Dacha

A dacha ( Germanized from Russian дача, dacha hear? / I ) is a plot with a garden or a weekend house that serves the leisure and recreation and hobby gardening allows.

The word comes from Russian and is one of the few Russian words that were taken from the GDR life and are made ​​in the German language.

Russia

The first dachas were gifts of princes and tsars of loyal vassals. The word is derived from the Russian verb "dat " and originally meant " princely Country Gift ". In the aftermath of the October Revolution, when the ownership was not yet settled on the land, townspeople took fallow plots owned and developed it as a second home. Here they sought in addition to the recovery of the narrowness of the urban municipal apartments also have the option to grow their own fruit and vegetables.

Until the 1990s, the cutting of the dachas was standardized and was 600 m² land that could be built with a summer bungalow. The use of the dacha became more diverse in today's Russia. Firmer structures often replace the lightweight construction, so that the dacha can be used not only in the summer and in warm weather. Some dachas are inhabited year-round. Meanwhile, there are complex, multi-storey building with Banja, seat toilet and shower or bath. These newer homes are often created through years of self-work and continued to expand.

Distance between city apartment and dacha is typically 20-40 km, in the vicinity of large cities such as St. Petersburg and Moscow, often much more.

GDR

The cramped housing in the slab of the cities that restricted travel opportunities and the supply shortages of fruits and vegetables made ​​the usually relatively generous dachas in the country as well as desires smaller allotments in urban areas. The typical DDR dacha consisted of a plot with a built in lightweight prefabricated house. On this basis, a large number of settlements, especially on the banks of the numerous lakes in the north of the GDR was created. The award was regulated by the state. With the dachas wanted to address the dissatisfaction in the country and create a sense of home. The dachas were mostly within an hour. It is estimated that there are about 3.4 million dachas were in the GDR - "the world's highest density of garden land ."

Other dissemination

A similarly extensive cottage culture there in the Czech Republic ( Chata ), Norway ( Hytte ), Sweden ( Stuga ) and Finland ( Mökki ).