
The architect of the Reich: On the architectural horror of Albert Speer - prismatic
http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/The-architect-of-the-Reich-8384
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notahacker
Surprised the article doesn't mention the theory that Speer is most famously
associated with: the idea that future generations judge civilisations
primarily by the aesthetic quality of the ruins they left behind. Largely true
(and not an original idea, despite Speer's claims), but a surprisingly
chilling observation in context.

~~~
pjc50
See, for example, the Victorian fashion for building Gothic or neoclassical
"follies", sometimes _as ruins_ to achieve that aesthetic.

A lot of Fascism was based on emulating the Romans, whose ruins are famous.
It's right there in the name, taken from _fasces_.

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cm2187
The other thing is that the massive constructions of nazi Germany aren't
dissimilar to the architecture of many public buildings in Washington or
elsewhere.

Reich chancellery building:
[http://terrainandtoysoldiers.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/54mm-
rei...](http://terrainandtoysoldiers.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/54mm-reich-
chancellery-backdrop.html)

National Postal Museum (DC)
[https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=9...](https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=980&bih=643&q=national+postal+museum+washington&oq=national+postal+museum+washington&gs_l=img.3..0i24.3694.3694.0.4669.1.1.0.0.0.0.60.60.1.1.0....0...1ac.2.64.img..0.1.59.fo_zD_ohfMw)

At the end of day the codes to impress people with a building are always
similar.

~~~
elcapitan
Actually the Nazi architecture is close to fascist architecture in Italy, not
so much to classicist architecture elsewhere. You can see that in the details,
for example that DC building you linked has classical doorways and round
columns with greek capitals, while Speer-style Nazi buildings have a
brutalistic tone with square columns and avoidance of details that point to a
humanistic heritage (see also the stylized eagle). In some way, this is the
fascist form of architectural modernism.

edit: yes, both are made to impress, but that's just as true for big
glass&steel-buildings that share not much with those two examples other than
the massive, larger than human size of everything.

~~~
eternalban
No comparison. Italian Fascist architecture was graceful [1][2][3].

[1]:[https://static-secure.guim.co.uk/sys-
images/Guardian/Pix/pic...](https://static-secure.guim.co.uk/sys-
images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/2/15/1424025276648/97877c1e-3f90-4a13-8bee-2e88885fdbdf-2060x1236.jpeg)

[2]:
[http://41.media.tumblr.com/9b6cfa0be5785abbfb2c8e107cbb1565/...](http://41.media.tumblr.com/9b6cfa0be5785abbfb2c8e107cbb1565/tumblr_mki3wfNRfp1rfybgvo1_1280.jpg)

[3]:
[http://s4.thingpic.com/images/ho/S4VCpGhFJtXuBJVU5aY7ZKhR.jp...](http://s4.thingpic.com/images/ho/S4VCpGhFJtXuBJVU5aY7ZKhR.jpeg)

~~~
at-fates-hands
It still gives you an imposing feel. Fascist regimes saw this style of
architecture as another means to highlight the strength and imposing will of
the state over its citizens.

Make no mistake, it was meant to be oppressive, discolored, and raw. Not terms
someone readily associates with "graceful".

~~~
swah
I think he was being sarcastic, since the last pic seems clearly "brutalist"?
(is that the right term?)

~~~
elcapitan
"Brutalist" as a tendency definitely, as much of modernism is - but actual
Brutalism is a style that is almost comically using modern materials, like
this church in Cologne
[http://www.kirschfoto.de/galerie/bilderkiste/pics_high/koeln...](http://www.kirschfoto.de/galerie/bilderkiste/pics_high/koeln_2014_01.jpg)
or this university building in Berlin:
[http://40.media.tumblr.com/ed3608dcb4860ad6dc8df05c4bd807ca/...](http://40.media.tumblr.com/ed3608dcb4860ad6dc8df05c4bd807ca/tumblr_nzgmhcXPCA1unjxq9o1_1280.jpg)

~~~
swah
Wow, the last one looks reminds me of many public buildings in my city:
[https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3815/11038238423_8788196347_b...](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3815/11038238423_8788196347_b.jpg)

I'm not sure I'm looking at the right details when "classifying" it, though.

This one was built in 1972.

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marcusgarvey
The Venice Architecture Biennale will also have a focus on Nazi Architecture.

>The Evidence Room was the combined effort of a team of students and faculty
of the University of Waterloo School of Architecture headed by Anne Bordeleau,
Sascha Hastings, Donald McKay, and van Pelt.

>It features life-sized replicas and casts of key pieces described in his
testimony about Auschwitz, including a gas column, gas door, a section of wall
with a gas-tight hatch and other items that definitively proved the site was a
factory of death.

There's a fascinating radio interview at this link:
[http://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/schedule-for-wednesday-
march-2-201...](http://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/schedule-for-wednesday-
march-2-2015-1.3472195/chilling-exhibit-the-evidence-room-recreates-a-nazi-
gas-chamber-1.3472244)

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DenisM
I have a distinct impression that half the modern architects are in on the
conspiracy to demean and hinder the people who use their creation. Looking at
most modern buildings they are either imposing or convoluted.

