Spectacle, architecture and place at the Nuremberg Party Rallies: Projecting a Nazi vision of past, present and future

Cultural Geographies

Volumn 13, Issue 2, 2006, Pages 157-181

  Hagen, Joshua ^a   Ostergren, Robert ^b  

^a MARSHALL UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN; HISTORIC BUILDING; URBAN PLANNING;

BAVARIA; CENTRAL EUROPE; EURASIA; EUROPE; GERMANY; NUREMBERG;

EID: 33747159652     PISSN: 14744740     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1191/1474474006eu355oa     Document Type: Article

References (101)

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2. See also B. Rusinek, 'Die deutscheste aller deutschen Städte: Nürnberg als eine Hauptstadt des Nationalsozialismus', in B.-M. Baumunck and G. Brunn, eds, Hauptstadt: Zentren, Residenzen, Metropolen in der deutscen Geschichte (Cologne, DuMont, 1989), pp. 92-98.
3. S. Daniels and D. Cosgrove, eds, The iconography of landscape: essays on the symbolic representation, design and use of past environments (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1988);
4. J. Duncan and N. Duncan, '(Re)reading the landscape', Environment and planning D: society and space 6 (1988), pp. 117-26;
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6. T. Barnes and J. Duncan, eds, Writing worlds: discourse, text and metaphor in the representation of landscape (London, Routledge, 1992);
7. S. Daniels and D. Cosgrove, 'Spectacle and text: landscape metaphors in cultural geography', in J. Duncan and D. Ley, eds, Place/culture/ representation (London, Routledge, 1993);
8. L. Kong and B.S.A. Yeoh, 'The construction of national identity through the production of ritual and spectacle: an analysis of National Day parades in Singapore', Political geography 16 (1997), pp. 213-39;
9. D. Atkinson and D. Cosgrove, 'Urban rhetoric and embodied identities: city, nation, and empire at the Vittorio Emanuele II monument in Rome, 1870-1945', Annals of the Association of American Geographers 88 (1998), pp. 28-49.
10. F. Driver and D. Gilbert, 'Heart of empire? Landscape, space and performance in imperial London', Environment and planning D: society and space 16 (1998), pp. 11-28;
11. D. Ryan, 'Staging the imperial city: the Pageant of London, 1911', in F. Driver and D. Gilbert, eds, Imperial cities: landscape, display and identity (Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1999);
12. K. Till, 'Staging the past: landscape design, cultural identity and Erinnerungspolitik at Berlin's Neue Wache', Ecumene 6 (1999), pp. 251-83;
13. L. Lees, 'Towards a critical geography of architecture: the case of an ersatz Colosseum', Ecumene 8 (2001), pp. 51-86;
14. S. Hoelscher, 'Making place, making race: performances of whiteness in the Jim Crow South', Annals of the Association of American Geographers 93 (2003), pp. 657-86;
15. J. Hagen, 'The most German of towns: creating an ideal Nazi community in Rothenburg ob der Tauber', Annals of the Association of American Geographers 94 (2004), pp. 207-27.
16. N. Johnson, Ireland, the Great War and the geography of remembrance (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003), p. 10.
17. H.-U. Thamer, 'The orchestration of the national community: the Nuremberg Party Rallies of the NSDAP', in G. Berghahn, ed., Fascism and theatre: comparative studies on the aesthetics and politics of performance in Europe, 1925-1945 (Providence, RI, Berghahn Books, 1996), p. 172.
