Nazi use of Architecture and Sculpture in the Third Reich
Uploaded by LupinZX on May 24, 2007
Nazi Architecture and Sculpture
When Hitler became Führer of Germany in 1933, he wanted architecture in his new Germany to bring a new image to the history of Germany, and to offer the new Nazi society a strong rallying point. Classical, monumental style replaced the modern style of architecture that had come with the Weimar government. Hitler saw this architecture as a cultural decline. The Nazi's used architecture to celebrate their image. Nazi architecture consisted of two phases between 1936 and 1940, firstly, the great set pieces of party edifies and secondly, the plans for Berlin, Nuremberg and Munich, the key cities of the Third Reich. Nazist architecture existed largely within the minds of two people, Hitler and Albert Speer.
The National Socialist's main view on architecture was the rejection of modern style. The quaint and traditional vernacular style for housing and a strong monumental style for public buildings became the order. But The National Socialists did not wholly rejected modern technology as a means of constructing this traditional architecture. They often used the most advanced building techniques hidden behind neoclassical fascias. Along with the rejection of modern architecture came a rejection of the corresponding furniture.
To the Nazi's, using Neoclassicism would give expression to the Nazi regime. The ideal model was the Greek temple, the Renaissance palace, the Baroque castle, and the Classicist building of the Empire era. The format of these buildings became monumental to Hitler.
Speer undertook the project for Reconstruction for Berlin (1939-1943). It was designed to become the ultimate architectural realization of National Socialist ideology, it had a giant avenue from south to north, which was the highlight of the new city. In 1938, Speer finished the design for the first part of Berlin's Great Axis Avenue, 4 miles long, flanked by 400 street lights that he had designed. The east-west axis would 'cut through the chaotic development of the cold city'. Eventually it was to stretch over 30 miles from east to west and 25 miles from north to south. It was planned to be a monumental centre.
In 1925, Hitler had sketched a triumphal arch and a large assembly hall, both of which were to become the symbols of the New Berlin. The triumphal arch was to span a distance of 285 feet and rise 325 feet, dwarfing the Eiffel Tower. On it the names of the German soldiers killed fighting World War 1...