Frederique Krupa
April 29, 1992

Albert Speer: An Architect's Social Responsibility

The mere mention of the name Albert Speer, otherwise known as Hitler's architect, usually brings about disapproving initial reactions. Instead of his Neo-Classical designs, visions of concentration camps and swastikas come to mind. The prevailing attitude towards Speer's work is that it should not be studied; somehow an approval of his achievements made for the Third Reich would be taken as an approval of the the Third Reich. Recently, a prominent group of architects, most notably Leon Krier and Peter Eisenman, have attempted to rectify this situation for different aesthetic and political ends. They argue that Modernism has also served fascism under Mussolini and that the condemnation of an architectural style is unfounded, especially considering the quickness to forgive and assimilate the industrial products and technological advances produced by the engineers and scientists of the Third Reich.1 Although the attempts by these reconciling architects are often self-serving, Albert Speer's work does warrant a serious examination in order to explore the architect's social responsibility and in turn the political nature of architectural form, especially relevant in light of recent economic, political and artistic developments.

During his twenty years in Spandau Prison, from 1946-1966, Speer's awareness of his collaboration in a government that committed unbelievable atrocities led him to renounce National Socialism. He believed the Nuremberg court's judgement was fair and took full responsibility for his participation. Using his time to read psychology, philosophy and metaphysics, basically anything non-political, Speer put himself through a serious self-examination to find out what happened, by writing clandestine notes intended for his children. The notes, Spandau: The Secret Diaries, and his autobiography, Inside The Third Reich, were published after his release and form the basis for much of what is know about Hitler and his inner circle. These books also shed an interesting light on the ways in which people are easily manipulated and ignore signs that are ethically objectionable, especially if a personal loss of status or wealth would be incurred.

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Born on March 19, 1905 in Manheim, Germany, Albert Speer was the product of an upper middle class household and became a third-generation Neo-Classical architect, following his father and grandfather. Speer would later remark that the educational upbringing in the 20s emphasized uncritical acceptance of authority and formed the basis for an easily manipulated society.
"In spite of the Revolution which had brought in the Weimar Republic, it was still impressed upon us that the distribution of power in society and the traditional authorities were part of a God-given order of things. In school, there could be no criticism of courses or subject matter, let alone the ruling powers of the state... Moreover, there were no subjects such as sociology which might have sharpened our political judgement... It seems to me essential to point out these lacks, as a result of which a whole generation was without defenses when exposed to the new techniques for influencing opinions."2

In 1925, Speer enrolled in the Institute of Technology in Berlin-Charlottenburg where he found his first major influence in Professor Heinrich Tessenow, becoming his assistant two years later after graduation. Tessenow, a proponent of simple craftsmanship through severely delineated means, did not believe art and culture could be international as that went against "our nature to love our native land... True culture comes only from the maternal womb of a nation."3 On this point, Tessenow was on common ground with National Socialism but steadfastly refused to ally himself with the Nazi party, even after Speer's rise in power. In Berlin, Speer saw theatrical production which made deep impressions on him, especially the work of Piscator and Max Reinhardt.4 [See pics 1 and 2] Even though these theatrical productions were radically leftist in content, their modernist abstraction of forms and minimalist aesthetics appear to have influenced Speer's designs for the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda, which will be examined later on. Speer's despondency in political matters probably lead him to dismiss the political messages of the theatrical pieces.

Having read Spengler's Decline of the West, Speer became convinced that Germany was in a similar state of decay as that of the late Roman Empire and was strongly discouraged by it. In 1931, he first heard Hitler speak at a beer hall with a speech intended for college students. Although Speer was initially sceptical of Hitler's reputation and his rowdy entourage, the enthusiasm of the crowd, Hitler's respectable and modest appearance in a blue suit and the historical lecture he calmly delivered impressed Speer immensely. Speer would later recognize Hitler's chameleon-like ability to adapt to different circumstances. In any case, he felt Hitler refuted Spengler's cynicism and offered hope, especially for economic recovery. Hitler also seemed to reinstill the order and discipline that the Weimar Republic and the economic crisis had eroded. Hitler had mentioned the Jewish problem, but Speer did not think much of it as anti-semitism was certainly not a new phenomenon. Speer looked at anti-semitism as an unfortunate "children's disease" and had many Jewish friends at the Institute, which he continued to remain friends with after joining the party.5 In any case, Speer applied for membership to the Nazi party the following day.

