Gauforum (Hanover)

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The Gauforum in Hanover was one of several Gauforums planned in the Gau capitals at the time of National Socialism . The later state capital of Lower Saxony was also to experience a restructuring in line with the “building spirit of the Third Reich ”. The Hanover Gauforum planned by the Führer decree in the immediate vicinity of the Maschsee was to be created in the form of three forums of the NSDAP .

History and description

After planning for the local Gauforen had already begun on the basis of the law on the redesign of German cities in other Gau capitals, published in the Reichsgesetzblatt of October 4, 1937, Hanover also followed these examples. Three so-called "forums" were planned:

  1. a “State Forum” with the “ Reichsstatthalterei ” on what was then Rudolf-von-Bennigsen-Strasse (today's Rudolf-von-Bennigsen-Ufer);
  2. a "Städtisches Forum" opposite the New Town Hall as well
  3. a “Gauforum” on Waterlooplatz as a forum for the Nazi party.

In November 1937, the Reich Minister of the Interior , Wilhelm Frick , announced at the inauguration of Hanover's Lord Mayor Henricus Halthoff that "according to the will of the Führer ", Hanover should "[...] join the ranks of cities to be redesigned after the war" be included.

In April 1938 Adolf Hitler was presented with a fully developed plan for the Gauforum. Hitler agreed in principle; However, due to the dimensions of the building complex initially planned for Waterlooplatz, which included a “Hall of the People's Community ” with 30,000 seats , this forum should also be relocated to the Maschsee, at the suggestion of Albert Speer on the west side of the lake. For this, however, an enlargement of the artificial water body from previously around 75 hectares (ha) to 140 hectares had to be considered.

The redesigned plan drawings found "grace in the eyes of the Reich Chancellor" in March 1940, and so the dictator intervened from afar with his " Decree of the Führer and Reich Chancellor on urban planning measures in the city of Hanover" published in the Reichsgesetzblatt on May 16, 1940 . The first sentence, enacted with the force of law , was:

"For the city of Hanover, I order the implementation of the special urban development measures that I have determined,"

As a result, Bernhard Rust, the head of the South Hanover-Braunschweig district at the time , was responsible for the corresponding measures. After the agreement on the financing of the gigantic construction project amounting to around 56 million Reichsmarks , the first of the Hanoverian city models was presented to the Führer’s deputy , Rudolf Hess , on January 19, 1941 , who had traveled to Hanover for the inauguration of the new Gauleiter Hartmann Lauterbacher .

As a result of the Second World War , the Reich Chancellery ordered that further work on the Gauforum be suspended on April 2, 1942 . Until then, only that were the foundations for the planned on the west side of the Maschsee spectator grandstand been placed on the planned "parade ground". In addition, Hartmann Lauterbacher's command post was found here , which was later blown up by the British occupying forces . The concrete masses of the unfinished Hanoverian Gauforum then disappeared under the pile of rubble that had arisen after the air raids on Hanover . In the early 1950s, the Lower Saxony Stadium was built here with its surrounding green areas , which was later called the AWD Arena and is now called the HDI Arena .

Archival material

An archive for Gauforum Hanover For example,

  • At least one - posed - photograph by "Hitler's photographer" Heinrich Hoffmann in the possession of the Historisches Museum Hannover (HMH): A group of NS figures is shown in Berlin in 1941 behind a Hanoverian city model with the planned large buildings. The photo, printed in the second volume on the history of the city of Hanover , is subtitled: "Stadtbaurat Elkart explains the new city model to the" Deputy of the Führer ", Rudolf Heß (3rd from left) on January 19, 1941". There are also “Gauleiter Hartmann Lauterbacher (1st row, 2nd from left), Chief President and Chief of Staff of the SA Viktor Lutze (1st row, 4th from left), Lord Mayor Henricus Halthoff (2nd from right ) . ). ”The extension of the large area from Schützenplatz is also clearly visible .

Literature (selection)

Web links

  • Urban culture of remembrance Hannover: culture of remembrance / audio walk on the Maschsee , with audio contributions developed by the Tonstudio office and short interviews with experts on the hannover.de website in the version dated May 23, 2016, last accessed on August 16, 2016

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Klaus Mlynek: Gauforum. In: Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein (eds.) U. a .: City Lexicon Hanover . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-89993-662-9 , pp. 205f.
  2. Hinrich Bergmeier , Günter Katzenberger (Ed.): Kulturaustreib. The influence of National Socialism on art and culture in Lower Saxony , a documentation for the exhibition of the same name by the Hanoverian Society for New Music in cooperation with the Sprengel Museum Hanover and the Lower Saxony State Museum Hanover in the forum of the State Museum from 7 September to 28 October 1993, Hamburg : Dölling and Galitz, 1993, ISBN 3-926174-70-6 ; P. 55 and above : Preview via Google Books
  3. a b c d Klaus Mlynek: Hanover and the building guild of the Third Reich , in History of the City of Hanover , Vol. 2, From the beginning of the 19th century to the present , ed. by Klaus Mlynek and Waldemar R. Röhrbein, with the collaboration of Dieter Brosius , Carl-Hans Hauptmeyer , Siegfried Müller and Helmut Plath , Schlütersche , Hannover 1994, ISBN 3-87706-364-0 , p. 516f. and picture credits , p. 885; online through google books
  4. Günter Krawinkel, Sid Auffarth (Ed.): From Laves to today. About state building culture. 1814 - 1988 , ed. by the Lower Saxony Foundation under the direction of Günter Krawinkel, Braunschweig; Wiesbaden: Vieweg, 1988, ISBN 3-528-08736-6 , p. 133; online through google books
  5. ^ A b Karljosef Kreter, Julia Berlitt-Jackstien, Florian Grumblies (Red.): Station 4. Planning for the Gau capital , in this: Hanover. Audio walk. Maschsee. Thinking history further , illustrated brochure for download as a PDF document, ed. from the state capital Hanover, The Lord Mayor, Central Affairs Culture, Urban Remembrance Culture, Hanover: 2016, p. 10f. u.ö.

Coordinates: 52 ° 21 ′ 42.3 "  N , 9 ° 43 ′ 57.5"  E