History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

Architecture Of The Third Reich- Neoclassicism Under The Nazis

Term Paper for History of Architecture (AP131) Deepak Kumar Singh
Roll Number: 01616901611 Sushant School of Art and Architecture

FINAL DRAFT
Order from Stone: Nazi Architecture

Hitler used architecture as another boulevard to advance the power of the state. Nazi buildings were designed to intimidate and overwhelm. Architects like Albert Speer, Hermann Giesler, and Fritz Todt worked on projects that used plain facades with columns, pilasters, and clean lines on a massive scale to create a new aesthetic. Like the Fascist "New Man," this new building style would display power and authority. Anyone who ventured into one of these buildings would see in their size the tempting wealth and power of the Third Reich. Berlin was to become "Germania," a city to rule the world. It needed monuments. In their greatest flight of fancy, Hitler's architects created a model of this new city, one with public buildings on a scale never seen, to celebrate the power of the German state. Though this huge project never succeeded, many buildings survive that show the unique inclinations of the state. In Nuremberg, seat of the Nazi party, the rally grounds show the particular style of intimidation architecture found throughout the party's building efforts. Images of the New Reich Chancellery validate deliberate attempts to use architecture to intimidate foreign diplomats. Other buildings not representative of the Nazi style nonetheless reference Nazi aims by glorifying both the Teutonic past and rural culture. Always, Nazi architects worked to ensure that their buildings served the purposes of the regime. Influenced by classical Greece and Rome, they cultured an aesthetic of order, using minimal decoration and highlighting straight lines. From the baroque era, they realized the power of buildings as expressions of wealth and power, and they tried to integrate that expression into their buildings. Nazi architecture served the state by underlining its values, demonstrating its power, and creating edifices capable of lasting for centuries.

Page 1 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

The Propaganda Ministry, Berlin

Albert Speer's Zeppelintribune, Nuremberg

Page 2 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

What the Nazis liked Hitler, as a trained artist, was well-conversant in the history of architecture. In the Nazi's quest for an "orderly" aesthetic, much attention was paid to the classical buildings of Greece and Rome. It is easy to see the similarities between Albert Speer's Zeppelintribune, shown above right, and the Pergamon Altar of Zeus housed in the Berlin Pergamon museum:

The Pergamon Altar to Zeus In fact, Speer himself stated that the Tribune was based on this Pergamon monument (Scobie 87). There are also noticeable similarities between the Colosseum in Rome and the Olympiastadion in Berlin. In particular, the two buildings share a stratified system of pillars and arches. However, the stadium differs from the Colosseum in its lack of curves or circular arches. Olympiastadion's exterior is flat, and depends on rectangles formed from strong horizontal and vertical lines to attain its clean, orderly effect. Further, the stadium exterior is bare: there is no decoration of any kind, only lines. These preferences for strong lines and bare exteriors are a common feature of Nazi buildings, especially those designed by Albert Speer, and marks them as distinct from the classical structures that influenced them, Classical buildings were heavily decorated, sometimes almost entirely covered with statues. Nazi buildings are remarkable for their almost total lack of decoration.

Page 3 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

The Colosseum, Rome Hitler himself was as a young man first impresssed with the highly wrought, ornate, neo-Baroque style found in many Habsburg-era public buildings. Even then, he felt that the key qualification for an effective public building was that it expressed the strength of its owner. These buildings, with their excessive numbers of pilasters, porticos, columns, arches, and pediments, manifested the wealth and power of the German and Habsburg states. While these highly-decorated buildings are markedly different from those designed during Hitler's reign, they possess symmetry, a formal element of design that both Speer and Hitler believed was essential to creating order. The grand Berlinerdom exudes wealth, with decoration in every corner. According to Hitler, the cathedral,though too small, was "suitably impressive." (Taylor Illustration 5) The long arcades of the New Hofsburg and the Museum of Fine Arts, both in Vienna, hint at the colonnades and grand entrances found in later buildings, especially Speer's New Reich Chancellery.

Page 4 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

The Museum of Fine Arts, Vienna

The New Hofsburg, Vienna

Page 5 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

Detail of the Berlinerdom

Page 6 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

Page 7 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

The Berlinerdom as it looked in the 1930s What they Built Perhaps the most archetypical of Nazi buildings was the New Reich Chancellery in Berlin. The building housed administrative offices for senior officials of every branch of the Nazi regime. This building, designed by Albert Speer, was the nerve center of the government. Speer and Hitler agreed that this building needed to be impressive and intimidating, and wanted it to express Nazi ideals of order and strength. The Chancellery, actually an extension to the Kaiser-era Reichskanzlei, displayed all the features that have since come to be associated with the Nazi architectural style. The Voss-strasse entrance, seen below, used high columns and massive doors (topped with an eagle) to create an aweinspiring entrance to the seat of Nazi power. (Speer Architecture). The long facade, noticeably lacks decoration. There are no columns or statues, only rows of windows, evenly aligned. These parallel rows, with small stone ridges running along them, emphasize the formal element of line. There is nothing exciting happening on this facade, no writhing sculptures or twisting baroque decorations. Instead, Speer's design focuses on line. Nothing pushes against the lines and nothing curves. There is no opposition in row after row of horizontal lines, only order. Speer's design reinforces the Nazi ideal of order, leaving no space for dissent. Everything is totally controlled.

