„Bzik na punkcie mieszkania”, czyli mieszkanie i jego otoczenie w Prusach w latach 1871–1918
‘A Craze for a Flat’, or the Flat and its Surroundings in Prussia in the Years 1871–1818

Summary/Abstract: To have a roof over one’s head was an unattainable dream for many people in Prussia after 1871 in the era of industrialisation and urbanisation. The groups for whom that problem was the most acute were: peasants, agricultural labourers, labourers paid per day, factory workers, craftsmen, poorer white collar workers and low-ranking officials. The dwelling forms were strongly influenced by a growing phenomenon of pauperisation of lower urban classes, industrialisation, an enormous inflow of people into towns, inappropriate nutrition and an inadequate satisfaction of other basic needs. Yet, it was in the 19th century when the bourgeois cultural image of a friendly home was constructed, which has become a space of rest against the threats of the outside world and a basis for the present-day mass concept. But, at that time only members a tiny part of the society managed to get this friendly retreat; for the overwhelming majority their homes were just sleeping places.

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