With uncontrolled inflation and wide spread unemployment, Hitler's popularity increased. His vilification of Jews and Communists served as a scapegoat to the fierce, underlying misery of the masses. For Speer, payment of party dues relieved him of the need to think for himself:
"For had I only wanted to, I could have found out even then that Hitler was proclaiming expansion of the Reich to the East; that he was a rank anti-semite; that he was committed to a system of authoritarian rule...not, given my education to have read books, magazines of various viewpoints; not to have tried to see through the apparatus of mystification--was already criminal...
Such mental slackness above all facilitated, established and finally assured the success of the National Socialist System...
I did not yet know that I would atone with twenty-one years of my life for frivolity and thoughtlessness..."6

...

Speer's relation with Hitler did not commence immediately upon joining the party. He remained at the University and was unable to find work in the grim economy. As an automobile owner, he was hired to drive Hitler around Berlin in 1932. Doing such a good job, the head of Berlin district Hanke commissioned him to redo the headquarters, which Minister of Propaganda Goebbels appreciated. With Hitler's electoral triumph on March 5, 1933, Goebbels hired Speer to design the first Reichsparteitag, the annual Nazi Party rally, on the Zeppelinfield at Nuremberg. All architectural plans were to be approved by Hitler, a failed architectural student himself, and this gave Speer the occasion to finally meet him. Apparently, Hitler was fascinated by anyone who could create architectural drawings and took a special liking to Speer, inviting him to dinners with his inner circle.

Speer proved himself an adept project organizer with a series of interior renovations for Hitler and his entourage, working with Paul Troost until his death in 1934. These designs, however, were heavily influenced by what Speer considered the atrocious tastes of Hitler and his impressionable ministers.7 Most of Speer's later designs were also directed to a certain extent by Hitler's "Neo-Baroque" grandiose and ill-proportioned amateur design attempts. The hatred of modern art was Hitler's problem,8 not Speer's, as he was comfortable with the style.9 Hitler was more critical of Speer's early designs, that is until Speer altered his designs to be more like Hitler's. Troost's spared down Neo-Classical style was established as "the Fuhrer's Style" before Speer ever entered the scene, and for Hitler, more was more. All his visions dealt with having monuments larger and taller than ready existing ones. Closely based on Hitler's 1925 studies of Napoleon's Triumphal Arch and a great hall, [see pics. ] the plan for the Great Hall was designed to be able to hold the volume of four pyramids, covering 180,000 standing spectators. According to Speer, the hall was essentially a place of worship, even though Hitler disliked religion, and here, "the fatal flaw of architecture that has lost all sense of proportion was revealed. Under that vast dome Hitler dwindled to an optical zero."10 Hitler's plan for Berlin called for avenues seventy feet wider than Haussmann's 330 ft. boulevards.[see pic. ] For the Chancellery of 1939, [see pics ] the plan forced diplomats to walk over a quarter mile on highly polished marble, before reaching Hitler's enormous office.

For Speer the use of Neo-Classicism was what Rosenblum identified as "nostalgia."11 In his drawings for Hitler, he would show what some of these buildings would look like in 1500 years, covered with creeping vegetation, much like Piranesi's romantic drawings of man's efforts over taken by time and nature.12 These drawings where considered blasphemous by Hitler's entourage for even suggesting transience and decay, but Hitler enjoyed the thought that this monumental architecture would be around that long to remind people of the former power of the Third Reich. This tied in to Hitler's envy of Mussolini for having a direct lineage to the monuments of Imperial Rome, symbols of the heroic spirit of Roman heritage.