Page 8 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

The New Reich Chancellery Inside the Chancellery, the emphasis on order is combined with an increased sense of grandeur. In the middle of the building was Speer's Ehrenplatz, or court of honor. This courtyard existed solely to make the Chancellery a more intimidating place for foreign diplomats. With its stark facade and massive scale, the courtyard could do little else. It was entirely symmetrical, and though it incorporated round columns, the emphasis was again on line and symmetry. Even the sculptures, "Army" and "Party," by Arnold Breker, posed stiffly and oppositely, so that their forms would not disrupt either symmetry or line.

The Ehrenplatz inside the Chancellery

Page 9 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

The entrance to the mosaic hall, sculpture by Arno Breker

Page 10 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

Beyond this courtyard were the mosaic hall, rotunda, and marble gallery. These led to Hitler's office, a well-lit, well-furnished, and suitably massive room. Importantly, it was larger than Mussolini's. Hitler liked it very much, though he apparently used it infrequently (Lehrer 75).

Page 11 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

The Rotunda

Page 12 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

The effect was overwhelming. A visitor to Hitler's office arrived at the Chancellery to find a block-long building (1,400 foot), climbed up the steps, entered the Ehrenplatz, traversed it and climbed up more stairs, entered a tiny reception room which opened into the mosaic hall, walked down that, entered the rotunda, then the Marble Gallery, in the middle of which they found Hitler's office. The goal of this journey? "The diplomats sitting in front of me . . . [will] learn to shiver and shake," said Hitler (Lehrer 75). Encouraging the Volk The Nazis glorified the rural lifestyle and Germany's Teutonic past. In builidngs not intended to be part of diplomatic life, they imitated traditional German dwellings. The Hermann Goering Youth Home and Speer's West front headquarters both imitate this traditional style. The Tannenberg Memorial draws inspiration from the castles of the medieval Germany's Hohenzollern era and combines it with the new Nazi aesthetic of clean lines and stark, blank facades. This style echoes the glory of German conquerers like Barbarossa, and reminds the Volk of their history of greatness.

The Hermann Goering Youth Home, Melle

The Tannenberg Memorial

Page 13 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

West Front Headquarters Creating Mass Experiences As part of their campaign to unify the German people behind Nazi ideals, Hitler enouraged his architects, especially Albert Speer, to create places for Germans to have what he termed "mass experiences." To do this, they created assembly halls, stadia, and assembly grounds where thousands could gather to display their patriotism and be edified by the speeches of party leaders. The most significant of these places was the Zeppelin Field at Nuremburg, where the Nazi Party held annual rallies celebrating the anniversaries of its formation in 1920 and the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. The Zeppelintribune was the centerpiece of the Nuremburg party monuments. As discussed above, it incorporated classical elements, but modified them to emphasize line, cleanliness, and order. From this building, Hitler and other party leaders gave speeches to assemblies of tens of thousands of germans. The most effective part of this assembly grounds was not the building, but the light. Speer surrounded the assembly area with hundreds of spotlights pointed skywards. The effect was to create a "cathedral of light," aLichtdom, and its impact was tremendous.

The Zeppelin field Lichtdom

Page 14 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

The Zeppelintribune during a nighttime rally The rally grounds at Nuremberg also included the Luitpold Arena, a space used for rallies of as many as 150,000 SS and SA men. The buildings here also show the Nazi emphasis on order, with stark facades and straight lines. At one edge of the arena is the Ehrenhalle, a monument to Nazi war dead.
Page 15 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

The Ehrenhalle is just one example of the thousands of memorials built by the Nazis in an effort to inspire the German people to greater effort in the war.

Luitpold Hall, at one edge of the arena

The grandstands and grounds of Luitpold Arena during a rally

Page 16 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

The Ehrenhalle The New Germany Hitler and Speer together planned one of the greatest undertakings ever conceived. To create a "thousand year Reich," they devised monuments on a massive scale, and planned out new cities built more around the need to glorify the state than to accomodate a populace. Munich, the site of the Beer Hall Putsch, was one of the cities they planned to rebuild, and there they were to put up grand edifices glorifying the party. The whole city would revolve around a single grand avenue bounded on one end by a huge assembly hall and on the other by a bulky obelisk. This road would be used for ceremonial purposes--parades and rallies. The project would be expensive, the size of the monuments ensured that, but costs were to be kept down through the use of slave labor (Scobie 130). While this project was itself startling for its scale, it was nothing compared to their plans for Berlin.

