Soviet and East German influence on collective farming in 1950s North Korea: Bauhaus graduate Konrad Püschel and the case of LPG Joyang

The Soviet Union's collective farms began in the 1920s and expanded in the 1930s. This model was later developed in East Germany and North Korea in the 1950s. This article explores the propagation of collective farm (LPG) planning theory from the Soviet Union and East Germany to North Korea by focusing on Joyang in North Korea, planned by Bauhaus graduate Konrad Püschel (1907–1997). The study employs a historical approach, mainly based on materials from the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation and the German Federal Archives. It demonstrates that, against the backdrop of North Korea's agricultural collectivization between 1953 and 1958, supported and guided by the Soviet Union, LPG Joyang was influenced and modeled after East German design principles, while also adapting to the local natural landscape and existing villages. Finally, the article concludes that LPG Joyang demonstrates how LPG planning theory spread across national borders during the early Cold War.