18. A. Hitler, Mein Kampf, trans. R. Manheim (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1971), p. 266.
19. B. M. Lane, Architecture and politics in Germany, 1918-1945 (Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1968), pp. 187-89.
20. Hitler made the final decision at a meeting in Bayreuth, but only after insisting that the Nuremberg city council agree to stipulations that the city place no restrictions on how the grounds would be laid out. Nuremberg mayor Willy Liebel convinced the council to accept Hitler's stipulations and so win approval for Nuremberg as the official rally site. See S. Zelnhefer, Die Reichsparteitage der NSDAP in Nürnberg (Nuremberg, Verlag Nürnberger Presse, 2002), pp. 63-65.
21. The rallies of the 1920s lasted only a few days and lacked the grand edifices and stage work associated with the more elaborately developed, week-long programmes instituted after 1933. See H. T. Burden, The Nuremberg Party Rallies: 1923-1939 (New York; Praeger, 1967) for a comparative accounting of the individual rally programmes.
22. For a detailed accounting of the content of the daily programme as it was established in 1933, see Zelnhefer, Reichsparteitage, pp. 95-113.
23. A. Schmidt, Geländebegebung: Das Reichsparteitagsgelände in Nürnberg (Nuremberg, Geschichte für Alle, 2002), pp. 160-63.
24. Zelnhefer, Reichsparteitage, pp. 84-85.
25. A voluminous literature describes the various sites and facilities that made up the rally grounds. Informative and up-to-date descriptions may be found in Schmidt, Geländebegehung;
26. Y. Doosry, 'Wohlauf, laßt uns eine Stadt und einen Turm bauen...': Studien zum Reichsparteitagsgelände in Nürnberg (Tübingen, Wasmuth, 2002);
27. and in E. Dietzfelbinger and G. Liedtke, Nürnberg - Ort der Massen. Das Reichsparteitagsgelände Vorgeschichte und schwieriges Erbe (Berlin, Links, 2004).
28. The text from the official 1938 guide to the grounds, replete with detailed dimensions and descriptions of all the major facilities, may be found in J. Dülfer, J. Thies and J. Henke, Hitlers Städte: Baupolitik im Dritten Reich. Eine Dokumentation (Cologne, Böhlau, 1978).
29. H. Bernett, 'Zur Grundsteinlegung vor 50 Jahren: Das "Deutsche Stadion" in Nürnberg - ein Phantom nationalsozialistischen Größenwahns', Sozial- und Zeitgeschichte des Sports 1 (1987), pp. 14-39;
30. A. Scobie, Hitler's state architecture: the impact of classical antiquity (University Park, PA, College Art Association, 1990), pp. 75-80;
31. P. Jaskot, The architecture of oppression: the SS, forced labour and the Nazi building economy (London, Routledge, 2000), pp. 60-61.
32. H. Hoffman, The triumph of propaganda: film and National Socialism, 1933-1945 (Providence, RI, Berghahn Books, 1996), pp. 152-53;
33. Thamer, 'The orchestration of the national community', pp. 172-76.
34. Ibid., pp. 181-82;
35. Zelnhefer, Reichsparteitage, p. 246.
36. This sequence in the film Triumph of the will (1935), which runs for a little over 8 minutes, is one of the film's most memorable and powerful scenes.
37. F. Sports, Hitler and the power of aesthetics (Woodstock, NY, Overlook Press, 2003), pp. 59-60.
38. Zelnhefer, Reichsparteitage, pp 77-79.
39. Y. Karow, Deutsches Opfer: Kultische Selbstauslöchung auf den Reichsparteitagen der NSDAP (Berlin, Akademie, 1997), p. 40.
40. Lane, Architecture and politics in Germany, pp. 189-90;