Page 17 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

The planned main avenue in Munich, with Hermann Giesler's train station dome in the background and obelisk in the foreground Berlin was to be the capital of the Nazis' empire, and as such, needed to exude the power, domination, and superiority of the Nazi party. Invoking images of the Roman empire, the remade Berlin would be called Germania, the old Roman name for Germany. The city would change shape radically, with a tripled population and thousands of new public buildings. Speer planned to create a new city center surrounded by public housing and government facilities. This new center, like Munich, would revolve around a long, wide, single avenue that stretched on for miles. While the road, which lacked crosstreets, was totally impractical, this mattered little to Hitler and Speer, who saw the project purely from an ideological perspective. The broad street was a tool for propaganda, a paradegrounds. Careful urban planning was far less important than ensuring ideological compliance. This was a "highly politicized approach to city building . . . [in] conflict with conventional views of both function and aesthetics" (Helmer 3). The conflicts were never satisfactorily resolved, and Stephen Helmer rightly described the whole project as "generally inept" (Helmer 3). The great buildings of the new Berlin were to be of incredible size. The grotesque Great Hall (Volkshalle) seen below was to hold 180,000 people, its dome rose 290 meters into the air (951 feet), had a diameter of 250 meters, and sat atop a granite podium 315 meters (1033 feet) square (Scobie 112). It was topped with an imperial German eagle clutching a globe perched on a gigantic lantern. On a similarly massive scale was the triumphal arch in the center of the avenue. It was so large that the plan to build it collapsed when engineers realized it was so heavy that it would sink into the earth.

Page 18 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

Speer's model of the planned North-South avenue in the new Berlin

Page 19 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

The Volkshalle from the front

Page 20 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

A closeup of the Volkshalle showing its preposterous size Even more so than in Munich, this project would have been expensive. The Nazis were creating not just a new city, but a monumental one, with buildings so massive as to be beyond belief. Speer estimated
Page 21 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

that the total cost would have been between 64 and 96 billion dollars at a rate of 8 billion dollars per year (Helmer 61). Despite the cost, Hitler was intent on seeing the project completed, to the point that he continued to divert men and material to it well into the war (Helmer 61). Germania represented the ultimate triumph of ideology in architecture. Integral to the grandiose plans were features designed to enable mass experiences and display the might of the Third Reich. These concerns far outweighed any issues of practicality. Speer and Hitler both subscribed to a "theory of ruin value" (Scobie 113). They intended that their buildings would last for centuries, and were accordingly to be built mostly of rock and other very durable materials. In this desire for size and durability, and the supremacy of ideological concerns over function, it is clear that the Nazis saw architecture as a key tool in the creation of their thousandyear Reich. With Germania, Hitler wanted to create edifices capable of sustaining the German empire by themselves. Obviously, this was a ridiculous scheme, a fact that explains why these outrageous structures could ever have been taken seriously.

Conclusion The Nazis attempted to control every aspect of Germans' lives; architecture played a key role in this. The order and plainness of Nazi facades reflected the order idealized by Nazi theorists. Places designed for mass community experiences built unity around the party. Buildings reflecting rural and Teutonic pasts emphasized the Nazis' glorification of those times. The same aspects of Nazi buildings intended to impress foreign diplomats served double duty by expressing the power of the Nazi party to everyone who passed by. Hitler and Speer believed that architecture had the power to profoundly infuence peoples's thoughts and actions. In their delusional plans for Germania, they showed explicitly that architecture was a tool of the state. It would be used to promote ideology, even at the expense of livability. Hitler wanted buildings to be "the word in stone," durable, visible representations of Nazi ideals. Like all other forms of art during the Nazi regime, architecture was a tool of the state.

Page 22 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

Bibliography

Helmer, Stephen D. Hitler's Berlin: The Speer Plans for Reshaping the Central City. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1980.

Lehrer, Steven. The Reich Chancellery and Fhrerbunker Complex: An Illustrated History of the Seat of the Nazi Regime. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2006.

Rasp, Hans Peter. Eine Stadt fr tausend Jahre: MnchenBauten und Projekte fr die Haupstadt der Bewegung [A city for the millennium: Munichbuildings and projects for the capitol of the movement]. Munich: Sddeutscher Verlag, 1981.

Rosenfeld, Gavriel D. Munich and Memory: Architecture, Monuments, and the Legacy of the Third Reich. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000.

Scobie, Alex. Hitler's State Architecture: The Impact of Classical Antiquity. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1990.

Speer, Albert. Architecture, 1932-1942. Edited by Leon Krier. With contributions by Lars Olaf Larsson. Brussels: Archives d'Architecture Moderne, 1985.

