Reich Chancellery#New Reich Chancellery

When the military alliance of the North German Confederation was reorganised as a federal state with effect from July 1, 1867, the office of a Federal Chancellor (Bundeskanzler) was implemented at Berlin and staffed with the Prussian Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck. After the unification of Germany on January 18, 1871, by accession of the South German states, Bismarck became Reich Chancellor of the new German Empire.

In 1869, the Prussian state government had acquired the Rococo city palace of late Prince Radziwiłł on Wilhelmstraße No. 77 (former "Palais Schulenburg"), which from 1875 was refurbished as the official building of the Chancellery. It was inaugurated with the meetings of the Berlin Congress in July 1878, followed by the Congo Conference in 1884.

In the days of the Weimar Republic the Chancellery was significantly enlarged by the construction of a Modern southern annex finished in 1930. In 1932/33, while his nearby office on Wilhelmstraße No. 73 was renovated, the building also served as the residence of Reich President Paul von Hindenburg, where he appointed Adolf Hitler chancellor on 30 January 1933. The Hitler Cabinet held few meetings here. In 1935, the architects Paul Troost and Leonhard Gall redesigned the interior as Hitler's domicile. They also added a large reception hall/ballroom and conservatory, officially known as the Festsaal mit Wintergarten in the garden area. The latter addition was unique because of the large cellar that led a further one-and-a-half meters down to an air-raid shelter known as the Vorbunker.{{cite book |last=Lehrer |first=Steven |title=The Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker Complex. An Illustrated History of the Seat of the Nazi Regime |publisher=McFarland |location=Jefferson, NC |year=2006 |isbn=0-7864-2393-5 |page=117 }} Once completed in 1936, it was officially called the "Reich Chancellery Air-Raid Shelter" until 1943, with the construction to expand the bunker complex with the addition of the {{lang|de|Führerbunker}}, located one level below.{{cite book |last=Lehrer |first=Steven |title=The Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker Complex. An Illustrated History of the Seat of the Nazi Regime |publisher=McFarland |location=Jefferson, NC |year=2006 |isbn=0-7864-2393-5 |pages=117, 119 }} The two bunkers were connected by a stairway set at right angles which could be closed off from each other.{{cite book |editor-last=Mollo |editor-first=Andrew |editor2-last=Ramsey |editor2-first=Winston |title=The Reichs Chancellery and the Berlin Bunker then and now |series=After the Battle |volume=61 |publisher=Seymour Press |location=London |year=1988 |page=28 }}

Devastated by air raids and almost completely destroyed during the Battle of Berlin, the ruins of the Old Reich Chancellery were not cleared until 1950.

In late January 1938, Adolf Hitler officially assigned his favourite architect, Albert Speer, to build the New Reich Chancellery around the corner on Voßstraße, a western branch-off of Wilhelmstraße, requesting that the building be completed within a year. Hitler commented that Bismarck's Old Chancellery was "fit for a soap company"{{cite book |last1=Speer |first1=Albert |title=Inside the Third Reich |date=1970 |publisher=Orion Books |isbn=978-1-84212-735-3}} and not suitable as headquarters of a Greater German Reich. It nevertheless remained his official residence, where Hitler lived in the so-called Führerwohnung ("Leader apartment"). The Old and New Chancellery shared a large garden area, with the underground Führerbunker, where Hitler ultimately committed suicide at the end of April 1945.

Hitler placed the entire northern side of the Voßstraße at Speer's disposal, assigning him the work of creating grand halls and salons which "will make an impression on people".{{cite book |last1=Speer |first1=Albert |title=Inside the Third Reich |date=1970 |publisher=Orion Books |isbn=978-1-84212-735-3}} Speer was given a blank cheque—Hitler stated that the cost of the project was immaterial—and was instructed that the building be of solid construction, and that it be finished by the following January in time for the next New Year's diplomatic reception to be held in the new building.