41. see also Spotts, Hitler and the power of aesthetics, pp. 330-35.
42. Scobie, Hitler's state architecture, p. 69.
43. Lane, Architecture and politics in Germany, pp. 190-91.
44. See Jascot, The architecture of oppression, p. 53;
45. Scobie, Hitler's state architecture, pp. 87, 77.
46. Ibid., pp. 80-85.
47. Lane, Architecture and politics in Germany, p. 193;
48. L.-O. Larsson, 'Classicism in the architecture of the XXth century', in L Krier, ed., Albert Speer Architecture, 1932-1942 (Brussels, Aux Archives D'Architecture Moderne, 1985), pp. 233-45.
49. A. Speer, Inside the Third Reich (New York, Macmillan, 1970), pp. 56-57.
50. Jaskot, The architecture of oppression, pp. 61-67.
51. Quoted in Karow, Deutsches Opfer, p. 51.
52. W. Lotz, 'Ein Denkmal des Stolzes: Die Bauten auf dem Reichsparteitagsgelände in Nürnberg', Die Kunst im deutschen Reich 1 (1937), pp. 76-88.
53. U. von Petz, Stadtsanierung im Dritten Reich: Dargestellt an ausgewählten Beispielen (Dortmund, IRPUD, 1987);
54. W. Speitkamp, 'Denkmalpflege und Heimatschutz in Deutschland zwischen Kulturkritik und Nationalsozialismus', Archiv für Kulturgeschichte 70 (1988), pp. 149-93;
55. U. von Petz, 'Urban renewal under National Socialism: practical policy and political objectives in Hitler's Germany', Planning perspectives 5 (1990), pp. 169-87;
56. R. Koshar, 'Altar, stage and city: historic preservation and urban meaning in Nazi Germany', History and Memory 3 (1991), pp. 30-59;
57. T. Scheck, Denkmalpflege und Diktatur: Die Erhaltung von Bau- und Kunstdenkmälern in Schleswig-Holstein und im Deutsche Reich zur Zeit des Nationalsozialismus (Berlin, Verlag für Bauwesen, 1995);
58. R. Koshar, Germany's transient pasts: preservation and national memory in the twentieth century (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1998);
59. Hagen, 'The most German of towns'.
60. J. Lincke, 'Die Wiederinstandsetzung der Nürnberger Kaiserburg im Jahre 1934', Der Burgwart 36 (1935), pp. 12-19.
61. W. Brugmann, 'Bausünden in Alt-Nürnberg', Das Bayerland 45 (1934), pp. 218-23;
62. Berlitz, 'Baupflege in deutschen Städten', Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung 57 (1937), pp. 1033-35.
63. W. Liebel, 'Zum Geleit', Nürnberg: Die Stadt der Reichsparteitage, special issue of Das Bayerland 46 (1935), p. 1.
64. Die Erneuerung der Altstadt in Nürnberg, ed. Oberbürgermeister der Stadt der Reichsparteitage Nürnberg, vol. 3 (Nuremberg, Volkhardt & Wilbert, 1937), p. 7.
65. H. Höhn, 'Umgestaltungen in der Altstadt von Nürnberg', Deutsche Kunst und Denkmalpflege 4 (1934), p. 73.
66. Brugmann, 'Bausünden in Alt-Nürnberg';
67. Höhn 'Umgestaltungen in der Altstadt von Nürnberg';
68. Berlitz, 'Baupflege in deutschen Städten'.
69. Die Erneuerung der Altstadt in Nürnberg (1937), pp. 9-10.
70. Lincke, 'Die Wiederinstandsetzung der Nürnberger Kaiserburg', pp. 12, 19.
71. H. Höhn, 'Die Wiederherstellung der Kaiserburg in Nürnberg', Deutsche Kunst und Denkmalpflege 5 (1935), p. 25.
72. Die Erneuerung der Altstadt in Nürnberg, ed. Oberbürgermeister der Stadt der Reichsparteitage Nürnberg, vol. 4 (Nuremberg, Volkhardt & Wilbert, 1941), p. 36.
73. Höhn, 'Umgestaltungen in der Altstadt von Nürnberg', pp. 76-77;
74. Die Erneuerung der Altstadt in Nürnberg, vol. 3, pp. 41-49.
75. Ibid., vols. 3 and 4;
76. J. Lincke, 'Erneurungsarbeiten am Heilig-Geist-Spital in Nürnberg', Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung 60 (1940), pp. 705-12.