Sudjic, Deyan. The Edifice Complex: How the Rich and Powerful Shape the World. London: Penguin Books, Allen Lane, 2005.

Taylor, Robert R. The Word in Stone: The Role of Architecture in the National Socialist Ideology. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1974.

Photo credits Photo 1: Geoff Walden The Reich Propaganda Ministry, designed by Albert Speer <http://www.thirdreichruins.com/PropagandaMinsGT.jpg>

Page 23 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

Photo 2: Geoff Walden, The Zeppelintribune, Nuremberg, designed by Albert Speer <http://www.thirdreichruins.com/zepptribak38.jpg> Photo 3: Courtesy of Calvin College, Hitler's Office in Der Neue Reichskanzellerei, designed by Albert Speer <http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/images/rk/rk3.jpg> Photo 4: G. Ray Thompson, The Pergamon Altar of Zeus <http://www.salisbury.edu/modlang/RomanGermany/images/Pergamon_Alt_of_Zeus.jpg> Photo 5: Wolfgang Schche, Norbert Szymanski Das Reichssportfeld Berlin - Brandenburg: be.bra Verlag 2001 <http://iblalt.ibl.uni-stuttgart.de/aktuell/exkursionen/berlin2002/psbericht/img/bericht-stadion/bild04.jpg> Photo 6: Leo Curran, Maecenas: Images of Ancient Greece and Rome (c) 1997 <http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210200/ancient_rome/colosseum2.jpg> Photo 7: Andrew Boss, Art History Museum, Vienna, 2007. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:IMG_0089_-_Wien_-_Kunsthistorisches_Museum.JPG> Photo 8: Peter Gerstbach, The New Hofsburg, 2004. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Wien_Hofburg_Neue_Burg_Heldenplatz.jpg> Photo 9: Andreas Steinhoff, View of the Berliner Dom. (c) 2005 <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Berliner_Dom_-_closeup_view.jpg> Photo 10: The Berlinerdom, ca. 1930. From Taylor, Robert R. The Word in Stone: The Role of Architecture in the National Socialist Ideology. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1974. Photo 11: The New Reich Chancellery. From Scobie, Alex. Hitler's State Architecture: The Impact of Classical Antiquity. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1990. Photo 12: The Chancellery Ehrenplatz. From Speer, Albert. Architecture, 1932-1942. Edited by Leon Krier. With contributions by Lars Olaf Larsson. Brussels: Archives d'Architecture Moderne, 1985. Photo 13: Ehrenplatz entrance. Ibid. Photo 14: Chancellery mosaic hall. Ibid. Photo 15: Chancellery rotunda. Ibid. Photo 16: Courtesy of Calvin College, Chancellery marble gallery, designed by Albert Speer <http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/images/rk/rk4.jpg> Photo 17: Op. cit. Hitler's Office, Calvin Photo 18: Hermann Goering Youth Home, Melle. From Taylor, Robert R. The Word in Stone: The Role of Architecture in the National Socialist Ideology. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1974. Photo 19: Tannenberg Memorial. Ibid. Photo 20: West Front Headquarters. Ibid.

Page 24 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

Photo 21: Geoff Walden, The Zeppelinfeld Lichtdom, Nuremberg, designed by Albert Speer, <http://www.thirdreichruins.com/Lichtdom.jpg> Photo 22: The Zeppelintribune during a nighttime rally. From Speer, Albert. Architecture, 19321942. Edited by Leon Krier. With contributions by Lars Olaf Larsson. Brussels: Archives d'Architecture Moderne, 1985. Photo 23: Geoff Walden, Luitpoldhalle, Nuremberg, <http://www.thirdreichruins.com/luitpoldhallerittich.jpg> Photo 24: Geoff Walden, Luitpold Arena, Nuremberg, <http://www.thirdreichruins.com/LuitpoldRuehle38.jpg> Photo 25: Magnus Gertkemper, Ehrenhalle at Luitpoldhain, Nuremberg, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ehrenhalle_nuremberg_2006.jpg> Photo 26: Ost-West Achse, Munich. From Rasp, Hans Peter. Eine Stadt fr tausend Jahre: Mnchen Bauten und Projekte fr die Haupstadt der Bewegung [A city for the millennium: Munichbuildings and projects for the capitol of the movement]. Munich: Sddeutscher Verlag, 1981. Photo 27: Nord-Sud Achse, Berlin. From Speer, Albert. Architecture, 1932-1942. Edited by Leon Krier. With contributions by Lars Olaf Larsson. Brussels: Archives d'Architecture Moderne, 1985. Photo 29: Front view of the Kongresshalle. Ibid. Photo 30: Closeup view of the Kongresshalle. Ibid.

Page 25 of 26

History of Architecture (AP313) | Term Paper | 2013

Page 26 of 26