(2nd part 20s to 40s architecture)

GERMANY

Hitler came to power in 1933, but attempted to do so in 1923. Wrote Mein Kampf while in prision.

Nationalism: a call to restore the national unity and go back to the imperial greatness of the country before the First World War.

Hitler loathed Modernism and was passionate about Classicism and monumentality in arts, reason why he closed Bauhaus. As Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier or Frank Lloyd Wright believed all architecture should be human-scaled and as useful and practical as possible, Hitler looked for greatness and ancient-like buildings.

The dictator even created a House of Culture of the Reich, to control arts and architecture, which was frontally anti-modernist.

In order to restart the economy, a self-sustainability policy was adopted, supported by major industrials and bankers. High-ways, stadiums, worker´s quarters, bridges, dams and airfields were built. These projects were mostly military-related, and also included weapon factories, rail-ways, and of course, the deadly concentration camps. As expected, workers´ rights were never respected.

 

Hitler´s protégée, Albert Speer, was the official Nazi architect:

·         Germany Pavilion, International Exhibition of Paris (1937)

·         The Nazi Party´s congresses  and military parades, that usually occurred in Nuremberg, were genuine festivals of colour (hundreds of Nazi flags), sound and light (at night powerful lights would illuminate the skies, transforming the stadium into a sort of temple, in adoration to Hitler).

         The Olympic Stadium where the 1936 Olympic Games occurred (Jesse Owens, a black American was the hero).