Main Events in the Career of Albert Speer Albert Speer, a very talented architect was Hitler's architect in the preceding years and during the Second World War. He was later promoted to very influential positions in Germany regarding the economy as a whole and was vital to Germanys war production and design, which resulted in a close friendship between him and the Nazi leader Adolph Hitler. Late in 1930, a certified architect of 3 years, Speer first heard Hitler speak at a beer hall, was impressed with the leader and what he had said and early 1931 he enthusiastically joined the NSDAP, later known as the Nazi Party. As an automobile owner, he was hired to drive Hitler around Berlin in 1932. …show more content…
Because of the same burning interest for architecture Speer became one of Hitler's best friends. The men were able to reach this closeness, as Spear didn't have a thirst for power or political intentions like many of the other party members. It was during the design and building of the barrack camps for the men of the autobahn, that Speer and Hitler developed an increasing intimacy as they spent lunches and dinners together in their tightly knit circle of important men. 'A close relationship had become established between us, and I counted on profiting, humanly and artistically, from it." (Speer, pg 89,1995) In 1934 he was rewarded with his first of many important commissions, the design of the huge parade grounds, searchlights, and banners of the spectacular Nuremberg Rally which was such an enormous success it was filmed by Leni Riefenstahl in Triumph of the Will. "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." (Speer, 1995 pg 116,)In 1936 Speer designed the German pavilion for the World Fair held in Paris in 1937. In 1937 peer was appointed to the position of Inspector General of Construction for the Reich Capital, a senior public
1. The first exhibit that I experienced was a film on Hitlers' rise to power. It showed how he played on the fears of the people by using propaganda to promote himself to becoming Chancellor of Germany. Ever though he lost the election, Hindenburg on January 30, 1933 appointed Hitler Chancellor.
In 1936, the summer Olympics were hosted in Berlin. Hitler was the chancellor of Germany at
His role was as a gas-van driver, where he would drive a van and the exhaust would feed into the back area of the car, suffocating the Jews seated there. Burmeister claims that he was “…too influenced by the propaganda of the time to have refused to have carried out the orders [he] had been given” Whether or not it can account for it, this manipulation of strategic propaganda could have influenced why Germans either became a part of the Holocaust or simply chose to ignore it.
“The staging itself reminded the audience of how fascists use such panoramas: […] Hitler at the Nazi Party Conference at Nuremberg in 1934 as reevoked in the monumental Triumph of the Will” (Crowl, 53). The huge red scrolls and banners with Richard’s badge of boar, the vast crowd waving red flags, all these imageries created by Richard Loncraine echo the past “glory” of Hitler when he convinced tamed German citizens with his mouth.
Adolf Hitler gained chancellorship in January 1933, transforming the political ideology of the Weimar Republic to a one-party, totalitarian dictatorship – Nazi Germany. Richard Wagner; born on May 22, 1813, died February 13, 1883 – six years before Adolf Hitler’s birth – was a German composer known for his operas and “music dramas.” Adolf Hitler was first introduced to Richard Wagner’s works at the age of twelve, observing one of Wagner’s operas; Lohengrin. Hitler wrote how “At the age of twelve, I saw … the first opera of my life, Lohengrin. In one instant I was addicted.” After being denied enrollment in the Academy of Fine Arts, Hitler joined the Austrian military service in 1914 – serving in the army when World War I broke out. After Germany’s defeat, Hitler began political work in 1919, joining the German Worker’s Party. In 1920, he was in charge of the propaganda, devoting himself to advancing his position in the party. Renamed as the National-sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei – Nazis, resentment at the loss of World War I and economic losses caused discontent within the party.
Throughout the history of the United States, ingenuity and creativity have been a strong point in the development of the United States. In designing the buildings for the World’s Fair, Daniel Burnham shows his talent in architecture by creating new and innovative designs with his partner John Root. Both Burnham and Root had been already successful architects and known for their designs. Even before Chicago was confirmed as the site of the
“One seldom recognizes the devil when he has his hand your shoulder.” These were the words said by Albert Speer, the Nazi who said sorry. So who was Albert Speer? Albert Speer (born March 19 1905) was an architect, author and high-ranking Nazi German government official. Speer studied in the technical college in Munich and Berlin before gaining his architectural license in 1927. Although he was an architect he originally wanted to become a mathematician when he was young but he ended up following the footsteps of his father and grandfather and decided to do architecture.
Albert Speer was an intelligent, affluent, well-educated man; in many ways he was an atypical Nazi. Albert Speer claimed to be uninterested in politics from a young age, however he himself like others were converted to the Nazi Party after attending a rally and hearing Adolf Hitler speak. The following essay will outline Albert Speer’s rise to prominence and whether or not he was a product of his time.
