Nazi Officials and Architects facing the Wilhelmine Past. Poznań and Strasbourg under German Occupation
Résumés
Cette contribution s’intéresse à la germanisation des espaces urbains de Poznań et de Strasbourg pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale et de leurs vastes traditions enracinées dans la culture allemande. Le point de référence central des réflexions est constitué par les concepts allemands de « Volk » et de « Volksgemeinschaft » formulés au xixe siècle, repris et développés par les nationaux-socialistes. Des exemples d’édifices réalisés ou projetés dans les deux villes permettent de montrer comment l’architecture et l’urbanisme ont été un puissant instrument de germanisation et comment le concept de Volksgemeinschaft s’est matérialisé en eux. Cette contribution montre que des époques apparemment éloignées – la domination allemande du xixe et le Troisième Reich – doivent être considérées dans leur contexte. Malgré les différences dans la politique de germanisation qui fut beaucoup plus modérée à Strasbourg qu’à Poznań, la comparaison des deux villes est essentielle pour élargir la compréhension des différents systèmes d’occupation allemande pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale.
Texte intégral
- 1 Despina Stratigakos, Hitler at home, London, Yale University Press, 2015, p. 37-39.
1Studies of Nazi architecture increasingly raise the question of the use of the ideological and architectural legacy of the Wilhelmine era. In the literature, the best-known example is the Old Reich Chancellery (Alte Reichskanzlei) in Berlin – a symbolic building for German history that was significant as the first official residence of Chancellor Bismarck. After Hitler came to power, it was remodeled according to a design by Paul Ludwig Troost’s architectural firm. The Führer himself used the building as a reference point for criticizing the rule of his predecessors and as a kind of symbol of their mistakes. He referred to both the Wilhelmine period and the Weimar Republic1 (Fig. 1).
- 2 Cf. Anna Moskal, Im Spannungsfeld von Region und Nation. Die Polonisierung der Stadt Posen nach 19 (...)
2Hitler’s views were perceived as important all over the Third Reich, but were taken into account by its officials and Nazi architects only where it was justified for economic reasons. Thus, in the occupied cities with significant buildings of the period, such as Poznań and Strasbourg, they were reused as important symbols of Germanization. In the case of Wielkopolska (Greater Poland), they were also used to represent the tradition of colonization. At the same time, the restoration of their symbolic meaning was facilitated by the fact that these buildings had been preserved in an almost original condition. In the interwar period, the conversion of former official German buildings in France and Poland took place mainly through a change in their function, with the necessary adjustments being made without drastic destruction of the original furnishings and decorations2.
- 3 Cf. Hanna Grzeszczuk-Brendel, Małgorzata Praczyk (eds.), Poznań – Strasbourg. Powinowactwa w czasi (...)
- 4 About the whole district, cf. Zenon Pałat, Architektura i polityka. Gloryfikacja Prus i niemieckie (...)
3At this point, it is important to highlight the different historical circumstances of the establishment of the Wilhelminian buildings in Poznań and Strasbourg3. Poznań, as the capital of Wielkopolska, was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia (and later into the united German Empire) as part of the partitions of Poland between the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian and Russian Empires. Thus, Poland disappeared from the maps of Europe for more than a century – from 1795 to 1918. From the moment Bismarck came to power in 1871, the policy of Germanization gained considerable strength under the so-called Kulturkampf introduced by him. The material expression of this policy was the representative district in Poznań, built by Wilhelm II on the site of the former fortress. Along with the neo-Romanesque castle, at the turn of the first and second decades of the 20th century, buildings representing a whole repertoire of styles were erected: the neo-Classical theater, the neo-Romanesque Post Office and the Credit Society (Neuer Kreditverein für die Provinz Posen, renamed Posener Landschaft in 1887), the neo-Renaissance academy, the Raiffeisen Bank and the Evangelical House (Evangelisches Vereinshaus), as well as the neo-Baroque Colonization Commission (Ansiedlungskommission) – a special office for attracting German settlers4 (Fig. 2). In the same period, a museum, a library and a courthouse were built in the town center.
Fig. 2. Poznań, Castle district, postcard, early 20th century.
Adam Mickiewicz University Library, Poznań.
- 5 Cf. Alexandre Kostka, “Interferencje między Poznaniem a Strasburgiem w czasach Drugiej Rzeszy. O b (...)
- 6 The Imperial University and Regional Library (Kaiserliche Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek).
- 7 The Provincial Committee (Landesausschuss) of Alsace-Lorraine, which had existed since 1874, initi (...)
