war began, while in some occupied territories, such as Poland, all radio listening by non-German citizens was outlawed (later in the war this prohibition was extended to a few other occupied countries coupled with mass seizures of radio sets). Penalties ranged from fines and confiscation of radios to, particularly later in the war, sentencing to a prison camp or capital punishment. Nevertheless, such clandestine listening was widespread in many NSDAP-occupied countries and (particularly later in the war) in Germany itself. The Germans also attempted radio jamming of some enemy stations with limited success.

Much has been said about the efficiency of the Volksempfänger as a propaganda tool. Most famously, AH's architect and Minister for Armaments and War Production, Albert Speer, said in his final speech at the Nuremberg trials:

AH's dictatorship differed in one fundamental point from all its predecessors in history. His was the first dictatorship, which made the complete use of all technical means for domination of its own country. Through technical devices like the radio and loudspeaker, 80 million people were deprived of independent thought. It was thereby possible to subject them to the will of one man.

However, despite Speer's claim, both Mussolini's Italy and Stalin's Russia had used radio as a tool to influence the masses long before AH's rise to power.