77. Die Erneuerung der Altstadt in Nürnberg, vol. 4, p. 72.
78. Ibid., pp. 65-81.
79. Brugmann, 'Bausünden in Alt-Nürnberg', p. 221. Brugmann does not specify what exactly is 'Moorish' about the synagogue, but is probably referring to its historicized entrance, which featured columns reminiscent of Arabic Spain, or possibly its large domed roof.
80. Quoted in A. Schmidt, 'Saubere Altstadt: "Entschadelung" und Zerstörung der Nürnberger Altstadt im Nationalsozialismus', in H. Beer et. al., eds, Bauen in Nürnberg 1933-1945: Architektur und Bauformen im Nationalsozialismus (Nuremberg, Tümmels, 1995), p. 142.
81. F. Kriegbaum, Nürnberg, 2nd edn (Berlin, Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1939), p. 9.
82. W. Brugmann, 'Die Bauten des Reichsparteitage', Nürnberg: Die Stadt der Reichsparteitage, special issue of Das Bayerland 46 (1935), p. 96.
83. Guide: The Buildings of the Party Rally Grounds in the Town of the Party Rallies Nuremberg (Nuremberg, Zweckverband Reichsparteitag Nürnberg, 1937).
84. F. Bock, Nürnberg: Von der Stadt der Reichstage zur Stadt der Reichsparteitage. (Stuttgart, Franck, 1938), p. 60.
85. Ibid., p. 61.
86. Most of the crown jewels had been stored in Nuremberg from 1424 to 1792. During the Napoleonic wars they were moved for safekeeping to Vienna, where they remained until 1938. R. Endres, 'Carissima civitas: Kaiserstadt und Aufbewahrungsort der Reichsinsignien', in Baumunck and Brunn, Hauptstadt, pp. 72-87.
87. C. Sabo, Die Stadt der Parteitage Nürnberg (Berlin, K.G., 1938).
88. Ibid.
89. G. Schwemmer, Nürnberg: Das Bild einer politischen Stadt (Potsdam, Ludwig Voggenreiter, 1937), p. 80.
90. W. Dittschlag, Nürnberg: Die Stadt der Reichsparteitage (Düsseldorf, August Bagel, 1937), p. 10.
91. Ibid., p. 97.
92. Schwemmer, Nürnberg, p. 80.
93. E.g. E. Eichhorn, 'Kaiserort and Führerstadt: Die imperiale Tradition Nürnbergs und ihre Bedeutung für die Reichsparteitagsgelände', in Centrum Industriekultur, eds, Kulissen der Gewalt: Das Reichspartietagsgelände in Nürnberg (Munich, Hugendubel, 1992), pp. 13-18; Zelnhefer's Die Reichsparteitage der NSDAP, which provides an incredibly detailed look at the rallies but only devotes 6 pages to the redesign of old Nuremberg; while Doosry's lengthy Wohlauf, laßt uns eine Stadt und einen Turm bauen... ignores the importance of old Nuremberg as a rally venue.
94. Illustrierte Führer durch Nürnberg und Umgebung, 35th edn (Leipzig, Woerl's Reischandbücher, 1939), p. 15.
95. Kong and Yeoh, 'The construction of national identity', 216 (emphasis added).
96. See D. Harvey, 'Monument and myth', Annals of the Association of American Geographers 69 (1979), pp. 362-81;
97. N. Johnson, 'Cast in stone: monuments, geography and nationalism', Society and space 13 (1995), pp. 51-66;
98. Atkinson and Cosgrove, 'Urban rhetoric and embodied identities'.
99. On national monuments and festivals in Germany, see G. Mosse, The nationalization of the masses: political symbolism and mass movements in Germany from the Napoleonic Wars through the Third Reich (Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press, 1975);
100. R. Koshar, From monuments to traces: artifacts of German memory, 1870-1990 (Berkeley, University of California Press, 2000).
101. Quoted in Zelnhefer, 'Die historische Kulisse', in Centrum Industriekultur, eds, Unterm Hakenkreuz: Alltag in Nürnberg 1933-1945 (Munich, Hugendubel, 1993), p. 40.