Hitler’s Constructions

It was 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.