4The representative district of Strasbourg, marking the presence of German power in Alsace, which was incorporated into the Empire after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, had a completely different character, with mainly neo-Renaissance style for the buildings representing the imperial power and the university5. The university and imperial districts are linked by an avenue leading from the Imperial Palace to the University Collegiate Building (Fig. 3). This avenue also crosses the visual axis to the Cathedral Tower on Kaiserplatz, thus linking the New Town with the Old Town (Fig. 4). To the west of the square is the pompous Imperial Palace, built during the reign of William I and completed under William II. Opposite the palace are the University Library6 and the “Parliament” building7, while to the north are two ministerial buildings in a neo-Baroque style reminiscent of the old French palaces in the nearby Old Town. The Central Post Office, located on the avenue between the Imperial Palace and the university, is also different in its neo-Gothic character and important from a symbolic point of view, being decorated with six statues of emperors, three of the Holy Roman Empire and the three emperors of the Wilhelmine Empire.
Fig. 3. Strasbourg, View from the University to the Garrison Protestant Church and the Imperial Square, late 19th/early 20th century.
Jörg Kleinbeck Collection, Stuttgart.
Fig. 4. Strasbourg, View from the Kaiserplatz to the Old Town and the Cathedral, late19th/early 20th century.
Jörg Kleinbeck Collection, Stuttgart.
- 8 As the head of a Gau, the administrative subdivision of Nazi Germany, a Gauleiter was a high-ranki (...)
- 9 Volker Ziegler, “Droga Strasburga i Poznania do nowoczesnych metropolii / The Road of Strasbourg a (...)
5Even this brief characterization of the historical context makes it clear that the representational forms of the districts of Poznań and Strasbourg reflect fundamental differences in the politics of Germanization. In the case of Alsace, it was the assimilation of a region into its own state, whereas in the case of Wielkopolska, it was the aggressive Germanization of a nation that had long been deprived of this state and the emphasis on cultural dominance. During the Second World War, both the new Gauleiter8 of the occupied territories and the architects working under their orders were well aware of these facts and followed the path once marked out. This can be seen, for example, in the attitude of the German authorities towards the occupied society. While in Wielkopolska mass deportations of Poles to the General Government, executions of the local intelligentsia and exterminations of Polish Jews were carried out on the orders of Arthur Greiser, in Alsace Robert Wagner did his best to attract the Alsatian population, which had already been evacuated to the south of France before the Germans invaded. Nevertheless Alsatians were also deplaced, but it happened to a lesser extent, as they were basically considered as “Germans”. Also members of the local jewish society were deported and murdered9.
Volksgemeinschaft
- 10 Cf. Christhardt Henschel, Aleksandra Paradowska, Annika Wienert, “Historia architektury jako histo (...)
6Despite the fundamental historical differences described above, the ideological basis of German policy during the war remained common at the ideological level. The concepts of nation developed in the 19th century remained important in the Nazi language. Above all, the key concept was the so-called “national community” (Volksgemeinschaft). It was formed in the context of the unification processes of the German Empire in the 19th century and was based on the belief that it was possible to create a homogenous society. The concept of Volk was not understood in terms of the emancipation of society from the aristocracy, but in terms of race. As a result, figures of a potential enemy or negative foreign influence were increasingly exposed in national discourses10.
- 11 Cf. Aleksandra Paradowska, “Mustergau: the Propaganda and the Reality”, in: Żanna Komar, Jacek Pur (...)
7The word Volksgemeinschaft quickly entered the language of politics and was used to justify the processes of Germanization of the territories incorporated into Prussia and then into the German Empire. In this form it passed into the language of the National Socialists. Even when not explicitly expressed, it was the basis of ideological statements and lent itself well to combination with other National Socialist concepts. These included, above all, the ideas of the “Millenial Reich” (Tausendjähriges Reich), “blood and soil” (Blut und Boden) or – in the case of the Polish lands – also the “drive to the East” (Drang nach Osten). The links to these concepts showed that the idea of the Volksgemeinschaft was not only about demonstrating the ethnic homogeneity of the Germans, but also about asserting their right to conquer more and more new territories. This was also reflected in the justification for the criminal exploitation of the conquered peoples – especially the plundering of property and the use of free labor. Expressions of this way of thinking can be found in numerous statements by Gauleiter and architects, published in the press11.
- 12 Cf. Niels Gutschow, Ordnungswahn. Architekten planen im “eingedeutschten Osten” 1939-1945, Basel/B (...)
8The idea of the Volksgemeinschaft swiftly integrated into architectural terminology. This was made tangible through the construction of “community buildings” (Bauten der Gemeinschaft) which included all buildings used for public gatherings: cultural facilities (cinemas, theaters), stadiums, headquarters of party organizations, administrative buildings, town halls, as well as taverns and beer halls. In this way, abstract concepts gained material expression in the form of concrete buildings and projects, becoming a vital tool in times of war and occupation. The most important buildings of this type were planned as part of the Gauforen in Poznań and Strasbourg. In each of these cities, “new communities” were established based on local conditions and guided by the political concepts of the Gauleiter. Despite awareness of the high human cost associated with planning and building in newly occupied territories, the architects actively contributed to the implementation of German order12.
