Download Yana_totalitarianarchitecture_October18

Yana Stainova
October 18, 2010
Totalitarian architecture is a frightening illustration of how a dictatorial ideology can
suffocate the concept of citizenship and democracy, erase the value of human life, and
completely crush the individual under its weight. Architectural design is the visual equivalent of
ambitious projects of social engineering. In this paper, I will study how architecture was used as
a tool for control in Nazi Germany and how it continues to echo in dictatorial schemes in North
Korea to this very day.
A repressive regime of utopian social engineering can only flourish in a given historical
context. In Seeing Like a State, Scott defines four basic elements that define the functioning of
regimes within what he terms “high modernism.” The first precondition is an administrative
ordering of nature and society. The second is a heightened belief in scientific progress to be
harnessed in the name of “huge, utopian changes in people’s work habits, living patterns, moral
conduct, and worldview” (Scott 5). The third is an authoritarian state that is ambitiously intent on
using its full coercive power to bring its concrete ideas and visions to life. The final element is a
“prostate civil society that lacks the capacity to resist these plans” (Ibid. 7).
Economically bereft and politically weak, post-World War I Germany proved to be fertile
soil for Hitler’s rise to power. Hitler’s ideology consisted in proclaiming the state to be
subservient to the nationality and in glorifying racial purity. He considered himself a leader who
incorporated the will of the masses; eventually, his ideology expanded to a quest for world
domination. Hitler began to execute what Scott would call “a dictatorship of the planner” – he
exercised complete and uncontested control over defining what was best for the nation and how
to implement those plans (Ibid. 113). Hitler’s political dictatorship is reflected by his monopoly
over architecture in Germany. He exercised dominion over the architectural decisions and styles,
driving the modernist architects (mainly of the predominant “Bauhaus movement”) into exile:
1
Yana Stainova
October 18, 2010
“Nazi domination of the organizations of the building profession, combined with the selective
purges, meant that few major commissions, if any, would be awarded to the modernists”
(Diefendorf 51).
Hitler was strongly drawn to architecture and spent a lot of time and energy working with
his chief architect Albert Speer on plans to rebuild the five “leader cities”: Nuremberg, Munich,
Hamburg and Linz. He had dreams that modern technology would allow him to overshadow the
magnificence of even ancient Egypt or Rome. Hitler claimed that the Germans were the progeny
of the Romans who formed the original race two thousand years ago; this justified his ambitions
towards “monumentality and record dimensions” of antiquity (Thies 46). While the intensity of
building varied according to Hitler’s successes and failures in war, it remained a top priority and
received adequate funding even in times of economic crisis.
Hitler considered architecture important for the success of his ideology because he
believed that buildings would instill in people the self-confidence that came of being
representatives of the superior race: “only through such mighty works can one give a people the
consciousness of being the equals of any other great country, even America” (Diefendorf 54). In
a time of crisis, buildings were meant to boost self-confidence. As Hitler himself said: “The great
building program is a tonic against the inferiority complex of the German people” (Adam 211)
Furthermore, architecture was a “permanent form” for expressing the National Socialist ideas
(Ibid. 209). Architecture was a way to instill the regime’s authority and unite people behind
common goals and aesthetic ideas (Ibid. 211).
While building these colossal monuments, Hitler kept emphasizing that “it was not the
work of one man, but a communal effort with stones and marble from the whole Reich” (Adam
2
Yana Stainova
October 18, 2010
256). An exploration into the effort behind these building endeavors takes us to the most
horrifying depths of Hitler’s dictatorship – the concentration camps. In Architecture of
Oppression Jaskot argues that “merely studying how ideology permeated through the building
designs overlooks the essential aspect of “the process of production” (Jaskot 6). Jaskot reports
that the German Earth and Stone Works was set up in April 1939 to control the harnessing of
concentration camp forced labor in the production of bricks and quarrying of stone. Severe
punishment increased productivity, and the constant inflow of new prisoners guaranteed a solid
workforce. This made every worker easily replaceable and further decreased preoccupation with
the working conditions. The concentration camps are the gravest proof of the lack of respect for
human life in Hitler’s schemes.
Initially, Hitler concentrated on building enormous four-lane motorways and magnificent
bridges which would criss-cross the country and eventually provide pathways to what were to
become the future territories of the Reich: “A powerful symbol of political strength, willpower,
and achievement, they were meant to provide the conquering military with easy access to the rest
of Europe” (Adam 216). His building projects also employed a large workforce which alleviated
unemployment and were thus greeted with great enthusiasm by the public.
