Berlin полностью

The Nazi capital emerged rather differently in another festival a year later: the commemoration of the 700th anniversary of the founding of Berlin. The Hitlerites still had their doubts about their capital: Der Angriff frankly admitted in October 1936 that the Nazis had “forced themselves” on Berlin because the majority of the inhabitants had not taken to National Socialism “voluntarily.” Thus the regime did 298 not put nearly as much effort into Berlin’s birthday party as into the Olympics. The budget was relatively low, and there were no special preparations for foreign visitors, who were few in number. The focus was on Berlin as the capital of the Nazi Reich, as a uniquely German Heimat. Sketchy historical exhibitions betrayed a lack of genuine respect for Berlin’s history and traditions, save for those aspects that the Nazis could exploit to their own advantage. Hitler did not even bother to attend the birthday festivities; instead he went to the Wagner festival in Bayreuth. Göring also skipped the affair in order to go on vacation. Goebbels was left to carry the flag for the party. The municipality of Berlin had recently presented its Gauleiter (district leader) with a log cabin on a nearby lake. Here, according to the officials’ unctuous commentary, “after the strain of his daily work serving the people and the Reich, [Goebbels could] find peace, relaxation, and a place to collect his thoughts.” Despite such generosity, Goebbels was not particularly enthusiastic about leading the 700-year celebrations; he cared about Berlin’s future, not its past. He sponsored a commemorative parade in which the army played a prominent role—an ominous sign of the direction in which the Nazi regime planned to take the German nation and its capital.

The German State Library on Unter den Linden decked out for Berlin’s 700th anniversary celebration

Slouching towards Germania

The Nazi leaders’ distaste for Berlin as it stood in the mid-1930s was reflected in their determination to physically transform the city into a capital worthy of the role they expected it to play in coming generations. Berlin was not the only German city earmarked for extensive renovation under the Nazis, but the reconstruction planned for the capital was more far-reaching than anywhere else, even Munich. Of course, the aspiration to reinvent Berlin was nothing new—earlier national leaders had also sought to remake the city—but the Nazi concept was distinguished by a plan to replace the entire city center with a new political stage set of monumental proportions. Berlin would be reborn as “Germania”—the most grandiose capital in the world.

In addition to making Berlin grand, the Nazis saw their urban renewal of the capital as a means to combat their old enemies, the Socialists and Communists. They would “renew” the traditional Red neighborhoods by uprooting their inhabitants and scattering them to the margins of the city. As one party spokesman explained, this would effectively rid the inner city of “asocial and traitorous elements.”

Adolf Hitler, who had been fascinated with architecture since his days in Vienna, personally supervised the Nazi plan for Berlin’s urban renewal. On September 19, 1933, during a discussion of ways to improve communication between the northern and southern parts of the city, Hitler proposed a new north-south road to complement the east-west axis running through the Brandenburg Gate. He wanted to ensure that ongoing schemes for Berlin’s reconstruction were appropriate to “the creation of a capital city of hitherto undreamed-of display . . . [to the creation of] a sublime metropolis.”