Speer claimed in his autobiography that he had completed the task of clearing the site, designing, constructing, and furnishing the building in less than a year. In fact, preliminary planning and versions of the designs were already being worked on as early as 1935. To clear the space for the New Reich Chancellery, the buildings on the northern side of Voßstraße No. 2–10 had been demolished in 1937.

Over 4,500 people worked in shifts, so that progress could be made around the clock.{{Cite book |last=Lehrer |first=Steven |title=The Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker Complex |date=April 27, 2006 |publisher=McFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers |isbn=978-0-7864-2393-4 |location=Jefferson, NC |pages=85 |language=English}} The immense construction was finished 48 hours ahead of schedule, and the project earned Speer a reputation as a good organiser, which played a part in the architect becoming Armaments Minister and a director of forced labour later in the war. Speer recalls that the whole work force—masons, carpenters, plumbers, etc. were invited to inspect the finished building. Hitler then addressed the workers in the Sportpalast; interior fittings, however, were not finished until the early 1940s. In the end, the project cost over 90 million Reichsmarks (equivalent to {{Inflation|DE|90|1939}} million {{Inflation-year|DE}} €), and hosted the various ministries of the Reich.[http://nuremberg.law.harvard.edu/php/docs_swi.php?DI=1&text=who_was_who#government "Who Was Who in Nazi Germany"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110809135048/http://nuremberg.law.harvard.edu/php/docs_swi.php?DI=1&text=who_was_who |date=2011-08-09 }}, Nuremberg Trials Project. Harvard University. Retrieved 2 aug 2011

In his memoirs, Speer described the impression of the Reichskanzlei on a visitor:

{{blockquote|From Wilhelmsplatz an arriving diplomat drove through great gates into a court of honour. By way of an outside staircase he first entered a medium-sized reception room from which double doors almost {{convert|5.2|m|abbr=on}} high opened into a large hall clad in mosaic. He then ascended several steps, passed through a round room with domed ceiling, and saw before him a gallery {{convert|150|m|abbr=on}} long. Hitler was particularly impressed by my gallery because it was twice as long as the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. Hitler was delighted: "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!" During the next several months he asked to see the plans again and again but interfered remarkably little in this building, even though it was designed for him personally. He let me work freely.}}

The series of rooms comprising the approach to Hitler's reception gallery were decorated with a rich variety of materials and colours, and totalled {{convert|221|m|abbr=on}} in length. The gallery itself was {{convert|147.5|m|abbr=on}} long. Hitler's own office was {{convert|400|m2|abbr=on}} in size. From the outside, the chancellery had a stern, authoritarian appearance. From the Wilhelmplatz, guests would enter the Chancellery through the Court of Honour (Ehrenhof). The building's main entrance was flanked by two bronze statues by sculptor Arno Breker: "Wehrmacht" and "Die Partei" ("Armed Forces" and "The Party"). Hitler is said to have been greatly impressed by the building and was uncharacteristically free in his praise for Speer, lauding the architect as a "genius". The chancellor's great study was a particular favourite of the dictator. In it there stood a grand marble-topped table, which remained generally decorative up until 1944, when it served as an important part of the Nazi leader's military headquarters; the study being used for military conferences.{{Cite book |last=Lehrer |first=Steven |title=The Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker Complex |date=2006 |publisher=McFarland & Co. |isbn=978-0-7864-2393-4 |location=Jefferson, NC |pages=84 |language=English}} On the other hand, the Cabinet room was never used for its intended purpose.

The New Reich Chancellery suffered severe damage during the Battle of Berlin between April and May 1945 (in comparison, the Old Reich Chancellery was not as badly damaged). Andrei Gromyko, who would later become the Soviet foreign minister, visited the partially-destroyed structure a few weeks after the fighting in the city had completely ceased. He recalls, "We reached it not without difficulties. Ruined edifices, formless heaps of metal and ferro-concrete encumbered the way. To the very entrance of the Chancellery, the car could not approach. We had to reach it on foot..."{{quote without source|date=May 2021}} He noted the New Reich Chancellery "...was almost destroyed... Only the walls remained, riddled by countless shrapnel, yawning by big shot-holes from shells. Ceilings survived only partly. Windows loomed black by emptiness."{{quote without source|date=May 2021}}