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The earlier work less influenced by Hitler and Troost, especially the work done for the Ministry of Propaganda, can be viewed as displaying Speer's considerable skill at balancing Neo-Classical elements in a manner so delineated as to be almost Modern. The annual Nuremberg rallies for the middle and minor functionaries of the Nazi Party, called the Amstwalter, became Speer's responsibility in 1933. The Amstwalter were difficult to present in good light for they were undisciplined and out of shape, so Speer got around this problem by making them march up in the dark. The Haupttribune was completed in 1934 [see pic ] and a larger stadium was planned for Nuremberg but never begun. [see pic ] Documented on film by Leni Riefenstahl, the only female officially involved in the rally,13 Speer produced a dramatic effect by placing the thousands of local group flags in ten columns behind high fences, forming the lanes from which the Amstwalter marched up to the site. Bright spots were placed on these banners and the enormous, two-dimensional eagle, over 100 long and spiked to a framework of wooden electrical poles. [see pic ] Placed at forty feet intervals, one hundred and thirty anti-aircraft searchlights created beams visible to twenty thousand feet, creating the illusion of columns on imaginary and infinite walls. [see pics ] According to British Ambassador Henderson, "The effect which was both solemn and beautiful was like being in a cathedral of ice."14

The rallies, so successful in affecting the senses, has more to do with the aesthetics of Modernism than Classicism, more precisely the theatrical productions which Speer was so influenced by in the twenties. [see earlier pics of Piscator's sets] The designs for the Haupttribune and the Nazi Eagle are very flat, almost planar, and appear to be more like backdrops than a Classical Roman architecture. The work seems to have more in common with the Surrealist painter De Chirico than Palladio,[see pics ] although classical elements, such as the colonnade and classical symmetry and proportion, are used. The searchlights, products of recent technological developments, owe as much to the dramatic lighting of modernist theatre as to the classical orders. The Reichsparteitag is a middle ground where Modernism meets with Classicism in a very successful way.

This flattened and rectilinear Classicism, which was intended as a manifestation of German order, is also similar to the Social Realism that was taking hold in the USSR at this time. The most direct comparison of the two can be seen at the 1937 Paris World's Fair, where Speer's German Pavilion faces the Soviet one. Actually, speer had accidentally seen the drawings of the Soviet Pavilion and designed his to be taller.
"A sculptured pair of figures thirty feet tall on a high platform were striding triumphantly towards the German Pavilion. I therefore designed a cubic mass, also elevated on stout pillars, which seemed to be checking the onslaught, while from the cornice of my tower an eagle with a swastika in its claws looked down on the Russian sculptures. I received a Gold Medal for the building; so did my Soviet colleague."14
Both of these pavilions marry Classicism with decidedly Modern rectilinear forms. Both these projects, as well as the Reichsparteitag, call into question the fine line between the severe geometry of Classicism as manifested in the work of Ledoux and Boullee, and the Classical proportions of Modernism in the later work of Mies van der Rohe.16

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The Mephistophelian pact made by Speer in order to fulfill his professional ambitions would indeed cost him dearly; by willfully ignoring the troubling aspects of the Nazi regime, Speer overwrote his conscience in favor of the possibility of architectural immortality. Becoming the Minister of Armaments in 1941 after Dr. Todt's suspicious death,17 Speer's exceptional planning abilities were aimed at maintaining war production, which he did with the skills of a born organizer. Speer used slave labor, including a little from the concentration camps, to compensate for the lack of men able to work in the factories. To his credit, he made sure his workers were given adequate food and shelter, a factor taken into consideration at his Nuremberg trial, probably saving him from execution by hanging. At Nuremberg, Speer was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity and sentenced to twenty years in Spandau Prison.18

