Albert Speer and Nazi architecture – Archives of History | Your disclosure page

Totalitarian regimes have always used the architecture and the lifting of magnanimous constructions to give an image of a strong and solid state. Adolf Hitler he knew that erecting large and spectacular buildings would be an important propaganda factor as well as a way to revive the country’s economy. To carry out such an ambitious project, he had the full collaboration of one of the architects nazis most skillful of 3rd Reich: Albert Speer.

Architecture as the image of the Third Reich

Throughout history, art, in this case architecture, has always been subject to the State, which used it for clearly ideological purposes. So the NSDAP Its objective was to bring certain values ​​and beliefs to the German population through large constructions, thus pretending a cultural and spiritual renaissance of the Germany of the Third Reich.

This was nothing more than a propaganda effort taken to a material exponent that went far beyond speeches and pamphlets, granting an immutable posterity to the regime through the stone and marble used for its buildings and monuments, its structure being propaganda of the first order along with the rest of artistic disciplines. In the European totalitarianism of the first half of the 20th century, the state and its leaders tried to control all aspects of the daily life of citizens, among which were music, radio, television and, of course, art. Although in the Soviet Union the call had already triumphed “socialist realism”in Germany the effort of Adolf Hitler for linking his own political discourse with the aesthetics of the country since he came to power in 1933.

For National Socialists, art is also a symbol of German identity, the embodiment of volksgeist, the spirit of his people, and of the superiority of the Aryan race. The harmony that he will prevail in his buildings will be the equivalent of the ideological and racial homogeneity of the Germans, where the individual will be diluted among the mass.

In contrast to degenerate art (Entartete Kunst) the regime favored what the nazis called “heroic art” that exalted values ​​such as racial purity, beauty, militarism and obedience. The art branded as degenerate was banned, censored and belittled as “non-German” for its alleged Bolshevik and Jewish connotations or influences, when it was not directly associated with the mentally ill. In that sense, produce a national socialist art it requires finding roots and these, obviously, are sought in history: in the German pagan past, but also in classical Greece and imperial Rome. In the spirit of medieval chivalry, taking the Teutonic Order as a model, but also of the dominating Prussian militarism. The nexus of union with the cultures of Antiquity was justified with historical discourses of little or no credibility that for the most part are already outdated.

On the other hand, many nazis they were admirers of imperial Rome and believed that some Germans had become part of the social structure and exercised influence in the Empire. Hitler He said that the new Germany should be a harmonious communion between the taste for beauty of the Athenians and the cult of strength and racial purity of the Spartans. Likewise, he considered that the Romans formed a primitive Aryan empire and wanted to emulate their architecture through an original style.

In the words of historian Henry Grosshans, Hitlerhe saw Greek and Roman art as uncontaminated by Jewish influences. Modern art was an act of aesthetic violence by the Jews against the German spirit. But Hitler he himself took responsibility for deciding who, in matters of culture, thought and acted like a Jew”.

The efforts of the state apparatus in the hands of Hitler they will want to give the regime its own personality architecturalthis meant that culture and society nazis should be reflected in architecture specifically National Socialist. For this he selected three great architects that would help you with your project: Paul Troost, Herman Giesler Y Albert Speer .Each of them will capture their own idea of ​​beauty architectural.

The most striking is the style of spear, which will be characterized by its neoclassical trend with colossal constructions, commonly used as official buildings. This has the aesthetic ideal of three of the great civilizations of antiquity: Greece, Rome and Egypt. However, in the civil and private sphere we see a strong presence of traditional German constructions that emulate the Alpine and Tyrolean folkloric style, above all, contrasting these small constructions with the colonialism of state works. However, these “popular” buildings were often used as the youth hostels of the NSDAP.

All visible steel would be eliminated, since the buildings had to be made of stone, an imperishable material, horizontal windows and flat roofs. Albert Speer always worked in this line, since he himself invented the concept of “ruin value”, according to which the great buildings had to be constructed in such a way that they would be aesthetically pleasing ruins after many years, as testaments to the greatness of the utopia of a Reich which was said to last a thousand years, just as the Greco-Roman ruins were symbols of the greatness of the world of classical antiquity. Regarding the use of stone for constructions, the spear stated: “it was unimaginable that some rusty rubble conveyed the heroic spirit that Hitler admired in the monuments of the past”.