Poznań
- 13 Cf. Catherine Epstein, Model Nazi: Arthur Greiser and the occupation of Western Poland, Oxford, Ox (...)
9Arthur Greiser as the Gauleiter from the outset of his takeover of the Warthegau (also Reichsgau Wartheland) in October 1939, referred to the idea of Germanization from the Prussian era in his public speeches. He stressed his mission as finishing this forgotten task and aimed to complete it in a new and improved form. His own rationale was very pragmatic, but also influenced by his personal family history, as he came from a German family rooted in Wielkopolska13. As the Warthegau comprised only Polish lands prior to 1939, he considered Germanization even more crucial.
- 14 Arthur Greiser, Der Aufbau im Osten, Jena, Verlag von Gustav Fischer, 1942.
10Greiser advocated the continuation and improvement of the ancestral mission as a key element of his activities, not just locally, but also throughout Germany. He delivered a speech on this subject in Kiel, which was later published as a brochure14. As the main tool used to achieve his objectives, Greiser implemented the displacement of Polish citizens and the extermination of Jews while also bringing in German settlers to replace them. As stated by Greisler:
- 15 Ibid.
“Previously, until 1918, the political methods of the then largest state in the Empire, Prussia, focused on preserving the eastern territories. Efforts to administer these lands, as well as the rest of Prussia and other administrative districts, were successful. However, today the focus is no longer only about equally good administration, but rather about shaping”15.
11Similar views were shared by German architects, both high-level planners and those lower in the hierarchy. Representative among the many propaganda statements, Konrad Meyer, head of the planning department of the Reich Commission for the Consolidation of German Nationhood (Reichskommissariat für die Festigung deutschen Volkstums) and one of the creators of the Generalplan Ost, asserted that the outdated management methods needed to be changed:
- 16 Konrad Meyer, “Osadnictwo i rozbudowa na niemieckim Wschodzie”, in: Christoph Kleßmann (ed.), “Nie (...)
“Efforts have to be made to vigorously carry out complete Germanization of the space in its remotest recesses. […] Today we must clearly realise that the East will permanently become German only when the Polish blood has been entirely removed from the compact German settlement area. Failure to do so could disrupt the cohesion and unity of the German people in the borderlands [grenzdeutsches Volkstum]”16.
- 17 Ewald Liedecke (1905-1967), a graduate of the Technical University of Stuttgart, worked as an assi (...)
- 18 Ewald Liedecke, “Der neue deutsche Osten als Planungsraum”, Neues Bauerntum, 4/5 (1940), p. 135-13 (...)
Architects in the occupied territories knew that the introduction of this order was far easier in those territories that had already been germanized. In this context, the classification of territorial zoning introduced by the architect and urban planner Ewald Liedecke17 was disseminated through various publications. The first zone was the “supplementary zone” (Ergänzungszone), which concerned small fragments of Polish land that were annexed to existing administrative units in 1939, namely Gau Danzig-Ostpreußen (including a portion of the Kashubian Lake District), Gau Ostpreußen (comprising the Ciechanów region), and Gau Oberschlesien (encompassing the Polish part of Silesia centered around Katowice). They were identified on a map illustrating the architect’s theory and showing Polish lands along with corresponding inscriptions. The second zone, classified as the “development zone” (Bauzone), comprised areas where the Germans had previously exercised power (most of the Warthegau, especially Wielkopolska). The third zone was the “new development zone” (Neubauzone), covering areas that had not been under German rule before the First World War (the eastern part of the Warthegau, the Generalgouvernement)18.
- 19 Hanna Grzeszczuk-Brendel, “Zwischen Gauforum und Ehebett, das öffentliche und private Leben unter (...)
- 20 Tomasz Torbus, “Die ‘Heimholung der bei Tannenberg erbeuteten Fahnen’. Rezeption und Instrumentali (...)
12In the context of Liedecke’s classification, Greiser’s building policy in Poznań, the capital of the new administrative unit, the Warthegau, is not surprising. Here, the concept of Volksgemeinschaft was realized through the adaptation of buildings for the purposes of the new authorities, particularily those from the Wilhelmine era. Above all, the Imperial Castle in Poznań held immense symbolic significance (Fig. 5). Although architect and urban planner Walther Bangert, in charge of the Neugestaltungsplan, initially considered demolishing it in his first plans for the Gauforum, he ultimately abandoned the idea19. While the castle’s neo-Romanesque style, still evident in its exterior form, did not align with the aesthetic favoured by the Third Reich, it continued to play a prominent role in propaganda. In terms of message and symbolism, it is closely related to Malbork Castle, which served as the Castle of the German Youth (Burg des deutschen Jungvolkes) from 193720. Similarily, cultural sites and seats of power were intertwined in the Wilhelminian castle district, as with the new concept of the huge space.
