Their objective was to reach and enlighten the whole family, especially in the German middle classes, with a mixture of current events, essays on the natural sciences, biographical sketches, short stories, poetry, and full-page illustrations.

It was finally purchased outright by the Nazi publishing house Eher Verlag in 1938, who renamed it Die neue Gartenlaube, and ceased publication in 1944.

Despite this, today Die Gartenlaube remains important for comprehensive historical analysis in many fields and is regarded as an essential source for the understanding of German cultural history.

[3] Circulation of Die Gartenlaube increased steadily following its initial 1853 print run of 5,000 copies, reaching 60,000 by the end of its fourth year.

[5] Since Die Gartenlaube became common family reading and many lending libraries and cafes took delivery, estimates of actual readership run between two and five million.

Founded by radical liberal publisher Ernst Keil, it was committed to the creation of a national democratic unity government and an enlightened population.

During this period Die Gartenlaube was also noted for a neutral to positive view of Jews, with occasional articles on Jewish family life.

In the years following the founding of the German Empire in 1871, Die Gartenlaube became increasingly antisemitic, publishing among other things Otto Glagau's violent attacks on "the Jews" from 1874 to 1876.

Their dedicated and highly polemical interest in the culture war (proclaimed by Pope Pius IX in his "Dogma of Infallibility" in 1870), came to the defense of the liberal world view.

The largest part of Hugenberg's press group were finally purchased by the Nazi publishing house Eher-Verlag, where the journal was renamed Die neue Gartenlaube ("The New Garden Arbor") in 1938.