The Reich Chancellery and Fuhrerbunker Complex: An Illustrated History of the Seat of the Nazi Regime

ISBN-13: 9780786477333 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 214 str.

Steven Lehrer

Opis

Germany's Nazi government initially made its primary headquarters in one of Berlin's oldest buildings, the Old Reich Chancellery. Unsatisfied with the building, Adolf Hitler commissioned Albert Speer to design and build a newer, grander structure, and his New Reich Chancellery was completed in early 1939. Hitler described his New Reich Chancellery and other Nazi buildings as his -words of stone, - eternal monuments to the work that he and the Nazi party intended to perpetuate. Frequented by Hitler and his inner circle, the Chancellery witnessed their fanatical plans and was an architectural reflection of Hitler's megalomania. The Fuhrerbunker, built underneath the Chancellery, became the last refuge of a dying regime; it was here that Hitler retreated to order the destruction of Germany and ultimately to take his own life. This book is a virtual tour of the now demolished Chancellery and Fuhrerbunker. It covers the history of each structure, notes the architectural changes that Hitler made to suit his purposes, and describes the historical events that took place within each building's walls. Appendices contain a chronology of Reich Chancellors (1871-1945), a detailed list of renovations to the Chancellery, and a register of notable gatherings that took place in the Old Reich Chancellery prior to 1914. Texts of various speeches by Hitler are reproduced, along with a copy of his agreement to occupy Czechoslovakia, which was signed in the Reich Chancellery.

Spis treści

• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments v
• Introduction 1
• I. Wilhelmstraße 3
• II. Hitler in the Chancellery 30
• III. The New Reich Chancellery 63
• IV. Bunkers and Führerbunker 117
• Appendix A. King Friedrich Wilhelm I Presents Wilhelmstraße 77 to Graf von der Schulenburg 161
• Appendix B. Reich Chancellors 1871–1945 162
• Appendix C. Paul von Hindenburg 175
• Appendix D. Interior Renovations to the Reichskanzlerpalais 1875–1878 177
• Appendix E. Further Renovations to the Reichskanzlerpalais 1890–1925 179
• Appendix F. Notable Gatherings in the Reichskanzlerpalais Before 1914 180
• Appendix G. Hitler’s Speech at the Topping-Out Ceremony of the New Reich Chancellery in the Deutschlandhalle, August 2, 1938 182
• Appendix H. Hitler’s Speech in the Berlin Sportpalast, January 9, 1939, on the Occasion of the Completion of the New Reich Chancellery 186
• Appendix I. Adolf Hitler Describes His Chancellery Renovations 189
• Appendix J. Text of Hitler’s Agreement to Occupy Czechoslovakia, Signed in the New Reich Chancellery 192
• Appendix K. Heinrich Himmler’s Heydrich Eulogy 193
• Notes 197
• References 199
• Index 203