As noted above, when Hitler came to power in 1933, most of the building projects were
directed towards building roads and public structures, including fewer “monumental building
projects” (Thies 5). As the Nazi party consolidated its power, the intensification of “monumental
architectural policy” began. The style of the buildings was colossal and the material Hitler
preferred was stone, giving them a military look. In this setting, humans appeared insignificant:
“The human being was dwarfed by the scale of the buildings, reduced to an insignificant prop,
which took on value only in an organized and choreographed mass” (Adam 227).
3
Yana Stainova
October 18, 2010
One of Hitler’s priorities for Berlin in 1933 was the building of an Olympic Stadium,
since Germany was to host the Olympic games in 1936. Because racial purity found expression
in the glorification of the body, the promotion of physical fitness was a cornerstone in Hitler’s
ideology. Furthermore, more than merely a sports facility, the stadium was to be “a huge
assembly place for hundreds of thousands to celebrate Nazi rituals and experience group
exhilaration” (Adam 248). In 1934 Hitler initiated the building of the Tempelhof Airport which
was to be “the most beautiful and largest in the world” (Ibid. 248). Again, the buildings were not
to serve the human being but to erase him. Herber Rimpl, a leading designer of industrial
architecture during the Nazi years, declared in 1944 that, in industrial buildings, “the standard is
not the human being but the machine, and in fact the machine as means of production and as end
product. The doors of an airplane factory are not determined by the height of humans and also
not by ideas of either representative state buildings or of cults but simply by the size of the
airplanes, which move into the hall” (Diefendorf 52).
In 1938 Hitler commissioned Speer to enlarge the Old Chancellery, and the hard-working
architect impressed even the Fuhrer with the result. The exterior was austere but the inside was
richly decorated and aimed to impress. Guests and foreign dignitaries would be led in through a
marble gallery that was twice as long as the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles. The aim was that while
walking the 720 feet to greet the Fuhrer, the visitor would feel the great power of the emperor:
“On the long walk from the entrance to the reception hall they’ll get a taste of the power and
grandeur of the German Reich!” Hitler had remarked to his architect (Adam 257).
The other main project of Berlin was a giant axis of roads stretching from north to south
and from east to west. In 1938, for his birthday, Speer gave Hitler the first 4 miles of the Berlin
Great Axis Avenue flanked by 400 lamps. The avenue would end with a triumphal arch. At the
4
Yana Stainova
October 18, 2010
other end there was also to be a Great Hall known as the Kuppelhalle with a seating capacity of
180,000. The cupola would rise 1,050 feet and on the top of the building there would be a 100foot-high Eagle grasping the world in its talons, “symbolizing Hitler’s role as ruler of the world”
(Adam 265).
Nazi social and building architecture is a ghost of the past which continues to haunt
major German cities with its material presence. However, North Korea provides a living example
of social engineering and its corresponding architectural style to this day. North Korea came into
existence in 1945 when Korea, until then a colony of Japan, was divided into north and south.
North Korea was occupied by Soviet forces and many refugees fled the country. In 1948 the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was founded and Kim Il Sung became premier. In 1950
North Korea occupied most of South Korea. UN forces and the US intervened on the side of
South Korea, while China supported the North until the war ended in 1953. In 1955 North Korea
initiated a policy of isolationism and declared a doctrine of juche or “self-reliance.” Kim Il Sung
consolidated his leadership and conducted many purges, collectivized land, and nationalized the
industry. Both China and the Soviet Union cut off economic aid to North Korea in the 60s. With
the collapse of Communism in 1989, North Korea’s diplomatic and foreign-trade links
weakened. In 1994 Kim Il Sung died of a heart attack and was succeeded by his son Kim Jong Il.
In 1995 a major famine paralyzed the country and is said to have claimed the lives of a million
people or more.
The city of Pyongyang was completely destroyed during the Korean War, and labor
brigades of students and soldiers were mobilized to clear the rubble from the destructions. An
optimistic energy reigned as grandiose plans were made “for sprawling parks, wide streets, and
grandiose buildings.” Despite the constant building projects, even Kim admitted that “most of
5
Yana Stainova
October 18, 2010
the citizens of the capital were still living in shabby dugouts and old-fashioned one-room
houses” (Springer 24). The contrast between the magnificent buildings and monuments in honor
of the regime and the substandard living conditions of the regular people speaks of the paradox
of totalitarian regimes.
