'die Gartenlaube'

 

a German Gardening Magazine Goes to War

left : a protective coverpage
right : an inside titlepage with a portrait of a minor German general

left : yet another titlepage
right : a soldier's life - nary a trench in sight

 

'Die Gartenlaube' (the Garden Bowery) was normally a family, cultural and gardening magazine featuring a wide range of articles on the more refined aspects of life for the well-to-do German family. With the coming of war in August 1914, like all good patriotic publications, space was made for war-related matters. As befitting a family magazine, little of the violence and brutality of war was shown. More military articles confined themselves to showing a somewhat sedate and even bucholic life of the ordinary German soldier.

Otherwise the magazine continued to offer advice on gardening and conserving food (an important consideration in war-time Germany), showed works of art, the latest female fashions and other culturally refined matters.

 

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