Although he was in a position to know what was happening in those concentration camps, he was told not to look into it, which he obeyed as it was not in his area of responsibility and expertise. His insecurity as a late-comer in the party and the pervasive separatist thinking kept him ignorant and indifferent to the inhuman cruelties happening around him. Speer states,
"I felt myself to be Hitler's architect. Political events did not concern me. My job was merely to provide impressive backdrops for such events. And this view was reinforced daily, for Hitler consulted me almost exclusively on architectural questions...
I no longer give any of these answers. For they are efforts at legalistic exculpation... But in final analysis I myself determined the degree of my isolation, the extremity of my evasions and the extent of my ignorance...
Whether I knew or did not know...is totally unimportant when I consider what horrors I should have know about...Those who ask me are fundamentally expecting justifications. But I have none. No apologies are possible."19

...

Perhaps in an extreme example of an architect who fell from grace, Speer will always be know as Hitler's architect and will continue to be referred to, if at all, in a suspicious and unfavorable manner. For all the new found attention from some of the star-system architects, namely Krier, Johnson, Duany, Hollein and Eisenman, there will probably be no redemption of the public's opinion of Speer, irregardless of how well acquainted one is with his work. While some architects may use Speer to enhance their controversial image, those that claim that the cultural achievements of the Third Reich have been unfairly condemned point to the acceptance of the industrial and technological advancements from such Nazi collaborative firms as Porsche, Krups and Mercedes-Benz and the open reception of weapons scientists and technicians in the US, France and the Soviet Union. By simply pointing to the seedy, acquisitive dual standards operating in society, this argument basically negates any social responsibility and makes culture and technology appear compatible for comparison.

The other popular argument, especially for the proponent of Neo-Classicism, is that Modernism has also served fascism and other totalitarian governments, citing Marinetti, Le Corbusier and Mies. This argument, while also true, is misguided as it implies that all architecture has had links to tyranny and therefore political ties have little relevance to architectural merit. Besides the fact that Modernism now has the dubious distinction of being the corporate style, depoliticizing Classicism, as used by the Nazi party, ignores the fact that it served to legitimize the power of the Third Reich. These arguments basically ignore the fact that architecture serves as a powerful symbol of its government, as the swift destruction of fascist monuments by the allied forces and the prompt removal of fascist emblems from the building facades illustrated in post WWII Germany.20

The relationship between architecture and politics deals with wether a corrupt political system can corrupt the arts. Forms in themselves are not political, but meanings attached to them are. When forms become symbols representing political ideas, the forms are politicized. The use of Neo-Classicism for political purposes previously appeared in the designs for Napoleon Bonaparte, in an attempt to appropriate the prestige of imperial Rome. Krier's attempt to depoliticize Neo-Classicism is misguided as the use of Neo-Classicism was a direct attempt by Hitler to appropriate the imperialism of ancient Rome, not because the forms were, in Krier's terms, universal principals of "harmony, firmness and utility".21 Hitler's use of Neo-Classicism to legitimize his power forms an ironic juxtaposition to the Enlightenment's 18th century Neo-Classicism that attempted to create universal laws based on the Classical Orders; however, these meanings can coexist. In the case of the Third Reich, the Neo-Classical program was political, so it did corrupt the art. Self-serving in interest, Krier is trying to reestablish Classicism, his style of building, as the "right" way to build, and Neo-Classicism's ties to fascism remains an image problem and an obstacle to obtaining commissions.22

...

For all the talk of man's accomplishments and progress, the Holocaust effectively wiped out any claim that the Enlightenment had concerning the perfection of man. Reason, order, science, art and architecture were not enough to create societies that could even peacefully coexist. Many people have recently noticed disturbing signs that history might be repeating itself. The widespread reappearance of right-wing nationalism, especially in Europe and the US, is due to the weak economy, rampant unemployment, racism and the feared loss of a national identity. The reunification of Germany and the financial power of both Germany and Japan also has some people worried. Even with the triumph over communism, the capitalist system has still lead us to an unstable worldwide economy and an even more troubled environment. The crisis in the Middle East-- and its control on oil reserves-- and the massive power of multi-national corporations are but a few of the other ingredients that together form a rather ominous picture.