Some building monuments in the city exemplify the main characteristics of the dominant
ideology. The personality cult of Kim Il Sung is illustrated vividly by the Mansudae Grand
Monument constructed in 1972 for the leader’s 60th birthday. It is 20 meters tall and is one of the
largest monuments erected to any leader, anywhere. The inscriptions on the two flags flanking
the statue demonstrate the dominant trends in the regime’s ideology: “Long Live General Kim Il
Sung!” and the other: “Let’s Drive out the U.S. Imperialists and Reunite Our Fatherland!”
(Springer 45). When Kim Il Sung died in 1994, millions gathered in front of the monument to
mourn his death.
The Korean Arch of Triumph (similar to the building desired but never completed by
Hitler) is 60 meters high and was built in 1982. It stands to honor Kim’s war against the Japanese
which he supposedly led in 1925 when he was only 13. The top of the arch bears the words
“Song of General Kim Il Sung.” Modeled after the French, the Korean Arch of Triumph is the
largest in the world. A three tiered roof is an element characteristic of Korean national
architecture (Springer 88).
The Ryugyong Hotel is a symbol of the inefficiency and economic failure of a regime. It
is a building 330 meters tall which is visible from anywhere in Pyongyang. The building is 330
meters tall and is the most visible point in Pyongyang. Scheduled to open in 1989 and modeled
after Stalinist skyscrapers it was supposed to be the world’s tallest hotel at the time. However,
6
Yana Stainova
October 18, 2010
the construction was mysteriously stalled in 1992. The project is estimated to have cost $750
million dollars at exactly the same time when Korea was going through a famine which claimed
the lives of millions. A tall abandoned fossil, the hotel is treated by the citizens as non-existent,
because it does not serve any function. But from beginning to end, this project is a paradox. As
Springer points out, why did North Korea, need a hotel of such dimensions as it closed its
borders to the world?
Both in North Korea and Nazi Germany, the most salient feature of the authoritarian
ideology was the personality cult. Buildings in the city were presented to both leaders for their
birthdays, testifying to the rulers’ complete possession and personalization of urban space which
is normally considered to be public. The colossal nature of the buildings that aim to surpass in
size all other ones around the world also is a symptom of the competitive air with which
authoritarian leaders approached their ascent to power. Their ambitious and competitive
architectural projects were being carried out in times of dire economic and political crisis. In
Germany these projects were executed by a labor force which was exploited, tortured, and killed
in concentration camps; in North Korea the workforces was a starving and deprived population.
These facts testify to a lack of respect for the individual’s life. As Scott notes, “What is perhaps
most striking about high-modernist schemes, despite their quite genuine egalitarian and often
socialist impulses, is how little confidence they repose in the skills, intelligence, and experience
of ordinary people” (Scott 346). The deathly paradox of utopian social engineering is that it is
carried out in the name of the people but completely overlooks the individual, reduces him to an
insignificant, anonymous, and standardized subject.
7
Yana Stainova
October 18, 2010
Works Cited:
Adam, Peter. Art of the Third Reich. New York: H.N Abrams, 1992. Print.
Jaskot, Paul B. The Architecture of Oppression: the SS, Forced Labor and the Nazi Monumental
Building Economy. London: Routledge, 2000. Print.
Diefendorf, Jeffry M. In the Wake of War: the Reconstruction of German Cities after World War
II. New York: Oxford UP, 1993. Print.
Rose, Simon. "Totalitarian Architecture of the Third Reich." Dark Roasted Blend. 17 Feb. 2009.
Web. 18 Oct. 2010. <http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2009/02/totalitarian-architectureof-third.html>.
"Seven Most Ostentatious Monuments in North Korea." Popular | Environmental Graffiti. Web.
18 Oct. 2010. <http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/architecture/news-7-mostostentatious-monuments-north-korea>.
Scott, James C. Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition
Have Failed. New Haven: Yale UP, 1998. Print.
Springer, Chris. Pyongyang: the Hidden History of the North Korean Capital. Budapest: Entente
Bt., 2003. Print.
Thies, Jochen. "Nazi Architecture - a Blueprint for World Domination: the Last Aims of Adolf
Hitler." Nazi Propaganda: The Power and the Limitations. London: Croom Helm., 1983.
Print.
Zalampas, Sheree Owens. Adolf Hitler. Bowling Green: Bowling Green State University
Popular, 1990. Print.
8