~~~
GFK_of_xmaspast
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture#Critici...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture#Criticism_and_reception)

~~~
agumonkey
I find this era as fascinating as horrifying. It's surreal dreamy and timeless
yet inhuman at the same time.

ps: some scenes of Total Recall were filmed in a military school in Mexico
which such design. As a kid not knowing that school, it made 30% of the
realism of that movie.

------
bigchewy
if you like this area, I highly recommend reading Adam Tooze's The Wages of
Destruction - The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy. It takes an
economics lens on Nazi Germany both pre and during the war. A lot of the book
centers on Speer and other 2nd/3rd tier people in the Nazi regime.

------
markdog12
Read his "Inside the Third Reich" many years ago. Had no idea until I read
this article that he has been discredited. For anyone who hasn't read it, it
can pretty much be summed up as "All I ever wanted to do was architecture, and
I just got caught up in a series of events. I was surrounded by brutes and
buffoons, and I just did my best with the situation I found myself in." Also
some very valuable insights into Hitler's persona, but can you believe
anything in that book now?

~~~
rurban
When I read that book I had to take some of his statements with a grain of
salt. Even then, when the Posen proof was not yet known. As explained in this
article he lied a lot. He had to, esp. the Posen incident where he got away
with it even if it was totally unbelievable. We only got the proof recently.
And his involvement in Todt's slave labour "Organization". He was his boss
after all and got all the credit for its success. Even rising up to be the
designated follower of Hitler. Todt got the death sentence for it and he
successfully talked his way out of it.

But then his made up prison stories to impress his fellow germans just broke
it. He was a lousy architect after all, as Poelzig correctly found out. What
was interesting for the americans then, how he managed to be so incredibly
successful as manager of war-time economy. It was unbelievable and unexpected.
McNamara would have been very proud of Speer's accomplishments. He was a kind
of genius figure for the americans.

~~~
maxxxxx
Obviously you can't take his book as your only source of truth but it provides
a lot of insight into how the Nazi system worked. I found especially the parts
about Hitler very interesting.

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Animats
Speer's monumental plans aren't that horrific as such things go. Other big,
intimidating monumental complexes have been built.

\- Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza in Albany, NY. This is
the state capitol.[1] A big plaza surrounded by 1960s concrete brutalism at
its finest.

\- The Raj Path at Delhi.[2] Built by the British to impress the heathens.

\- Place du la Defense, Paris.[3] Contains a building built to look like a
wind tunnel intake. Built partly as a rebellion against the city of Paris
building height limit. It's just outside the city limits.

There are other big monumental complexes - Washington, DC, Red Square,
Tienanmen Square, and Brasilia, for example. But the three above stand out for
their deliberately intimidating architecture.

As for the square-column thing, that was a 1930s-1950s fad. The US State
Department Building has an imposing square-column facade. It's not as imposing
as it used to be, because there are guard houses and terrorism barriers
blocking the view. The Pentagon also has square columns, on all five faces.

The author of the parent article is a Jew, so he has to be negative on the
work of a Nazi.

[1] [https://goo.gl/maps/DF8n1Ew3ua52](https://goo.gl/maps/DF8n1Ew3ua52) [2]
[https://goo.gl/maps/AY43jg4WmN92](https://goo.gl/maps/AY43jg4WmN92) [3]
[https://goo.gl/maps/WCSdUqnaEek](https://goo.gl/maps/WCSdUqnaEek) [4]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S_Truman_Building](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S_Truman_Building)

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rurban
Excellent characterization and summary. In German those types are called
"Angeber" but you really have to read his books to get that. Essentially he
said he is soo clever, he memorized most of the books in his prison library

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eternalban
Architecture and authoritarianism go together like milk and cookies. There is
an inherent desire to order and control in the architectural mindset.

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mavhc
An article about architecture with no pictures, seems a waste. Apart from that
it was very interesting.