The last stage of defense by defending German troops took place inside the Reich Chancellery, as mentioned by Gromyko, who stated the following:

{{blockquote|Doors, windows and chandeliers testified on them the big imprint of the battle, most of them being broken. The lowest floors of the Reich Chancellery represented chaos. Obviously, the garrison of the Citadel fiercely resisted here... All around lie heaps of crossbeams and overhead covers, both metal and wood and huge pieces of ferro-concrete. On both sides of a narrow corridor, there were certain disposed cells, all eroded by explosions… All this produced a grim and distressing impression. If photography of this underground citadel of Hitler existed, they would become a proper illustration to Dante's Hell; just select which circle.А. Андрей Громыко, Памятное, Москва: Политиздат, 1988, pp 216–217, translated in Maks Ostrovski, The Hyperbole of the World Order, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006, pp 144–145.}}

After World War II in Europe ended, the remains in what was then East Berlin (the Soviet-occupied sector of a divided Berlin) were demolished by the order of the Soviet occupation forces. Parts of the building's marble walls were rumoured to have been used in the building of the Soviet war memorial located in Treptower Park, or to renovate and repair the nearby war-damaged Mohrenstraße U-Bahn station. Petrographic analyses of materials used for construction there did not confirm those rumours.Hans-Ernst Mittig: "Marmor der Reichskanzlei", in: Dieter Bingen / Hans-Martin Hinz (Hrsg.): Die Schleifung / Zerstörung und Wiederaufbau historischer Bauten in Deutschland und Polen. Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005, {{ISBN|3-447-05096-9}}. Some of the so-called "red marble" (actually limestone) obtained from the demolition of the New Reich Chancellery was also supposedly used in the construction of the Moscow Metro's palatial-style stations after the war.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}} Also, it is alleged that a heater from one of Hitler's rooms was placed in a Protestant hospital located not too far away from the Reich Chancellery.[http://einestages.spiegel.de/external/ShowTopicAlbumBackground/a3489/l10/l0/F.html#featuredEntry Architektur der Angst] einestages – Zeitgeschichten auf Spiegel Online

While the western half of the plot was used by the East German government for the establishment of the so-called "Death-Strip" adjacent to the Berlin Wall in 1961 (when the barrier was being constructed), a Plattenbau apartment block, together with a kindergarten, was built on the eastern half (along Wilhelmstraße) during the 1980s.

{{Gallery

|title=

|width=200

|File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1991-041-03, Berlin, Bau der Neuen Reichskanzlei.jpg|The New Reich Chancellery under construction in 1938

|File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1988-045-28, Berlin, Neue Reichskanzlei.jpg|The New Reich Chancellery, pictured here on the junction of Hermann-Göring-Straße (now Ebertstraße) and Voßstraße in 1939

|File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1988-092-32, Berlin, Neue Reichskanzlei.jpg|The New Reich Chancellery as pictured on Voss Street in 1939

|File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1987-003-09A, Berlin, Neue Reichskanzlei, Innenhof.jpg|The New Reich Chancellery's Courtyard of Honor in 1939. The main entrance was flanked by Arno Breker's two bronze statues Die Wehrmacht and Die Partei ("The Armed Forces" and "The Party")

|File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1985-064-24A, Berlin, Neue Reichskanzlei, Gartenfront.jpg|The New Reich Chancellery's garden portal (gateway) in 1939

|File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-K1216-501, Berlin, Neue Reichskanzlei, Marmorgalerie.jpg|The New Reich Chancellery's grand marble gallery in 1939

|File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1985-064-28A, Berlin, Neue Reichskanzlei, Arbeitszimmer.jpg|The New Reich Chancellery's work-study office/room for Hitler in 1939

|File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1985-064-29A, Berlin, Neue Reichskanzlei, Reichskabinettsaal.jpg|The New Reich Chancellery's Reich government chamber (cabinet room) in 1939