Fig. 5. Poznań, Imperial Castle converted to Hitler’s Residence, postcard, 1940.
Adam Mickiewicz University Library, Poznań.
- 21 Cf. Aleksandra Paradowska, “Hitler’s Officials at Home’ in Germany-Occupied Poland”, Umeni ART, LX (...)
13The redevelopment of the Poznań castle aimed to establish a representative residence for both Hitler and Greiser. The architectural firm of Franz Böhmer, working in collaboration with Georg Petrich, received supervision from both Albert Speer and Hitler during the design process. The Führer himself, however, never visited Poznań. The reconstruction of the castle was an impressive and extremely expensive endeavor, accomplished with forced labor. Numerous neo-Romanesque ornaments and sculptural decorations were removed from the exterior of the castle, and expensive furnishings from the time of Wilhelm II were replaced inside with new ones that echo the décor of the New Reich Chancellery in Berlin21. The ideological message that the castle gained from the redevelopment was evident. Externally, the façades of the residence evoked an aura of antiquity, recalling the persistence of German colonization of the east, while internally it exhibited the contemporary side of the Third Reich, incorporating references to Hitler’s modern headquarters in the capital.
14Such major reconstructions were not undertaken on other buildings in the castle district, which also originated from Wilhelm II’s time and, along with the Castle, were included in Bangert’s project for the Gauforum. They also served as important testimonies of German presence in Poznań through visual propaganda. Officially, the Opera House was called the Reichsoper, while the others housed respectively: Reich University (Reichsuniversität), Settlement Office (Einwandererzentrale) – Police Board (Polizeipräsidium) (Fig. 6).
Fig. 6. Poznań, Police Headquarters (Polizeipräsidium), postcard, 1940.
Adam Mickiewicz University Library, Poznań.
A 1940 travel guide of Poznań depicts the castle district as follows:
- 22 Georg Schulz (ed.), Führer durch Posen, Poznań, NS-Gauverlag, 1940, p. 39.
“During the first and second decades of the 20th century, German authorities undertook an ambition construction project in the area. Upon entering the city gate, visitors are greeted with a dazzling spectacle that only few cities can match”22.
In contrast, Polish buildings from the 1920s and 1930s, which also acquired new functions when they were taken over by the Germans in 1939 – such as the Academy of Economics as the Deutscher Arbeitsfront headquarters or the Soldier’s House as the Gestapo headquarters – played a lesser role in such and other propaganda publications. Surviving iconographical and textual sources prove that referencing their Polish origin was not favored for propaganda reasons. Therefore, information about their past did not surface in public discourse. Only photographs exist showing them adorned with Nazi symbols.
15Nazi ideology’s criticism included 19th and 20th-century tenement alterations along with public buildings. The bourgeois architecture in Poznań’s Old Market Square was noteworthy in this aspect. The townhouses of both German (including Jews) and Polish bourgeoisie in this area were developed into department stores, portraying various historical styles, including the popular Art Nouveau. From 1941 onward, the market square was perceived as a diverse entity, which was unacceptable by the Nazi views on historic districts. Thus, a competition was arranged to rebuild the middle block of the market square. The guiding principle behind all the projects, outlined explicitly as the essential criteria of the competition, aimed to standardize construction and emphasize the Renaissance building of the City Hall. The selected works depicted different versions of standardized houses, maintaining the Heimatschutz spirit while providing the Old Town with a unified appearance (Fig. 7).
Fig. 7. Poznań, “Competition for rebuilding the central part of the Old Market Square in the Gau capital Posen” (cover page showing the winning project design), Deutsche Bauzeitung, no. 38 (17 September 1941), p. 648.
- 23 Julius Schulte-Frohlinde, Walter Kratz, Werner Lindner, Der Osten, Munich, Verlag Georg D. W. Call (...)
16At the same time as the competition, the German building administration reconstructed townhouses in the market frontages, corresponding to the competition designs for the mid-market block. Julius Schulte-Frohlinde’s 1940 publication Der Osten23 served as a reference for these works. The book showcases samples and drawings of buildings blending German national traditions with local elements characterizing specific regions. The objective of this approach was to promote social order by sanitizing old towns and mitigating unfavorable relations among city dwellers, which persisted during the periods of Wilhelmine Germany and the Second Polish Republic. In the context of this second negative reference point, the cultural superiority of the Germans and their sense of order were invoked. Once again, the construction of national unity through the idea of Volksgemeinschaft was thus carried out according to a common strategy: designate the enemy and criticize his activities.
Strasbourg
- 24 Tessa Friederike Rosebrock, Kurt Martin und das Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg. Museums- und A (...)
