Clearly not forgotten--the huge models, Berlin plans, photos, memoirs remain. But on the ground. With all the furious activity of those years, is there nothing--a choice, a direction, a concept--that has left its mark on today's cityscape?
I kept coming back to this, after a three week trip to Berlin (in 2000), and some time to size up "then" and "now." I'm thinking there are some things, though not where we (or he) might think to look--unintended consequences.
(A note: I am providing German names where ever I can, not only for fuller documentation, but to give those doing German language searches more access points to our discussion. Certainly Berliners are a prime interest group, people from every walk of life--and largely bi-lingual, or more. I want to smooth the way for you, using your normal working tongue. And would love your feedback, participation in our give and take.)
One example of an "unintended consequence" comes easily to mind, now that I've seen the "new" Berlin, the post-unification capital: the diplomatic quarter (Diplomatenviertel) that runs today along the southern edge of Tiergarten, west of the Philharmonie/Culture Forum (Wikimapia_Berlin Diplomatic Quarter).
It was really peripheral to Speer's core focus: a monumental North/South boulevard--a German Champs Elysee, with it's larger-than-Paris Triumphal Arch, and a Great Hall near the Reichstag. The diplomatic quarter was a side issue. But let's rewind.
I did not visit Berlin during my original dissertation research in the 1970's. There was practically nothing to see.
Only one building on Speer's proposed 5 mile North/South Boulevard was built and survived the war. The House of German Tourism (Hauses des Fremdenverkehrs, my logo at the top of my home page--also shown in fuller view at top of this post), stood on the Runde Platz until 1966, when the site was cleared for the new National Library (Staatsbibliothek). Speer's own New Chancellery Wing (Neue Reichskanzlei), on Voss Strasse, was leveled by the Soviets soon after the war, and it's marble "quarried" for two war memorials in the city. (The Chancellery lay just east of his N/S Boulevard, as did the next two buildings--neither of which is a "Speer" design).
Hermann Goering's Air Ministry is in fact still with us, now home to the Federal Finance Ministry (Bundesministerium der Finanzen), but this was already "in the ground" in 1936, when Speer started his work, though it was integrated into the Plan.
The same is true for the New Tempelhof Airport, built from 1936-39. Both these buildings were designed by Ernst Sagabiel, who was office manager for the Expressionist architect Erich Mendelsohn, and who took over the business when Mendelsohn emigrated.
So, does anything remain of Speer's own ideas or vision, in today's Berlin? I'd say nothing of what he INTENDED, the massive boulevard bookended with the Great Hall and Triumphal Arch.
Still, while Speer didn't BUILD much of this vast plan, he did CLEAR existing construction to make way for it. Neighborhoods were demolished, rail yards pulled up and moved. This COLLATERAL work reshaped the cityscape.
Only one building on Speer's proposed 5 mile North/South Boulevard was built and survived the war. The House of German Tourism (Hauses des Fremdenverkehrs, my logo at the top of my home page--also shown in fuller view at top of this post), stood on the Runde Platz until 1966, when the site was cleared for the new National Library (Staatsbibliothek). Speer's own New Chancellery Wing (Neue Reichskanzlei), on Voss Strasse, was leveled by the Soviets soon after the war, and it's marble "quarried" for two war memorials in the city. (The Chancellery lay just east of his N/S Boulevard, as did the next two buildings--neither of which is a "Speer" design).
Hermann Goering's Air Ministry is in fact still with us, now home to the Federal Finance Ministry (Bundesministerium der Finanzen), but this was already "in the ground" in 1936, when Speer started his work, though it was integrated into the Plan.
The same is true for the New Tempelhof Airport, built from 1936-39. Both these buildings were designed by Ernst Sagabiel, who was office manager for the Expressionist architect Erich Mendelsohn, and who took over the business when Mendelsohn emigrated.
So, does anything remain of Speer's own ideas or vision, in today's Berlin? I'd say nothing of what he INTENDED, the massive boulevard bookended with the Great Hall and Triumphal Arch.
Still, while Speer didn't BUILD much of this vast plan, he did CLEAR existing construction to make way for it. Neighborhoods were demolished, rail yards pulled up and moved. This COLLATERAL work reshaped the cityscape.
Even the subsurface. During a "startup" phase, foundations for Speer buildings were tested and laid down, transit tunnels bored--leaving "surprises" for later decades. A massive concrete core was built near present day Kolonnenbruecke, in the area of Tempelhof Airport, intended to test the load bearing capacity of the very soft soil in the area planned for the Speer's huge Triumphal Arch, and is still visible.
The clearance process also created something, in terms of architecture and land use. It forced the selective "replacement" of some buildings destroyed (embassies), producing the enlarged diplomatic quarter (Diplomatenviertel) south of the Tiergarten. A modest, but significant design element dating from the Speer years. Speer did not invent the idea, but strongly developed the Tiergarten site up until the war.
In the 18th and 19th Centuries, this had gradually become an area of luxury villas for high ranking state officials, the Privy Councillor Estate (Geheimratsviertel). Then, after WWI, diplomatic usage began to take hold, during the 1920's. Speer chose this nascent embassy row as a distinguished, quality setting, with space to expand. "In 1938, 37 embassies and 28 consulates settled here, and by 1943 nine new embassy buildings had been added" (See, "Berlin: open city," Nicolai, 2000, pp. 221-222).
