Germania: Hitler's Dream Capital

I thought this was interesting:

http://www.historytoday.com/roger-moorhouse/germania-hitlers-dream-capital

Quite. Thanks.

Germany sure is resurrecting a lot of Hitler and Nazi stuff lately.
I also found it ironic that the Soviets of people copied the Nazis giantisim brutal architecture style with disastrous results.

"History Today" doesn't sound very German to me. I could be wrong though, as I haven't visited in a while.

If I remember rightly, Robert Harris was inspired to write Fatherland after studying these plans and wondering what it would have been like to actually live in Speer's Berlin.

Germania seems to have been more of a piece of propaganda than a living space. Colossal buildings and boulevards to show off Nazi and "Aryan" power, but without much thought given for the people who would actually live there. It really does seem to have been Nazism in physical form.

I tend to see this as a much more mundane affair. Hitler, as an aspiring artist, was very much inclined towards architecture, evidenced not only by his numerous paintings, but also very strongly by the fact that he was actually recommended to get into architecture by the Vienna arts academy when they rejected him (ahem, for 'lack of appreciation of the human form', or something similar).

So, megalomaniac fuehrer + architect-dilettante + his many suck-ups like Speer = Germania.

You can't blame him for the autobahns though...

Agent327 said:

"History Today" doesn't sound very German to me. I could be wrong though, as I haven't visited in a while.

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You are allowed to write history of non-English subjects in English, you know.

But why did the Nazis want to build Germania in Berlin ???

An ideal location for the city of Germania would be Sloviansk.

'The Nazis' didn't want to build Germania, it was a plan of Hitler's for his favourite architect, and intended for after the war was won. The reason Berlin was picked as a location is because Hitler didn't really like the German capital.

Owen Glyndwr said:

You are allowed to write history of non-English subjects in English, you know.

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As has been noted on this thread. But that wasn't what I was commenting on.

Agent327 said:

'The Nazis' didn't want to build Germania, it was a plan of Hitler's for his favourite architect, and intended for after the war was won. The reason Berlin was picked as a location is because Hitler didn't really like the German capital.

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If memory serves, Hitler didn't like Berlin because Berliners were some of the least enthusiastic supporters of Hitler & Co.

Or because "Berlin" is a place-name of Slavic linguistic origin.

Mize said:

I tend to see this as a much more mundane affair. Hitler, as an aspiring artist, was very much inclined towards architecture, evidenced not only by his numerous paintings, but also very strongly by the fact that he was actually recommended to get into architecture by the Vienna arts academy when they rejected him (ahem, for 'lack of appreciation of the human form', or something similar).

So, megalomaniac fuehrer + architect-dilettante + his many suck-ups like Speer = Germania.

You can't blame him for the autobahns though...

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You should watch Architecture of Doom (1989, by Peter Cohen)
It is narrated in English and quite good.
Just got to click off the annoying little ads first.


Link to video.

Kaitzilla said:

You should watch Architecture of Doom (1989, by Peter Cohen)
It is narrated in English and quite good.
Just got to click off the annoying little ads first.

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Thank you very much! I watched and enjoyed the movie a lot the other day. It's a nice and effective, thought-provoking piece of film, even though it's a bit jumpy to conclusions in its last third, at least by today's standards. Otherwise it manages rather well to put the Nazi period in a more psychological perspective and also to showcase the artistic talent that was essential to propel Hitler to power.

What is most important when you engage your audience, is the way and the order in which you divulge information. Hitler managed to stoke Germany for years and most of them didn't even know what's going on. And monumental architecture and sculpture is just the icing on the cake, confirming his complete and total authority. Anybody can tell a story, make a speech, draw a painting... But if they're standing at 30 ft. of pure marble opposite market square, you kinda know that guy is the boss around here.