Kalinnd Lath (21 JSAA) (B.DES)
STU ID: 21080047
NAZI GERMANY AND THE POWER OF ARCHITECTURE
Buildings, which are fundamentally social and cultural products, are influenced by the ideas, values,
beliefs, activities, relationships, and forms of the social organisations that they house. Buildings help
to maintain many of society's social forms, despite the fact that they do not produce society. It is selfevident that buildings and the built environment as a whole are primarily social and cultural
products. Buildings are the result of social needs and serve a variety of functions, including social,
political, economic, religious, and cultural functions. Their size, appearance, location, and form are
governed not only by physical factors, but also by a society's ideas, economic and social organisation
forms, and so on. Its resource and authority distribution, activities, and the beliefs and values that
prevail at any given time Changes in society result in changes in the built environment. As old
building types become obsolete, new ones emerge. Some structures are altered, extended, and given
new functions; others may simply vanish. Buildings help to maintain many of society's social forms,
and buildings, while not producing society, do help to maintain many of its social forms. As a result,
in order to comprehend buildings and environments, we must first comprehend the society and
culture in which they exist. This will not only contribute to the development of methods for
designing with intent, as well as the generation of design patterns for environmental and social
behaviour change, but it will also help to emphasise the importance of inter-disciplinary
collaborations in general, and sociology and architecture in particular.
The role of architecture in Third Reich propaganda was crucial. The goal of any type of propaganda
is to promote an idea or an ideology, and Hitler and his Nazi Party used architecture to promote their
pg. 1
Kalinnd Lath (21 JSAA) (B.DES)
STU ID: 21080047
NAZI GERMANY AND THE POWER OF ARCHITECTURE
own programme and ideology, with a clear emphasis on nationalism. The Nazi Party's architectural
propaganda served several purposes. The Nazis had an official architect to design all their buildings.
Albert Speer was the Nazi official architect and was a favourite of Hitler. For Hitler and Speer,
architecture was not simply the art of giving form to space; it was the art of creating power through
monumental spatial forms. It is reasonable to wonder why architecture was so important in the first
place, and why Hitler placed such an emphasis on it. Hitler was a firm believer in the power of
buildings and architecture as symbols and works of art. He also strongly believed that art and
architecture have the greatest influence on the masses and, as a result, should be used for that
purpose. Using this influence, Hitler believed he could use architecture to improve the spiritual and
psychological state of the German people. By improving the state of the German people, he may be
able to improve Germany and achieve one of his goals of ushering Germany into a new era.
By 1930, the Nazi party had a fully developed architectural propaganda. Hitler's plans included not
only the reconstruction of Berlin, but also a total architecture programme in which all of Germany
was to be rebuilt in the Nazi image. Hitler's construction programme represented a unifying concept
that symbolised the philosophy of life that animated the new Germany. This unifying concept arose
from a single concept, racial superiority, which inspired both architectural and verbal propaganda.
Hitler's use of architecture parallels his oral persuasion by using buildings as the medium through
which two themes are pursued rather than discourse. Hitler and Speer's quest for transcendence
through monumentality reached such heights that they sought to numb the body even when the
buildings were in ruins. The Roman empire's ruins, which Hitler admired as "imperishable symbols
of power," became the inspiration for Speer's "theory of ruins." His "theory" was that the new
Berlin's buildings should be made of stone and brick (rather than steel and concrete) so that their
pg. 2
Kalinnd Lath (21 JSAA) (B.DES)
STU ID: 21080047
NAZI GERMANY AND THE POWER OF ARCHITECTURE
ruins would look imposing, like those of Rome, "in a thousand years." Hitler, in particular, assumed
that Nazi power would endure in those ruins due to their fetish power to continue being an affective
capture apparatus. "Hitler liked to say that the purpose of his building was to pass on its time and
spirit to future generations." He would philosophise that "in the end, all that remained to remind men
of the great epochs of history was their monumental architecture." Speer was commissioned to
design a number of significant Nazi structures. In Nuremberg, he redesigned the Reich Chancellery
and the Nazi Party parade ground. In their design, his buildings emphasised power and control, and
he frequently used stone. Speer also considered what the buildings would look like when they
became ruins thousands of years later; he wanted people to marvel at them in the same way that they
would at the Colosseum in Rome or the Parthenon in Athens. Speer also changed the design of
Berlin's Olympic Stadium after the Nazis decided to demolish it. Those in the Nazi leadership body
chose an architectural style that reflected their own ideas about what the Nazi Party stood for and
how they thought they could represent their ideology in architecture. Since he was an opportunist,
Hitler saw this as an opportunity to endorse Nazism as not only progressive by moving Germany into
a new era of greatness but also traditional by conserving the architectural heritage of old
Germany. In essence, Hitler saw architecture as "an expression of Nazi Germany's national unity
and power. Hence his emphasis on it. One of the most fundamental aspects of Nazi ideology was
their emphasis on community, in which the German nation would be made up of a single ethnic
community and a pseudo-religious mystique would bind all racially pure Germans together. If Hitler
and his Party were to create this community there was a need for promotion and propaganda and the
Nazi Party were able to propagate this aim through architecture. The Nazi Party commissioned
buildings that all had the concept of community at their core. This occurred not only in small-scale
housing in rural villages, but also in large-scale urban structures.
pg. 3
Kalinnd Lath (21 JSAA) (B.DES)
STU ID: 21080047
NAZI GERMANY AND THE POWER OF ARCHITECTURE
The concept of a peoples community. was also demonstrated through architecture in large-scale
commissions made by the Nazi Party in urban centres such as Berlin and Nuremburg. The Nazi Party
Rally Grounds in is one example of a representation that exemplifies this goal. Nuremburg, and more
specifically the so-called 'Cathedral of Light,' designed by Speer. The entire rally ground complex
was designed with the goal of, on a large scale, promote the concept of community. The 'Cathedral
of Light' made extensive use of natural light. amount of symbolism to propagate its message. a
massive number Nazi swastika flags and banners were hung in Nuremburg's streets and homes. as
well as in the Zeppelinfeld itself. The rally grounds were completely dark. To speak about the Rally
grounds more generally they in themselves were crucial for the promulgation of the Nazi idea. The
German Stadium within the grounds would hold up to 400 000 people which was far superior to any
other stadium of the day anywhere in the world. The grounds would cover an area of 16 square
kilometres and include a parade ground with room for 160 000 spectators as well as a processional
avenue, Congress Hall and Culture Hall. Fundamentally it would be a place for the German Army
and the German community in general to come together to celebrate their culture, heritage and above
all the various facets of Nazi ideology. We can see here a strong focus on military tradition and
celebration. This was another aspect which the Nazis focused on when they designed any building.
There was an emphasis placed on the militarisation of civilians. This complex was originally
designed to be a resort connected to the ‘Kraft durch Freude’ (Strength Through Joy) program
however it was never used for such a purpose.
Finally, architecture was used by the Nazis as an anti-expressionist form of propaganda. The Nazi
Party was sending a clear message about what they considered appropriate for the Reich by banning
and sanctioning individualist creations. They reinforced their ideology by designing buildings that
pg. 4
Kalinnd Lath (21 JSAA) (B.DES)
STU ID: 21080047
NAZI GERMANY AND THE POWER OF ARCHITECTURE
were so far removed from modernist, expressionist, and individualist nuances. It is fair to say that the
Nazis used architecture extensively throughout their regime to both promote and suppress opposing
ideologies. It is also obvious that architecture was required for the propagation of Nazi ideology.
While many of their plans did not come to fruition, the legacy of these plans left an indelible mark on
German architecture long after the Nazi Party had vanished.
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