And why so much demand? Partly because some neighborhoods that lay in the path of Speer's Plan contained embassies, especially in the Alsen Quarter (Alsenviertel) around the Reichstag. They had to find new homes. (Then too, by 1938, everyone wanted the status and "access" to the Nazi bureaucracy that a diplomatic presence offered).
One of the Alsen Quarter embassies moved was that of Japan. As befitted one of Hitler's totalitarian partners, a large space was provided for this impressive structure south of Tiergarten. Nearby, Mussolini's Italian embassy rose.
The embassy of Spanish Generalissimo Franco was build far west in this area--still rather remote, up against the Zoo. The Soviet embassy in the early Hitler years seems to have been the building of the old Imperial Czarist court, on Unter den Linden, so it was well away from Speer's boulevard. Of course, Hitler broke his non-aggression pact in 1941, when he invaded Russia, and the embassy issue was moot.
In any case, Speer's diplomatic quarter burgeoned during the years he was preparing to build the new Berlin. The area was heavily damaged during WWII. In the post-war period, the West German government moved to Bonn, so only a few consulates were gradually re-opened. There was no NEED for embassies, until the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, Germany was re-united, and Berlin was again the national capitol.
In the decades since then, this diplomatic quarter has slowly come back to life. The old Italian and Japanese embassies have been wholly renovated and reopened. More particularly, many modern embassies have been added, beginning with the striking Nordic compound (Nordische Botschaften). Representation buildings for various German States (Laender) also have joined the mix, along with some government offices and headquarters associated with political parties.
Is this a true Speer "legacy"? Not exactly. The seed idea was there, but the densely build up pattern of his Tiergarten diplomatic quarter--densely populated due to huge pressures the Speer Plan itself was exerting--this pattern has been revived and re-envisioned, to great advantage, most would agree. What had mushroomed out of necessity, has flowered into a richly varied, handsome stretch of the new Berlin.
The clearance process also created something, in terms of architecture and land use. It forced the selective "replacement" of some buildings destroyed (embassies), producing the enlarged diplomatic quarter (Diplomatenviertel) south of the Tiergarten. A modest, but significant design element dating from the Speer years. Speer did not invent the idea, but strongly developed the Tiergarten site up until the war.
In the 18th and 19th Centuries, this had gradually become an area of luxury villas for high ranking state officials, the Privy Councillor Estate (Geheimratsviertel). Then, after WWI, diplomatic usage began to take hold, during the 1920's. Speer chose this nascent embassy row as a distinguished, quality setting, with space to expand. "In 1938, 37 embassies and 28 consulates settled here, and by 1943 nine new embassy buildings had been added" (See, "Berlin: open city," Nicolai, 2000, pp. 221-222).
And why so much demand? Partly because some neighborhoods that lay in the path of Speer's Plan contained embassies, especially in the Alsen Quarter (Alsenviertel) around the Reichstag. They had to find new homes. (Then too, by 1938, everyone wanted the status and "access" to the Nazi bureaucracy that a diplomatic presence offered).
One of the Alsen Quarter embassies moved was that of Japan. As befitted one of Hitler's totalitarian partners, a large space was provided for this impressive structure south of Tiergarten. Nearby, Mussolini's Italian embassy rose.
The embassy of Spanish Generalissimo Franco was build far west in this area--still rather remote, up against the Zoo. The Soviet embassy in the early Hitler years seems to have been the building of the old Imperial Czarist court, on Unter den Linden, so it was well away from Speer's boulevard. Of course, Hitler broke his non-aggression pact in 1941, when he invaded Russia, and the embassy issue was moot.
In any case, Speer's diplomatic quarter burgeoned during the years he was preparing to build the new Berlin. The area was heavily damaged during WWII. In the post-war period, the West German government moved to Bonn, so only a few consulates were gradually re-opened. There was no NEED for embassies, until the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, Germany was re-united, and Berlin was again the national capitol.
In the decades since then, this diplomatic quarter has slowly come back to life. The old Italian and Japanese embassies have been wholly renovated and reopened. More particularly, many modern embassies have been added, beginning with the striking Nordic compound (Nordische Botschaften). Representation buildings for various German States (Laender) also have joined the mix, along with some government offices and headquarters associated with political parties.
Is this a true Speer "legacy"? Not exactly. The seed idea was there, but the densely build up pattern of his Tiergarten diplomatic quarter--densely populated due to huge pressures the Speer Plan itself was exerting--this pattern has been revived and re-envisioned, to great advantage, most would agree. What had mushroomed out of necessity, has flowered into a richly varied, handsome stretch of the new Berlin.
Of course, there has never been just ONE diplomatic quarter in Berlin. Embassies have long been scattered.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most prominent has beethat surrounding Pariser Platz, where the United States and French embassies have been rebuilt. Also the British Embassy just south of Pariser.
Perhaps the impact of the Japanese embassy transfer should not be exaggerated. It may have been less the direct pressure from Speer Plan itself, the destruction and clearance done in preparation for proposed building, that caused massive expansion of the Tiergarten site, and more the pressure of the rapid rise of the NS regime--politically, the press for diplomatic contact from foreign powers.
ReplyDeleteEither way, the burgeoning of the Tiergarten diplomatic quarter in the 1940's was Speer's planning and design response to the phenomenon.