I had no idea this is how Joy Division got its name. Alan Moore says in the From Hell source notes that Victorians called prostitutes “Daughters of Joy” because it was easier to pretend that prostitutes did their work out of sheer enthusiasm than to admit the ghastliness of lower-class economic conditions. Moving onward thru history:
… we arrive, by grim and etymological process, at Joy Division, the name given by the Third Reich to those female Jewish concentration camp detainees assigned to the prostitution detail.
Wow. At least, as yet, there isn’t a movie on the subject, one not starring Natalie Portman and a blond male ingenue with sensitive features to play the Nazi.
I think this has been debunked. (not that the place was called joy division, but that the band was unaware of the connotations of the name.)
FWIW, I just looked at Wiki and it says there the band knew. The entry goes on to say the group’s first album had a picture of a Hitler Youth kid on its cover. This, “coupled with the nature of the band’s name, fueled speculation about their political affiliations. … While Hook and Sumner later admitted to being intrigued by fascism at the time, Morris insisted that the group’s obsession with Nazi imagery came from a desire to keep memories of the sacrifices of their parents and grandparents during World War II alive.”
That’s probably right. I heard different from the Grant Gee film (the doco, not the fictional one called Control), but I’d imagine it may not be the most objective source.