Planning of Germania

A work of Twisted Aesthetics (by Haoyan Wu)

 
As an extreme paradigm of nationalism and socialism, Nazi Fascism, had promoted absolute centralised ruling across the Europe, aka totalitarianism. As a matter of fact, the successful invading and occupying had further satisfied and stimulated Nazi German’s burning ambition. The demand of constructing and rebuilding on urban environments had also come with it. These kind of projects and engineering could hardly escape a destiny of being combined with certain ideology. Symbolic architectures and places concept over the very time, such as the Volkshalle, Deutsches Stadion and to a large scale, the Arch, and Germania was not accomplished in fact, while the tremendous design is not just a different scale of aesthetics, but also reveals the political advocation of “obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation or victimhood by compensatory cults of unity, energy and purity.” (Paxton, 2004)

As a totalitarianism, the dictator always plays a dominant role of defining and planning the nation’s fortune, same as Hitler. During his early age, he was devoting in arts and architecture study. He was even once managing in going to Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. It is assumable if he was enrolled, the world could possibly escape the disaster of a massive killer. The failure of further excursion in arts study did not let Hitler give up his interest. He was getting embarked on his design of architecture and city combining his political attitude and unique aesthetic comprehension. He had not been satisfactory with Berlin’s scale before he took the reconstructing into practice, he thought Berlin as his proud German’s capital, was too small to accomplish displaying its strength and dominant power. This idea has influenced into details of Hitler’s ideal urban form and architecture designing.

It is quite important to mention a person when we talk about Fascism planning, Albert Speer, the Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich and the chief architect of Adolf Hitler. The architect born in an architect family was appealed to Hitler’s speech and decided in devoting in the constructing of a new rising power for his Nazi Germany. The similar taste of aesthetics has drawn Hitler’s attention into this artist, they have been sharing ideas and designs since then.

Hitler thought strong visual impact can appeal people’s passion into a political campaign, but this feature was not satisfied by the old Reich Chancellery. He thought it was with “no dignity”and was just like a “cigar case”.

When he became the prime minister of German on 30 of January, 1933, he was taking the transformation of Reich Chancellery as the most vital project, as an entree on building the world’s capital, Germania.

Before Speer taking office of the chief planner of the Third Reich, Hitler has pointed to him precisely, Berlin would become the centre and capital of the world. He was insisting on stretching the width of road to 120 m as a central avenue, while this plan was objected by the mayor of Berlin at that time, with concerns of preserving the existing buildings by the road. It resulted in dismiss to the mayor.As the symbolic architecture of “Germania”, Hitler has started on designing Volksshalle in 1925 before he gained power. On the blueprint of it, we can obviously see it was adapted from Peterdom and Pantheon.

In 1940, when France surrounded to Nazi Germany, Hitler led a group of architects including Speer to Paris visiting the gorgeous historical sites. Hitler once noticed visiting Paris was his “dream of life”, when the dream came true, as he said to Speer on the way back to Berlin, he had admired the beauty of Paris, while he will make Berlin a more gorgeous and splendid place. He had officially proposed his nomination of the world’s capital, Germania.

Before 1940, Hitler’s plan on reforming Berlin was still a vague and major view, it just let Speer get a chance in planning a new Berlin which follow the strain. With being provided with privilege directed from Hitler, Speer could propose his demand to almost any department in Berlin or even to the Reich government. In the following few years, Berlin had not just developed upon the major plan of Hitler, but also in detailed planning such as business centre, residential area and transportation facilities.

The 145-metre-long gallery in the new Reich Chancellery drove Hitler to wild joy, it was twice long than the gallery in Palace of Versailles. Hitler had a description as this, the long journey from the gate to the hall can bring adequate impression of greatness and power of the Reich to make them afraid of. The “them” in his mouth could be anyone disobey his order. He took the empire built under his power as a shelter and weapon servicing his own.

Nazi Germany on one hand was a Germanised State Socialism, violence was the fountain, on another hand it is Fascism. The unique and wretched aesthetic taste of the very ideology was not any more just a speech regarding to arts taste. Planning under this special state had an unstoppable appetite in swallowing the entire world into the minor dictator’s stomach to satisfy his ambition. This dictatorship asked for high-unity in order to ruling and invading but leave a pair of blind eyes to a natural development consolidating with people’s wish and pursue.

 

 

Bibliography

Paxton, R. (2004). The anatomy of fascism. New York: Knopf.

Jeffery M. Diefendorf. (1993). ‘Town planning to 1945’ in In the Wake of War: the Reconstruction of German Cities after World War II New York, Oxford.