17The implementation of the new order in the conquered city of Strasbourg was somewhat delayed compared to Poznań, for Alsace was not occupied until the summer of 1940. The region was annexed to the already existing Gau Baden under Gauleiter Robert Wagner. After the borders expanded, the capital moved from Karlsruhe to Strasbourg. Wagner aimed to make the city “the outstanding first cultural center of the German Reich” and to “purify [it] of all elements alien to the German race”24, rather than germanizing all the areas. This objective was mainly achieved through cultural initiatives such as establishing new theaters and libraries, attracting artists, and promoting Germanness.
18In the field of social policy, Wagner was mainly focused on arranging the deportation of Jews, most of whom were transported to German concentration camps in occupied Poland. French individuals who had left their homes and relocated to southern France prior to the Wehrmacht’s occupation of Alsace were permitted to return. However, a few were compelled to resettle in the newly seized territories in the East. An analysis of Wagner’s policy leads to the conclusion that Alsace was de facto a “supplementary zone” (Ergänzungszone), to use Ewald Liedecke’s categorization as previously mentioned. The process of Germanization in Strasbourg was therefore not as thorough as in the Warthegau. Instead, it resembled more the actions taken by the Germans in the Polish lands annexed to the Gaue Oberschlesien, Danzig-Westpreußen, and Ostpreußen. This difference was also reflected in the operational strategies employed by the architects, who did not have to develop such elaborate written descriptions of their ideas in the Gau Baden-Elsaß as they did in the Warthegau.
- 25 Wolfgang Voigt, Deutsche Architekten im Elsass 1940-1944, Tübingen/Berlin, Wasmuth Verlag, 2012, p (...)
19Significantly, Robert Wagner received direct support from Hitler in the field of architecture due to the Führer’s personal interest in Paris as a reference for reshaping Berlin. During his visit, he even sketched out a spatial direction for the urban redevelopment of Strasbourg, leaving behind a vision of the city’s past that could potentially be actualized after the war. This sketch served as the basic reference for a competition for such a project. In the submitted works, the existing foundation from the previous German rule was inscribed into representative sectors – a political and a cultural center. The separation of theses zones was postulated in the competition requirements of 194125 (Fig. 8).
Fig. 8. Richard Beblo, Competition entry for the “New Strasbourg”, situation plan of the southwestern area between the city center and Kehl, 1941/42.
Archives de la ville et de l’Eurométropole de Strasbourg
20However, the buildings of the former representative German district functioned well in their new role despite the challenges of war and occupation. The former Imperial Palace, which served as the headquarters of the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine after the First World War and was therefore known as Palais du Rhin, was designated to house the Kommandantur of the local Nazi authorities, while some of the surrounding buildings were used by administrative units. The neighboring university and library buildings played a crucial part as German institutions in executing Wagner’s occupation policy priorities (Fig. 9). They were not so strongly associated with the Wilhelmine rule and therefore left untouched, similar to the buildings surrounding the castle in Poznań. The University Collegiate Building was the only edifice that underwent alterations to its floors, atrium and some elements of its decoration to align with Munich’s new developments on Königsplatz, the Führerbau and the Verwaltungsbau designed by Ludwig Troost (Fig. 10). Given the renown of Munich’s representative buildings throughout the Third Reich, these connections could be immediately understood by Strasbourg’s population.
Fig. 9. Strasbourg, Opening ceremony of the Reichsuniversität Straßburg in the hall of the University Collegiate Building, 23 November 1941.
Université de Strasbourg
Fig. 10. Strasbourg, Interior of the University Collegiate Building with furniture from the time of German occupation, photograph by the author, 2023.
- 26 Ibid., p. 126. Alexandre Kostka, Christophe Didier, Fritz Beblo: un architecte à Strasbourg, 1903- (...)
21In Strasbourg, in addition to the development of future urban planning regulations, architects focused on the Old Town. Here, as in Poznań, the aim was to unify facades and remove 19th and 20th-century alterations to townhouses. The exhibition Die schöne Stadt and the manuscript Baufibel für die Stadt Straßburg written by Richard Beblo presented local strategies for removing “impurities” from the 19th and 20th centuries, similar to Der Osten. As the son, and later successor from 1940, of Fritz Beblo, the city architect of Strasbourg until 1918, Richard Beblo was well qualified to produce such a work. Beblo’s manuscript was meant to be included in a collection of so-called “Construction Manuals” (Baufibeln) for specific regions, but stands out because it concentrates on a single city. Its ideological overtones are also important. To quote Beblo: “Strasbourg is a city on the border between two countries with a rich architectural culture. The charm of the city lies precisely in the opposition between East and West”26. This statement indicates that Beblo, who identified as Alsatian, did not view the city’s “sanitation efforts” as a colonial project. In contrast, the redevelopment of Poznań’s historic center was perceived quite differently. Despite these significant differences, there were similarities in the proposals to eliminate trappings from the 19th and 20th centuries in both Poznań and Strasbourg, purely on an aesthetic level.
