A model ofAdolf Hitler's plan forGermania (Berlin) formulated under the direction ofAlbert Speer, looking north toward theVolkshalle at the top of the frameFormer Ministry of Aviation in BerlinLower Silesian Province Office inWrocław (formerly Breslau)Haus der Kunst art museum inMunich
Nazi architecture is the architecture promoted byAdolf Hitler and theNazi regime from 1933 until its fall in 1945, connected withurban planning in Nazi Germany. It is characterized by three forms: astripped neoclassicism, typified by the designs ofAlbert Speer; a vernacular style that drew inspiration from traditional rural architecture, especially alpine; and a utilitarian style followed for major infrastructure projects and industrial or military complexes. Nazi ideology took a pluralist attitude to architecture; however, Hitler himself believed thatform follows function and wrote against "stupid imitations of the past".[1]
While similar toClassicism, the official Nazi style is distinguished by the impression it leaves on viewers. Architectural style was used by the Nazis to deliver and enforce their ideology. Formal elements likeflat roofs, horizontal extension, uniformity, and the lack of décor created "an impression ofsimplicity, uniformity, monumentality, solidity andeternity," which is how the Nazi Party wanted to appear.[2] Greek and Roman influence could also be seen in Nazi architecture and typography, as they drew inspiration from monumental architecture of ancient Rome and Greece to create a sense of power. The Nazis also shut down theBauhaus movement, which emphasized functionalism and simplicity. The Nazi regime also staged several "Degenerate Art" exhibitions to condemn modern art as harmful to German culture. This led to the persecution of many artists and architects, including members of the Bauhaus movement.
TheVolkswagen was also a product of Nazi architecture and industrial design. Hitler commissionedFerdinand Porsche[3] to design a "people's car" that was supposed to be affordable and accessible to all Germans, which resulted in the creation of theVolkswagen Beetle.Adlerhorst bunker complex looked like a collection ofFachwerk (half-timbered) cottages. Seven buildings in the style ofFranconianhalf-timbered houses were constructed in Nuremberg in 1939 and 1940.[4] German Jewish architects were banned, e.g.Erich Mendelsohn andJulius Posener emigrated in 1933.
The construction of new buildings served other purposes beyond reaffirming Nazi ideology. InFlossenbürg and elsewhere, theSchutzstaffel built forced-labor camps where prisoners of the Third Reich were forced to mine stone and make bricks, much of which went directly to Albert Speer for use in his rebuilding of Berlin and other projects in Germany. These new buildings were also built by forced-laborers. Working conditions were harsh, and many laborers died. This process of mining and construction allowed Nazis to fulfill political and economic goals simultaneously while creating buildings that fulfilled ideological expression goals.[5]
Hitler was fascinated by the Roman empire and its architecture, which he imitated with a stripped-down style called "starved neo-Classicism." In 1934, he put Albert Speer in charge of building construction and began an ambitious program to create massive public buildings, including a Führermuseum in Linz, Austria. Hitler had a long-standing vision for a monumental Volkshalle or Grosse Halle, and Speer created a design for a building that would dwarf any structure in existence at the time, with a seating capacity of 180,000 and a dome 16 times larger than that of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The building was meant to inspire awe and emphasize the power of the Nazi state, rather than any spiritual or religious sentiment unlike Roman or Greek buildings.[6]
The Nazis wanted to bring all aspects of society together under a process calledGleichschaltung. It began immediately after the Nazis came into power. They used propaganda, censorship, and mass rallies to enforce their message. The new typography[clarification needed] was inspired by Classical Roman Imperial letterforms, which was Hitler's own preference.[7]
The crowning achievement of this movement was to beWelthauptstadt Germania, the projected renewal of the German capitalBerlin following the Nazis' presumed victory ofWorld War II.[8] Speer, who oversaw the project, produced most of the plans for the new city. Only a small portion of the "World Capital" was ever built between 1937 and 1943. The plan's core features included the creation of a great neoclassical city based on an east–west axis with theBerlin Victory Column at its centre. Major Nazi buildings like theReichstag or theGroße Halle (never built) would adjoin wide boulevards. A great number of historic buildings in the city were demolished in the planned construction zones. However, with defeat of the Third Reich, the work was never started.
Greater Vienna was the second-largest city of the Reich, three times greater than old Vienna.[9][10] Three pairs of concreteflak towers were constructed between 1942 and 1944; one of them is known asHaus des Meeres, another one, Contemporary Art Depot (currently closed).[11]
The Nazis constructed many apartments, 100,000 of them in Berlin alone, mostly as housing estates e.g. in Grüne Stadt (Green Town) inPrenzlauer Berg.[13][14][15]Volkswagen's cityWolfsburg was originally constructed by the Nazis.
The Bauhaus movement began in 1919, in Weimar, Germany. It was a school that brought together artists and craftspeople to pursue and master their crafts together in one place. The movement's aim was to create a utopian society for artists and designers. The first version of the school was under the leadership ofWalter Gropius for nine years. The school then moved to Dessau in 1925, where Gropius designed the Bauhaus Building and several other buildings. The school moved to Berlin in 1932, but under constant harassment by the Nazis, it finally closed.[16]
^Nazi architecture, in "Oxford Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture", 2006, p. 518.
^Espe, Hartmut (1981). "Differences in the perception of national socialist and classicist architecture".Journal of Environmental Psychology.1 (1):33–42.doi:10.1016/s0272-4944(81)80016-3.ISSN0272-4944.
^Jaskot, Paul B. (2000).The architecture of oppression: the SS, forced labor and the Nazi monumental building economy. London: Routledge.ISBN0203169654.OCLC48137989.
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Giesler, Hermann (1977).Ein Anderer Hitler: Bericht Seines Architekten Erlebnisse, Gesprache, Reflexionen [A Different Hitler: Report on its Architects' Experiences, Conversations, Reflections] (in German). Druffel.ISBN978-3806108200.
Helmer, Stephen (1985).Hitler's Berlin: The Speer Plans for Reshaping the Central City (Illustrated).Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press.ISBN0835716821.
Lehrer, Steven (2006).The Reich Chancellery and Fuhrerbunker Complex: An Illustrated History of the Seat of the Nazi Regime. McFarland & Co.ISBN978-0786423934.
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Petsch, Joachim (1976).Baukunst Und Stadtplanung Im Dritten Reich: Herleitung, Bestandsaufnahme, Entwicklung, Nachfolge [Architecture and urban planning in the Third Reich: Origin, Inventory, Development, Follow-up] (in German). C. Hanser.ISBN978-3446122796.
Rittich, Werner (1938).Architektur und Bauplastik der Gegenwart [Plastic Figures in Modern Architecture] (in German). Berlin: Rembrandt Verlag.
Schönberger, Angela (1981).Die Neue Reichskanzlei von Albert Speer. Zum Zusammenhang von nationalsozialistischer Ideologie und Architektur [The New Reich Chancellery by Albert Speer. To a Coherence between Nazi Ideology and Architecture] (in German). Berlin: Gebrüder Mann.ISBN978-3786112631.
Scobie, Alexander (1990).Hitler's State Architecture: The Impact of Classical Antiquity. College Art Association Monograph – Book 45. Pennsylvania State University Press.ISBN978-0271006918.
Schmitz, Matthias (1940).A Nation Builds: Contemporary German Architecture. New York: German Library of Information.
Zoller, Albert (1949).Hitler privat. Erlebnisbericht seiner Geheimsekretärin [Hitler's Private Secretary Testimony] (in German). Düsseldorf: Droste.ASINB0023S7QZO.
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