T H E P R O B L E M O F H O U S I N G A N D H Y G I E N E I N P R U S S I A 1 8 0 6 – 1 8 7 1

Abstract

The topic of the history of everyday life in Prussia is something new in the Polish his-torical writing. This field of studies is also connected with the history of housing and health related matters. There was a constant progress in the changes of housing conditions in Prus-sia in the 19th century; nevertheless it covered different social groups in uneven degree. The population grew faster than the number of flats, therefore their prices rose as well. As regards the prices of flats, they were inadequate to earnings, thus house-building was unprofitable. Bourgeois apartment became the most important form of dwelling because it determined contemporary universal mandatory and beyond classes model of housing. In contrast, peas-ant houses for quite a while fell behind in terms of standards and equipment. Gradually, over time formerly extremely expensive furniture began to be produced on a mass scale n more mass manner; consequently the middle class could afford them. Moreover, the living space was became more defined with the presence of living room, office, library, boudoirs, bedroom and children’s room became more common. Along with specification of the living space the language changed as well. Formerly, the general term chamber (Stube) was replaced by more precise term room (Zimmer); for instance a nursery room, an office, a bedroom or a living room. The introduction of corridors provided the previously absent privacy. Former common space was finally individualised. The individualisation of formerly common space succeeded. An average craftsman’s home equipment was limited to a bed, a table, a chest of drawers and a closet or chest which was a substitute for a closet. Usually, however, the mas-ter of craftsman century had his own house in the first half of 19th, while the rest of society rented flats in tenement houses. The labourers’ flats were overcrowded due to the fact that not only the rooms within them were subleased for profit but also the presence of a brother, a sister or grandparents was nothing out of the ordinary. Additionally, the large number of children within those households were expected to work, to support the family. They were treated as a cheap labour, for example in the textile industry. On the contrary, townspeople treated children as an investment, not the source of income. Housing problem (Wohnungsfrage) was the part of a social problem (Sozialfrage), and for the those days public opinion it was the cause of moral and spiritual crises of lower classes. The housing situation of the lower classes remained bad throughout the 19th century. The conservative, Gustaw Schmoller, exhorted more well-offs to wake up and realise the size of the threat of social revolution caused by bringing the lower classes to barbarians and wild animals in terms of living conditions. His solution, which was yet to come, aimed at counterac-tion to threat of communism. Houses for labourers built by entrepreneurs, for example in the Saarland, Upper Silesia or the Ruhr region were the new form of solving the housing problem since the mid-20th century. Those houses were supposed to link workers with their workplace and weaken their inclination for the political revolt. Loss of a job meant that the very same day a worker was supposed to leave his place of living. It is worth to mention, that those flats had much higher standards than previously described flats rented in tenement houses. The hygiene of a family in the 19th century was much lower than nowadays. The term hygieneitself appeared at the beginning of this century in German language only. Accordingly, in this respect, throughout the 19th century significant changes appeared. Accordingly, in this re-spect the 19th century witnessed many changes.