Führerpalast

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Graphic of the Great Square (Adolf-Hitler-Platz) with the Great Hall and the Führerpalast

The Führerpalast was an official residence and residence for Adolf Hitler and his successors planned by the architect Albert Speer . It was part of the redesign plans for Berlin to become the “ World Capital Germania ”. Model photos, drawings and floor plans of the plans have been handed down.

Location and surroundings

The Führerpalast was supposed to be built roughly where the Federal Chancellery is located in Berlin today. It should become part of a building ensemble that should be grouped around the planned Great Square . The redevelopment of the square should consist of the following buildings: the Führerpalast, the Great Hall , the Greater German Reichstag , the Reichstag building , the service building of the Wehrmacht High Command and the new service building of the Reich Chancellery. In Albert Speer's plans, the square and its reconstruction were the northern climax of the north-south axis .

architecture

The Führerpalast was planned as a gigantic three-wing complex. Speer's architectural concept was based on baroque palace buildings. In the north wing - analogous to the baroque theater wings - there was a theater with 400 seats. For the southern wing of the palace, Speer devised a 504-meter-long suite of rooms from the entrance to the Reich Chancellery to Hitler's study. Here Speer oriented himself on the baroque concept of the enfilade , the path to absolute ruler through representative, lavishly furnished rooms.

Speer and Hitler primarily wanted to showcase the power and glory of the Führer and Reich and to formulate an architectural expression of the claim to world domination. This is made clear by a statement made by Hitler in October 1941: “Whoever enters the Reich Chancellery must have the feeling of stepping before the Lord of the World, and the way there through the triumphal arch on the broad streets past the soldiers' hall to the People's Square should be for him take your breath away. [...] Berlin will one day be the capital of the world. "

Stylistically, the building is externally characterized by the National Socialist style , a "monumentalism" which, due to its "megalomaniac dimensions", slipped away from any "human scale" is based on the "order of column and block, the formed crowd". Almost endless rows of columns in front of huge red marble mosaics, bronze lions and monumental reliefs characterize the facade to the Great Square . There are no openings to the outside except for the gigantic steel entrance gate and the door to a balcony. So the palace looks like a fortress architecture, which is supposed to show the power of the rulers and the powerlessness of the ruled. In concrete terms, the building should also be easy to defend in the event of a possible popular uprising. Even Speer was reminded of “the satrap architecture of a film by Cecil B. de Mille” after his release from the Spandau war crimes prison in 1981. In addition to the fantastic, I also became aware of the cruelty of this architecture, a precise expression of tyranny. ”The baroque display of splendor also corresponded to the planned garden with water fountains and a palm house .

Hitler's study

Hitler's study in the Führerpalast was designed similarly to that in the New Reich Chancellery , with a columned portico in front of a large terrace facing the garden of the building. This work room should have 900 m² of floor space and be equipped with the most splendid materials. Hitler's workroom was not intended for working, but for representing. Albert Speer, for example, compares it to the reception hall of the White House and points out that Hitler's workroom would have been over eight times as large as this.

Construction and data

The building was planned as a solid construction. The finest materials should be used: various types of marble , granite and precious woods. The "leader's apartment" would have comprised 1.9 million m³, the work wing 1.2 million m³. A dining room should have an area of ​​2940 m² and would have offered space for 2000 guests. The U-shaped garden facade should have a total length of 670 meters. With the associated gardens, the palace should take up an area of ​​two million square meters.

literature

  • Albert Speer: architecture. Works 1933–1942. Propylaea, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin / Vienna 1978, ISBN 3-455-08941-0 .
  • Hans J. Reichhardt, Wolfgang Schächen: From Berlin to Germania. About the destruction of the "Imperial Capital" by Albert Speer's redesign plans. Transit, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-88747-127-X .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Florian Müller-Klug: Hitler's offices in Berlin - Part 2: “Führerpalast” and “Führerbunker”. In: Clio Berlin Blog , November 24, 2014, accessed on November 28, 2014.
  2. ↑ Jochen Thies: Architect of world domination. Hitler's "ultimate goals" . Athenaeum, Düsseldorf 1980, p. 189 .
  3. ^ Adolf Hitler: Monologues in the Führer Headquarters 1941–1944. Heinrich Heim's notes. Ed. v. Werner Jochmann. Orbis, Munich 1980, ISBN 978-3-8112-0584-0 , p. 101.
  4. ↑ Quoted from Wolfgang Schächen: National Socialist Architecture and Reception of Antiquities - Museum Planning. In: Willmuth Arenhövel, Christa Schreiber (Hrsg.): Berlin and the ancient world. Essays. German Archaeological Institute, Berlin 1979, p. 568.
  5. ↑ Hans-Jochen Art: Architecture and Power. Reflections on Nazi architecture. In: Arch plus , 1983, H. 71, p. 65.
  6. ↑ Quoted from Albert Speer: Architektur. Works 1933–1942. Propylaea, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin / Vienna 1978, ISBN 3-455-08941-0 , p. 174.
  7. ^ A b Albert Speer: Architecture. Works 1933–1942. Propylaea, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin / Vienna 1978, ISBN 3-455-08941-0 , p. 537.