3) The ascent of National Socialism. In 1923, Hitler held a meeting of all high-ranking Nazis in a beer hall in Munich, where he revealed his plans for a coup. This failed attempt to overthrow the Weimar government would later be known as the Munich Putsch, which “gave the Nazi’s unparalleled publicity”. The use of the radio in order to spread the National socialist message played a pivotal role in the Nazi parties’ popular rise in society. Due to the ramifications that Germany faced after the First World War, the nation had unquestionably lost faith in tradition and their priorities had shifted to populist nationalism. On the eve of Hitler’s appointment, victory parades took place in dozens of German settlements. The capital saw nearly a million Berliners demonstrate their commitment to the National Socialist party who had pledged to establish “a strong-willed and strong-armed racial state” in “a very new twentieth-century Germany”. History shows that Hitler’s tremendous and irrefutably passionate presence came about at the perfect time, filling the void created by populace sentiment. Much of the
His advanced ability to deliver a persuasive speech and his use of propaganda made Hitler a favorable leader in the public eye. He created rally grounds to boost the Nazi morale. His trademark, the infamous swastika was a well-known symbol placed everywhere in Germany to remind the public who was in charge. Having to hail to Hitler every time a person passed the Feldherrnhalle wall and were found in Hitler’s presence was a show of propaganda that was the same as brainwashing. In old videos of speeches you see citizens or soldiers with their hand up, this was the salute to Hitler. The Nazis constructed stone buildings and death camps and walls that made Germany look much more intimidating. Hitler was able to put a new sense of German
Leon Krier was criticised for publishing a costly monograph on Albert Speer’s architecture (1985)in which, while acknowledging the crimes of the Nazis and the man, Krier nonetheless claimed the book’s only subject and sole justification was “Classical architecture and the passion of building” (cited by Jaskot, ‘Architecture of Oppression’, 2000). Discuss this claim, the controversy and the issues (historical, philosophical and ethical and possibly others) they raise. Can architecture, Classical, Modern or otherwise, be autonomous from politics and valued independently of the circumstances of politics and history that adhere to it?
The dominant political figure of German history in the twentieth century, Adolf Hitler, was born in a lower middle class family in the provincial Austrian town of Braunau am Inn on 20 April 1889. In 1907 Hitler applied to enter the Vienna Academy of Art but his application was rejected. After the death of his mother Klara, Hitler decided to move to Vienna. He drifted from job to job, often selling sketches or painting scenes of Old Vienna and it was a period that he himself later called the most miserable period of his life. Many of Hitler’s views of the world were shaped by his experiences on the streets of Vienna and it is probable that his violent anti-Semitism dates from this time.
Adolph Hitler wanted the 1936 Berlin Olympics to be a large scale national spectacle. So that the rest of the world could see the glory of Nazi Germany, he hired film producer Leni
Following the war he lived in war-torn Germany and attended many political gatherings. The turning point of Hitler's mesmerizing oratorical career occurred at a Nazi party meeting held on October 16, 1919. Hitler's emotional delivery of an impromptu speech captivated his audience. Through word of mouth, donations poured into the party's coffers, and subsequent mass meetings attracted hundreds of Germans eager to hear the young, forceful and hypnotic leader. With the assistance of party staff, Hitler drafted a party program consisting of twenty-five points. This platform was presented at a public meeting on February 24, 1920, with over 2,000 eager participants. After hecklers were forcibly removed by Hitler supporters armed with rubber truncheons and whips, Hitler electrified the audience with his masterful demagoguery.
Hitler and his parties rise to power were not as swift and decisive as many people think it to have been. Hitler’s political career started as a spy in a Munich Beer hall. According to “The Rise of Adolf Hitler” , Hitler went to a meeting in a beer hall in Munich thinking he was going to stamp out a communist uprising he actually ended up being persuaded to join the group after and outburst impressed several members( Hitler Joins German Workers Party). Although unimpressed by its disorganized and small workings, Hitler saw the party as something that could become a movement and agreed with there doctrine(Hitler Joins German Workers Party). After making many changes the party and its meetings grew in size. In 1921 Hitler was named the leader of the Nazi party. However this and the 55,000 members of the party were not enough. In 1923 on the cusp of a terrible inflation and mass hatred for the government Hitler planned a putsch to overthrow the new government and mimic Mussolini’s march on Rome(The Beer Hall Putch). It failed miserably and Hitler was imprisoned. In prison is when he wrote Mein Kampf. After serving 9 months of a 5 year sentence Hitler was released from prison with the goal of not making the same mistakes. He publicly stated that the only way the Nazis would seek power would be through the system(A New Begging). This would earn him much support and as future elections would ensue the Nazis soon gained a large seat in