Conclusion
22As this article’s analyses show, the intertwining of political ideology and architecture gained even greater prominence during the war and occupation of Polish and French territories. Architects working for the Nazi authorities at various levels expressed official criticism while simultaneously exploiting the tangible and intangible heritage of the Wilhelmine era in the Warthegau and in the Gau Baden-Elsaß. The return of Germans to Strasbourg during the Second World War, as previously noted, was far more peaceful than that of Poznań. Much like in the 19th century, architecture served as a major instrument of the occupation policy and as a tool of fostering a sense of belonging to the German Volksgemeinschaft.
23Based on these considerations, it can be concluded that the category of Volksgemeinschaft, which is central to the understanding of Nazi projects and their implementation, gained clearer contours when combined with the other Nazi categories mentioned earlier. The most potent of these, in the face of war, became the colonial concept of Drang nach Osten, which de facto unified the meanings of the Blut und Boden and Lebensraum. It was for this reason that the former Wilhelmine castle was converted into Hitler’s residence, not in Strasbourg, but in Poznań. Hitler no longer needed such a residence on the western fringes of the Reich, and the Hohkönigsburg, the ruined castle near Strasbourg that had once belonged to the Hohenstaufen imperial dynasty and had been rebuilt by Wilhem II as a symbol of German rule over the region, was therefore also out of his interest.
- 27 N. Gutschow, Ordnungswahn (note 12), p. 16.
24The architects acted as an “extended arm” of the authorities27, which is why I have considered their statements to be on a par with those of Nazi politicians. In the descriptions of planning activities, the Wilhelmine past resounded as an important theme, although the name of the German emperor himself was very rarely mentioned. In the field of architecture in Strasbourg, this way of looking at the conquered territory was reflected in numerous design works, most of which were postponed due to the ongoing war. In Poznań, on the contrary, the building activities of the nazi occupant were much more developed and accompanied by propaganda narratives about the cultural superiority of the Germans and the colonizing traditions in the East.
25Although this article’s analyses demonstrate that the Germanization processes occurred differently in the two cities at opposite ends of the Reich, they share common roots in the idea of Volksgemeinschaft, which is reflected in their respective architectures. For this reason their comparison remains relevant and useful for expanding knowledge about the territories occupied by Nazi Germany. Indeed, comparative studies reveal both the deep roots of Nazi concepts and their territorial differentiation. A broad understanding of Nazi architecture emerges from these studies, including not only buildings planned and constructed during Hitler’s reign, but also those that were adapted to the needs of the system. Separate regional studies would not be able to present these issues in such a clear light. Finally, it should be emphasized that, in the broader context of the humanities, such an account of the architectural history of the occupied territories, with all its nuances, represents a significant addition to our knowledge of the still insufficiently researched period of the Second World War.
Notes
1 Despina Stratigakos, Hitler at home, London, Yale University Press, 2015, p. 37-39.
2 Cf. Anna Moskal, Im Spannungsfeld von Region und Nation. Die Polonisierung der Stadt Posen nach 1918 und 1945, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag, 2013; Hans Schwendemann, Wolfgang Dietsche, Hitlers Schloß. Die Führerresidenz in Posen, Berlin, Ch. Links Verlag, 2003.
3 Cf. Hanna Grzeszczuk-Brendel, Małgorzata Praczyk (eds.), Poznań – Strasbourg. Powinowactwa w czasie i przestrzeni / Cross-relations in Space and Time, Poznań, Wydział Historii UAM (Adam Mickiewicz University Faculty of History), 2022.
4 About the whole district, cf. Zenon Pałat, Architektura i polityka. Gloryfikacja Prus i niemieckiej misji cywilizacyjnej w Poznaniu na początku XX wieku, Poznań, Wydawnictwo PTPN, 2011.
5 Cf. Alexandre Kostka, “Interferencje między Poznaniem a Strasburgiem w czasach Drugiej Rzeszy. O budynkach i ludziach / Interferences between Poznan and Strasbourg in the Time of the Second Empire. Of Buildings and Men”, in: Grzeszczuk-Brendel/Praczyk (eds.), Poznań – Strasbourg (note 3), p. 15-37.
6 The Imperial University and Regional Library (Kaiserliche Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek).
7 The Provincial Committee (Landesausschuss) of Alsace-Lorraine, which had existed since 1874, initially had an advisory function. With the reform of the constitution for Alsace-Lorraine in 1911, it was replaced by the directly elected State Parliament (Landtag).
8 As the head of a Gau, the administrative subdivision of Nazi Germany, a Gauleiter was a high-ranking NSDAP official with near-autocratic power.
