Modern German Architecture

Modern German architecture in the early part of the twentieth century was dominated chiefly by two opposing schools of thought: Bauhaus architecture, which was centered on a world-renowned design school that was closed by the Nazis, and Nazi architecture, which was designed to promote the glory and grandeur of Germany.

The Bauhaus Style originated at the Staatliches Bauhaus, a school that operated from 1919 to 1933 where students could study the latest modern German architecture of the time. The focus of the new school combined crafts and fine arts. Founded by an architect named Walter Gropius in Weimar, the school operated without an architecture department for the first twelve months of its existence. The school had three different campuses, the first in Weimar, then in Dessau, and finally in Berlin, and was led by three different architects over its fourteen year lifespan: first, by Walter Gropius, followed by Hannes Meyer, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. With each change in leadership and location, the school shifted its instruction, professors, and politics. The Bauhaus style of modern German architecture influenced architects worldwide, architects who still mimic it today.

After World War I, the German government came under the control of the Weimar Republic, which was much more liberal than its predecessor in allowing radical experimentation in the arts, which created the perfect environment for the emergence of the Bauhaus style. Another influence was the work of British designer William Morris, who believed that art should meet the needs of society, and that form should be equivalent to function. Modernism also played a role in creating the Bauhaus style, inspiring its simplified forms, emphasis on functionality, and the reconciliation of mass production with the individual artistic spirit. These ideas influenced the creation of much of modern German architecture.

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they looked back to the architectural symbols of power from bygone eras. Hitler, an admirer of Roman architecture and Neoclassicism, as well as the neo-Baroque style that Kaiser Wilhelm II helped to propagate, ordered his architects to merge and expand upon these concepts, creating a style that was, at times, ridiculous. In effect, they created a fusion of classical and modern German architecture to suit their own purposes. Nazi architecture served three functions in the creation of the Third Reich: that of theater, symbol, and teacher. Many Nazi buildings were meant to serve as a stage for public events, gathering places that could be adorned with banners that would link the Nazis to Germany’s glorious past. They were also meant to be seen as symbols”though consistency was never a priority, and so long as the values and symbols that were a part of a building’s design were presented as German in a way that agreed with what the Nazis decreed was German, the building was considered Nazi architecture.