Speer's story is especially relevant at this moment in time when idealistic convictions and employment are rare. He essentially serves as a warning to those architects willing to sell out their ethical beliefs for wealth and/or fame. His experience is parallel, if more extreme, to those architects working today for developers and multi-national corporations--whose main priority is always financial, with little regards to the social and environmental implications. Many architects have dealt with this problem by becoming advocacy architects for communities, while other have gotten around it by becoming theoretical/paper architects. At a time when architects are questioning the validity of their social responsibility, Speer's story and work warrants serious examination for it will hopefully make architects reconsider and examine the motives of their clients and themselves.


Albert Speer Endnotes

1 Leon Krier,"An Architecture of Desire", AD, pp 31-36.
2 Albert Speer, Inside The Third Reich, pp 7-8. Chapter I gives an insightful indication of his social and educational background.
3 Albert Speer, Inside The Third Reich, pp 14.
4 Albert Speer, Inside The Third Reich, pp 11. Images come from John Willett, Art and Politics in the Weimar Period, pp 152 and John Willett, The Weimar Years, pp 91, both of which give excellent overviews of the theatre of the 20s.
5 Albert Speer, Inside The Third Reich, pp 16.
6 Albert Speer, Inside The Third Reich, pp 19-20.
7 In Inside the Third Reich, Speer continually refers to the personal tastes of Hitler and his ministers as being uninformed, inconsistent, low quality and generally atrocious, see pg. 28 and 37-38.
8 I am referring to the degenerate art show put on in 1937 to discredit modernism, as Hitler viewed it as a Judeo-Bolshevik conspiracy. John Willett, Art and Politics in the Weimar Period, pp 213-222.
9 Speer had purchased a series of Nolde modernist watercolors for the Goebbel's interior, which they loved, until Hitler strongly disapproved of them upon visiting their house. Goebbel demanded they be removed immediately. Albert Speer, Inside The Third Reich, pp 19.
10 Albert Speer, Inside The Third Reich, pp 151-57 For information on Speer's/Hitler's plans for Berlin, the source for many illustrations in this paper, see Alan Balfour,Æ)9Ø Æ):ØBerlin, pp 70-106.
11 Robert Rosenblum, Transformations in Late 18th Century Art, Chapter III "Neo-Classical Architecture".
12 These drawings are mentioned by Speer in Inside the Third Reich in Chapter 5, though no illustrations were supplied or found in any of the other books.
13 The Nazi's were notoriously antifeminist, and Ms. Riefenstahl, the self-assured director of mountain and skying movies, was appointed by Hitler. Her reputation was continually attacked until the first Party Rally film came out, where she proved her skill as a director. Albert Speer, Inside The Third Reich, pp 61.
14 Albert Speer, Spandau: The Secret Diaries, photo section.
15 Albert Speer, Inside The Third Reich, pp 81.
16 Mies also tried to work with the Nazi's in 1935, designing a pavilion for the World's Fair in Brussels, which was rejected for its modernist aesthetic. Franz Schultz, Mies van der Rohe, pp 212-13.
17 Dr. Todt's plane which crashed was to have had Speer on board as well, though Hitler's attendants detained Speer causing him to miss his flight. Speer suspected Hitler had a hand in this. Albert Speer, Inside The Third Reich, pp 193-99.
18 For details on the judgement at Nuremberg, see Edward Zilbert, Albert Speer and the Nazi Ministry of Arms, pp 269-77. Of the twenty-four individuals on trial, eleven were executed,see Albert Speer, Spandau: The Secret Diaries, pp 19-29.
19 Albert Speer, Inside The Third Reich, pp 112-13.
20 Dianne Ghirardo, Building New Communities, pp 21.
21 Foreword by Leon Krier, New Classicism, pp 12.
22 Leon Krier "An Architecture of Desire", AD, pp 33 and Foreword by Leon Krier, New Classicism, pp 8.

 

 

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