The great paradox is how this deliberate archaism occurred precisely in a society that worshiped technology. Hitler it limited the use of steel and cement in official buildings while promoting the most modern and innovative construction advances developed by the engineers of the regime. Although at the same time it was wanted to preserve the value of the work capacity of the construction worker, from the bricklayer and the stonemason, to the carpenter, the blacksmith and the sculptor, thus returning to the idea that construction and the work was everyone’s job. Along with the use of these materials, the country’s quarries were recovered.

In any case, the monumentality could also have a functional character, such as responding to the need to accommodate a huge mass of followers and members who would house some of these buildings as venues for the main Party events, all of them equipped with of a marked ritual aspect. The issue of space as a unique experience is another element worthy of analysis within the architecture in relation to totalitarianism, in this case that of Third Reich.

The great paradox of totalitarianism resided in the suppression of the political, which in turn coexisted with the over-politicization of everyday life. The suppression of the political understood as the rejection of any trend of pluralism. This overdose of politicization was directly related to the organization and mobilization of the masses that required large public spaces. That is where architecture came into play as a provider of this new space.

OFFICIAL ARCHITECTURE FOR POLITICAL USE

The Zeppelinfield Tribune (1934)

The first construction in which all the paradigms are applied was the great tribune of the zeppelinfielda place that had great importance within the regime of Adolf Hitlerbecause it was there where the great masses of followers gathered to listen to the Führer in his speeches.

In 1933, Adolf Hitler declares to Nuremberg «City of Congresses Supporters of Third Reich«. In January 1934, the German leader commissions the young and famous Albert Speer the construction of zeppelinfield (Camp Zeppelin in honor of the famous manufacturer of zeppelins Ferdinand Von Zeppelin) in the same place where the previous tribune was, but it was made of wood. As can be verified in the reports of spear It can be seen that, for the erection of this building, it was inspired by the Pergamon Altar, of Hellenic origin and of great proportions. The building he designed Albert Speer as a new tribune it was not only similar to the Pergamon Altar, but surpassed it with colossal measures.

The gallery was made up of an immense staircase that would end in a long colonnade that would have in its center a main box (where the German dictator would be in parades or speeches) crowned by a 6-meter-high swastika (which was destroyed by the Americans in May 1945). In this work we see the great use of stone, which is the protagonist of the construction, since it was intended that the construction would remain for eternity although the nazi party would have disappeared. The capacity of this huge building would be about 240,000 people, which gives a good view of its monumentality.

Inside there is a great wealth of stone materials and adorned with minerals that Germany possessed. We also found a large hall in which the walls were covered with marble, the floor made of polished granite and the ceiling covered with golden swastikas, a symbol par excellence that appeared on many occasions.

Another characteristic of this enormous construction was the theatrical and spiritual effects that the young architect placed in it through the use of light. Thus, when the 1934 Nuremberg congress was held, powerful lights (placed in different ways) from more than a hundred anti-aircraft searchlights were used to illuminate the entire venue and create an environment that convinced those present that they were witnessing something memorable, creating so what was called “Cathedral of Light” that would produce an experience beyond politics or words spoken.

The New Reich Chancellery (1939)

In the year 1938, the Fuhrer German Adolf Hitler commissioned his architect favorite, Albert Speer the construction of the New Reich Chancelleryasking him that the building be finished in a year, because it should be ready for the annual diplomatic reception of January 1939. for this great project spear featured Some 4,500 workers who did their work continuously in three shifts every day without rest, which gives us the importance that it had to be finished on time. The New Chancery It cost more than 90 million Reichsmark.

As general guidelines, the New Chancellery Palace It had to occupy a whole block (6,989 m² or 0.69 he has)with a large interior park, in addition to integrating the Old Chancellery, the 19th century Borsig Palace, located on the corner, and having a barracks for the 1st Division of the Waffen-SS, which constituted the personal guard and presidential of Hitler. This great construction would be the culmination of the power of Hitler before the foreign powers, he also carried out the floor plan of the building.

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