An evocative Third Reich artifact, a very dark brown Bakelite "Volksempfanger", or "people's radio", 9 1/4"x 9 1/2" x 4 3/4", a "Deutsche Kleinempfanger 1938"("German Small [radio] Receiver [model of] 1938"), featuring a single horizontal tuning dial at bottom center, flanked by knobs used to adjust feedback and interference levels.
Above these controls is a small embossed emblem depicting a national eagle with swastika, with the cloth speaker grill dominating the face. The fiberboard rear panel of the radio bears the receiver's model name and identifies the manufacturer as "Stassfurter Rundfunk" of Staafurt, which also manufactured radio controls for Germany's nascent guided bomb and missile programs. A metal plaque bearing the serial number "24023" is located within the radio cabinet mounted on the chassis. The internal workings appear to be in good condition, with the vacuum tubes intact, and the fabric-covered power cords slightly frayed but present and intact. The original capacitor has been replaced with two more modern examples. The speaker cone bears two small eagle and swastika marks. The fabric cladding of the power cable shows minor fraying, and the plug itself has been replaced with a more modern European-style example. Untested, shows a tight 3" crack to the right side of the case, and missing one screw securing the back panel, else in very good cosmetic condition overall. These radios were designed to be as simple and inexpensive as possible, to make them affordable to as many Germans as possible. It was intended primarily for citizens to listen to propaganda broadcasts, garnering the nickname "Goebbels' schnauze" ("Goebbels' snout"). It received only long and medium-wave bands, and could not receive shortwave transmissions often utilized by Allied propaganda broadcasters, although stations such as the BBC could be received with an external antenna and under the right atmospheric conditions, and despite the threat of harsh punishment.
Sold with a second, post-war 'Kleinempfanger" of identical dimensions and construction, lacking any maker's information or Third Reich markings, but for the enamel swastika disk from a "Mother's Cross" medal, glued to the disk where the eagle and swastika appears on the example above for unknown reasons.