9 Volker Ziegler, “Droga Strasburga i Poznania do nowoczesnych metropolii / The Road of Strasbourg and Poznań to a Modern Metropolis”, in: Grzeszczuk-Brendel/Praczyk (eds.), Poznań – Strasbourg (note 3), p. 94.
10 Cf. Christhardt Henschel, Aleksandra Paradowska, Annika Wienert, “Historia architektury jako historia okupacji. Niels Gutschow i badania nad architekturą nazistowską na ziemiach polskich w latach 1939-1945”, in: Niels Gutschow, Obsesja porządku. Niemieccy architekci planują w okupowanej Polsce 1939-1945, Warsaw, Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, 2021, p. 7-62.
11 Cf. Aleksandra Paradowska, “Mustergau: the Propaganda and the Reality”, in: Żanna Komar, Jacek Purchla (eds.), Dissonant Heritage? The Architecture of the Third Reich in Poland, Kraków, Międzynarodowe Kultury, 2021, p. 203-224.
12 Cf. Niels Gutschow, Ordnungswahn. Architekten planen im “eingedeutschten Osten” 1939-1945, Basel/Boston/Berlin, Birkhäuser Verlag (Bauwelt Fundamente, vol. 115), 2001.
13 Cf. Catherine Epstein, Model Nazi: Arthur Greiser and the occupation of Western Poland, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2010.
14 Arthur Greiser, Der Aufbau im Osten, Jena, Verlag von Gustav Fischer, 1942.
15 Ibid.
16 Konrad Meyer, “Osadnictwo i rozbudowa na niemieckim Wschodzie”, in: Christoph Kleßmann (ed.), “Niemiecki Wschód”. Wyobrażenia – misja – dziedzictwo, Poznań, Wydawnictwo Nauka i Innowacje, 2014, p. 177.
17 Ewald Liedecke (1905-1967), a graduate of the Technical University of Stuttgart, worked as an assistant in Hermann Jansen’s Berlin office on the masterplans for Madrid, Ankara and Wiesbaden. In 1934, he moved to the Königsberg Regional Council in East Prussia and became head of the planning department. In 1940, he was appointed by the Reich Office for Spatial Planning (Reichsstelle für Raumordnung) to the office of the Reich Governor of Danzig-West Prussia. There he was initially the General Advisor for Spatial Planning until the Regional Planning Authority of the new Reichsgau was established in Gotenhafen (Gdynia). In the two years that followed, he became known as a fervent advocate of “Germanization”, based on the merciless idea of a tabula rasa that would allow the conquered territories to be freely shaped. N. Gutschow, Ordnungswahn (note 12), p. 203-205.
18 Ewald Liedecke, “Der neue deutsche Osten als Planungsraum”, Neues Bauerntum, 4/5 (1940), p. 135-137.
19 Hanna Grzeszczuk-Brendel, “Zwischen Gauforum und Ehebett, das öffentliche und private Leben unter NSDAP-Kontrolle. Das Beispiel Posen 1939-1945”, in: Arnold Bartetzky, Marina Dimitrieva, Stefan Troebst (eds.), Neue Staaten – neue Bilder? Visuelle Kultur im Dienst staatlicher Selbstdarstellung in Zentral- und Osteuropa seit 1918, Cologne/Weimar/Vienna, Böhlau-Verlag, 2005, p. 147-157.
20 Tomasz Torbus, “Die ‘Heimholung der bei Tannenberg erbeuteten Fahnen’. Rezeption und Instrumentalisierung einer mittelalterlichen Schlacht in der NS-Kunstpropaganda”, in: Maike Steinkamp, Bruno Raudenbach (eds.), Mittelalterbilder im Nationalsozialismus, Berlin, Akademie Verlag (Hamburger Forschungen zur Kunstgeschichte, vol. 9), 2013, p. 153-170.
21 Cf. Aleksandra Paradowska, “Hitler’s Officials at Home’ in Germany-Occupied Poland”, Umeni ART, LXIX/1 (2021), p. 44-62; Janusz Pazder, Evelyn Zimmermann (eds.), Kaiserschloss Posen: von der “Zwingburg im Osten” zum Kulturzentrum “Zamek” / Zamek cesarski w Poznaniu: od pruskiej “warowni na wschodzie” do Centrum Kultury “Zamek” / The Imperial Castle of Poznań: From a Prussian “Stronghold in the East” to the “Zamek” Culture Centre, Potsdam/Poznań, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, 2003.
22 Georg Schulz (ed.), Führer durch Posen, Poznań, NS-Gauverlag, 1940, p. 39.
23 Julius Schulte-Frohlinde, Walter Kratz, Werner Lindner, Der Osten, Munich, Verlag Georg D. W. Callwey (Die landschaftlichen Grundlagen des deutschen Bauschaffens, vol. 3), 1940.
