
Reichsfilme / Third Reich Documentaries
Die Bauten Adolf Hitlers (1938)
It was
Adolf Hitler's claim that from 1934 to 1940, Germany witnessed an
architectural renaissance richly deserving to be called 'historically
unique'...
This film provides visual documentation for that argument. An opening
montage surveys the glories of earlier Gothic and Baroque construction,
then points to Germany's recent architectural decay represented by the
Bauhaus school (with jazz music background). Salvation comes through
Hitler's call for a new German art, ushering in an architectural legacy
to endure 1,000 years. The sequences that follow illustrate the
varieties of National Socialist construction: youth hostels and party
schools, bridge projects and the Autobahn, ministries and party
buildings, as well as the famous monumental works, such as the
Zeppelinfeld at Nuremberg and the Olympia Stadium complex in Berlin.
With the unfolding of this visual panorama, a distinct aesthetic
argument asserts itself.