Welthauptstadt Germania (; ) was the projected renewal of the German capital Berlin during the Nazi period, as part of Adolf Hitler's vision for the future of Nazi Germany after the planned victory in World War II. It was to be the capital of his planned "Greater Germanic Reich". Albert Speer, the "first architect of the Third Reich", produced many of the plans for the rebuilt city in his capacity as overseer of the project, only a small portion of which was realised between 1938 and 1943.

thumb|Model of [[Adolf Hitler's plan for Berlin formulated under the direction of Albert Speer, looking north toward the Volkshalle at the top of the frame]]

Some of the projects were completed, such as the creation of a great East–West city axis, which included broadening Charlottenburger Chaussee (today Straße des 17. Juni) and placing the Berlin Victory Column in the centre, far away from the Reichstag, where it originally stood. Other projects, however, such as the creation of the "People's Hall" (Volkshalle), had to be shelved due to the beginning of war, although a great number of the old buildings in many of the planned construction areas were already demolished before the war. The Second World War and Nazi Germany's defeat by the Allies ended development of the concept.

Name

Hitler conceived of rebuilding Berlin to be the capital of the new world he would be instrumental in creating, and provided the name for it, 'Germania'. According to records of Hitler's "table talk" of 8 June 1942, Hitler's purpose in the renaming was to give a Greater Germanic world empire of the New Order a clear central point:

Hitler described his vision for the city several months earlier:

The official plan for rebuilding Berlin, with Albert Speer in charge, was called the "Comprehensive Construction Plan for the Reich Capital" (Gesamtbauplan für die Reichshauptstadt).

Planning

thumb|267px|left|The [[Schwerbelastungskörper was built to determine if the unconsolidated ground could support the weight of the planned triumphal arch.]]

Doubts persisted at the time as to whether the marshy Berlin ground could have taken the immense weight of the proposed projects, leading to the construction of an exploration building (Schwerbelastungskörper, literal translation: heavy load-bearing body), which still exists near the site where the Arch of Triumph would have been built. The Schwerbelastungskörper is an extremely heavy block of concrete used by the architects to test how much weight the ground was able to carry. Instruments monitored how far the block sank into the ground. The Schwerbelastungskörper sank in the three years it was to be used for testing, compared to a maximum allowable settlement of . Using the evidence gathered by these gargantuan devices, it is unlikely the soil could have supported such structures without further preparation. The plan was to cover the Schwerbelastungskörper by building a bridge over it. The arch would have been nearby, but problems with the axis running through infrastructure would have made it difficult to establish any convenient location.

Demolition

The razing of old buildings to make way for the reconstruction of Berlin began in 1938 in various places around the city. This included the Alsen district, where the Great Hall would stand, and the Tiergarten district, where Speer planned to build the House for German Foreign Transport, and where the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Strasse would intersect with the great East-West Axis which was to be built. The East-West Axis was completed in time for Hitler's 50th birthday celebration a year later, in 1939, when Speer ceremoniously presented it to Hitler with the words "My Führer. I would like to report the completion of the east-west axis. May the work speak for itself." As a result of the occupation of Berlin by Soviet troops in 1945, a memorial was constructed with two thousand of the Soviet dead buried there in line with this proposed 'Triumphal Arch'. It had been intended that inside this generously proportioned structure the names of the 1,800,000 German dead of the First World War should be carved.

See also

  • Fascist architecture
  • Führer city – other cities in Germany and Austria planned for rebuilding
  • EUR, Rome – District in Rome planned by Benito Mussolini to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Fascism. It was designed to be the new city centre
  • Global city
  • Nazi architecture
  • Nordstern (city)
  • Speer und Er
  • Totalitarian architecture
  • Der Untergang
  • Volkshalle – the Great Hall

References

Notes

Bibliography

Further reading

  • 3D Virtual recreation
  • Reuters report
  • Erratik Institut Berlin, discussion of recurring elements of simulated architecture and simulacra in both the actual planning and media representation of Germania
  • Hitler's Berlin. Project Germania
  • Hitler's Supercity Documentary
  • Welthauptstadt Germania
  • Roger Moorhouse (March 2012) "Germania: Hitler's Dream Capital" History Today
  • Visions of Alt-Berlin in "Man in the High Castle", Ezra Haber-Glenn, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning. About the recreation of an alternate Berlin in The Man in the High Castle TV series.
  • How The Man in the High Castle Brought Hitler's Future Germany to Life, Katharine Trendacosta, Gizmodo.
  • Valve for madness Parodies of the architectural plans, drawn by one of Speer's assistants