Fascism & Nazi Architecture

GROUP MEMBERS:
Syeda Hafsa AR-007
Sumra Zia AR-028
Introduction to Fascism

Me ne frego ("I don’t give a damn!")

Core Ideas:
• Democracy is “beautiful in theory; in practice, it
is a fallacy” 

• Modern Italy is the heir to ancient Rome 

• Three principles: order, discipline, hierarchy

Rise of Hitler: German Fascism

‘’Es Lebe Deutschland’’

Basic Ideology:

• Celebration of national identity

• No human value beyond the state

• Rights of man replaced by "German values"

• Absolute rule of the nation

 The ‘German Renaissance’

• Revival from Defeat

• Race and Space

• Reconstruction of Berlin
Beginning of Nazi Architecture

‘’Build to Intimidate’’
 Analytical Overview
• Purpose
• Characteristics
• Role
 Purpose
• A way to unify the citizens

• To provide "mass experiences“

• As a reminder for future generations

• As a display of strength, pride, and power

• Germania : the world capital

 Characteristics
• Very large and symmetric

• Sharp non-rounded edges

• durable materials (limestone)

• No decoration

• Totalitarian: brutal structures

Role of Nazi Architecture

Hitler…An Architect?
 Stage

Thingplatz, Halle LustGarten, Central Berlin

 Symbolic

ZeppelinFeld , Nuremberg Ordensburg, Krossinsee

 Didactic

Sketch of Triumphal Arch Olympic Stadium, Berlin

Model of lantern volkshalle, Berlin

A Brief Case Study:

The Reich Chancellery

Architect: Albert Speer
Facts:
• Initiated: 1938

• Completed: 1939

• Destroyed: 1945

• Labor: 4000 men A view of the Construction site

• Cost:90MillionReichsmark
‘’On the long walk from the entrance to the reception hall they'll get a taste of
the power and grandeur of the German Reich!“
-Adolf Hitler
The Authoritarian Exterior:

Views of the Court of Honor

Garden Portal The Iconic Address Balcony

Inside the Chancellery:

480 feet long marble gallery Hitler's work office

Court of Honor Government chamber

Post World War II:
End of an Era
• Hitler committed suicide in his
office at the Reich chancellery

• The end of WWII saw the last

of Nazi architecture

• Some architecture was left

standing. It was ‘too big to
destroy’

• Albert Speer’s status reduced

from an architect to the ‘Nazi
who apologized’
 Conclusion
• Architecture is any regime’s best tool to
manipulate

• ‘A message in stone’

• Architecture ; the only art form that can

physically meld or sever mankind
"The Romans built arches of triumph to celebrate the big
victories won by them. Hitler built them to celebrate
victories he had not yet won".
-Albert Speer