24 Tessa Friederike Rosebrock, Kurt Martin und das Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg. Museums- und Ausstellungspolitik im “Dritten Reich” und in der unmittelbaren Nachkriegszeit, Berlin, Akademie Verlag, 2012, p. 83.
25 Wolfgang Voigt, Deutsche Architekten im Elsass 1940-1944, Tübingen/Berlin, Wasmuth Verlag, 2012, p. 37.
26 Ibid., p. 126. Alexandre Kostka, Christophe Didier, Fritz Beblo: un architecte à Strasbourg, 1903-1918 réinventer la tradition (catalogue d’exposition, Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire de Strasbourg, 22 octobre 2022-14 janvier 2023), Strasbourg, Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire de Strasbourg, 2022, p. 120-129.
27 N. Gutschow, Ordnungswahn (note 12), p. 16.
Haut de pageTable des illustrations
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| Titre | Fig. 1. Berlin, Old Reich Chancellery, postcard, ca. 1934. |
| Crédits | Collection of the author. |
| URL | http://journals.openedition.org/allemagne/docannexe/image/4017/img-1.png |
| Fichier | image/png, 107k |
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| Titre | Fig. 2. Poznań, Castle district, postcard, early 20th century. |
| Crédits | Adam Mickiewicz University Library, Poznań. |
| URL | http://journals.openedition.org/allemagne/docannexe/image/4017/img-2.png |
| Fichier | image/png, 153k |
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| Titre | Fig. 3. Strasbourg, View from the University to the Garrison Protestant Church and the Imperial Square, late 19th/early 20th century. |
| Crédits | Jörg Kleinbeck Collection, Stuttgart. |
| URL | http://journals.openedition.org/allemagne/docannexe/image/4017/img-3.png |
| Fichier | image/png, 116k |
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| Titre | Fig. 4. Strasbourg, View from the Kaiserplatz to the Old Town and the Cathedral, late19th/early 20th century. |
| Crédits | Jörg Kleinbeck Collection, Stuttgart. |
| URL | http://journals.openedition.org/allemagne/docannexe/image/4017/img-4.png |
| Fichier | image/png, 112k |
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| Titre | Fig. 5. Poznań, Imperial Castle converted to Hitler’s Residence, postcard, 1940. |
| Crédits | Adam Mickiewicz University Library, Poznań. |
| URL | http://journals.openedition.org/allemagne/docannexe/image/4017/img-5.png |
| Fichier | image/png, 140k |
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| Titre | Fig. 6. Poznań, Police Headquarters (Polizeipräsidium), postcard, 1940. |
| Crédits | Adam Mickiewicz University Library, Poznań. |
| URL | http://journals.openedition.org/allemagne/docannexe/image/4017/img-6.png |
| Fichier | image/png, 423k |
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| Titre | Fig. 7. Poznań, “Competition for rebuilding the central part of the Old Market Square in the Gau capital Posen” (cover page showing the winning project design), Deutsche Bauzeitung, no. 38 (17 September 1941), p. 648. |
| URL | http://journals.openedition.org/allemagne/docannexe/image/4017/img-7.png |
| Fichier | image/png, 564k |
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| Titre | Fig. 8. Richard Beblo, Competition entry for the “New Strasbourg”, situation plan of the southwestern area between the city center and Kehl, 1941/42. |
| Crédits | Archives de la ville et de l’Eurométropole de Strasbourg |
| URL | http://journals.openedition.org/allemagne/docannexe/image/4017/img-8.png |
| Fichier | image/png, 1,1M |
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| Titre | Fig. 9. Strasbourg, Opening ceremony of the Reichsuniversität Straßburg in the hall of the University Collegiate Building, 23 November 1941. |
| Crédits | Université de Strasbourg |
| URL | http://journals.openedition.org/allemagne/docannexe/image/4017/img-9.png |
| Fichier | image/png, 45k |
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| Titre | Fig. 10. Strasbourg, Interior of the University Collegiate Building with furniture from the time of German occupation, photograph by the author, 2023. |
| URL | http://journals.openedition.org/allemagne/docannexe/image/4017/img-10.png |
| Fichier | image/png, 279k |
Pour citer cet article
Référence papier
Aleksandra Paradowska, « Nazi Officials and Architects facing the Wilhelmine Past. Poznań and Strasbourg under German Occupation », Revue d’Allemagne et des pays de langue allemande, 56-1 | 2024, 135-148.
Référence électronique
Aleksandra Paradowska, « Nazi Officials and Architects facing the Wilhelmine Past. Poznań and Strasbourg under German Occupation », Revue d’Allemagne et des pays de langue allemande [En ligne], 56-1 | 2024, mis en ligne le 19 juin 2025, consulté le 14 avril 2026. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/allemagne/4017 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/11uxj
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