|File:Karte-reichskanzlei.jpg|The location of the Old (15) and the New Reich Chancellery (1), together with the Vorbunker and the Führerbunker (red, 10), between Hermann-Göring-Straße (24) Voßstraße (25) and Wilhelmstraße (26)

|File:Voss Strasse and Wilhelmstrasse.JPG|The corner of Wilhelmstraße and Voßstraße today, now occupied by an apartment block and a Chinese restaurant

|File:Berlin Treptow Ehrenmal 11.jpg|A part of the Soviet War Memorial at Treptower Park, supposedly built from red marble – actually granite – which was said to be taken from the ruins of the New Reich Chancellery

|File:Second World War Exhibition - Imperial War Museum, London 2023-02-16 Reichs Chancellery Eagle Sculpted bronze national eagle-and-swastika Reichsadler Berlin Nazi Germany 279x162 cm.jpg|A bronze Nazi eagle from the New Reich Chancellery on display at the Imperial War Museum in London

|File:National Museum of the United States Air Force - 53313025554.jpg|Another Eagle-and-swastika on display at National Museum of the United States Air Force in Ohio

|File:Replica ca. 1980 of "Wehrmacht" ("Schwertträger") Nazi statue at Reichskanzlei by Arno Breker 1938-39 Foyer Deutsches Historiches Museum 2019-10-13 Not original art Lenin statue 3683.jpg|Replica of Arno Breker's Die Wehrmacht (Schwertträger) on display in German Historical Museum in Berlin

|File:Museum of World War II Natick Massachusetts USA 1999–2019 Nazi Germany Uniforms NSDAP Political leader SA Sturmabteilung Reichsadler banner 2015.jpg|Tapestry from the Reich Chancellery at the former International Museum of World War II, together with uniforms for a party leader and Sturmabteilung member.}}

• Chief of the Reich Chancellery
• German Chancellery
• Nazi architecture
• Vorbunker
• Welthauptstadt Germania
• Berchtesgaden Chancellery Branch office

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Cite book | author=Speer, Albert | title=Inside the Third Reich | location=New York | publisher=Macmillan | year=1970 | lccn=70-119132}}
• {{Cite book | author=Kellerhoff, Sven Felix | title=Berlin unterm Hakenkreuz (Berlin under the Swastika) | location=Berlin | publisher=Berlin Edition be.bra Verlag GmbH | year=2006 | isbn=978-3-8148-0147-6}}
• Allied Intelligence Map of Key Buildings in Berlin (Third Edition, 1945)

• {{Cite book

| last = Lehrer

| first = Steven

| title = The Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker Complex: An Illustrated History of the Seat of the Nazi Regime

| publisher = McFarland

| year = 2006

| pages = 214

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=i9GIAQAACAAJ&q=lehrer+chancellery

| isbn = 0-7864-2393-5}}

• {{Cite book

| last = Lehrer

| first = Steven

| title = Hitler Sites: A City-by-city Guidebook (Austria, Germany, France, United States)

| publisher = McFarland

| year = 2002

| pages = 224

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pAZoAAAAMAAJ&q=hitler+sites

| isbn = 0-7864-1045-0}}

• {{Cite book | author=Taylor, Blaine | title=Hitler's Headquarters: From Beer Hall to Bunker, 1920–1945 }}
• {{Cite book | author=Cowdery, Ray and Josephine | title=The New German Reichschancellery 1938–1945 |author-link=Ray Cowdery}}
• {{Cite book | author=Schönberger, Angela | title=Die Neue Reichskanzlei Von Albert Speer. Zum Zusammenhang von nationalsozialistischer Ideologie und Architektur | location=Berlin | publisher=Berlin: Gebr. Mann. | year=1981 }}
• {{Cite book | author=Scobie, Alex | title=Hitler's State Architecture: The Impact of Classical Antiquity. | location=University Park and London | publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press | year=1990 }}
• {{Cite book | author=Taylor, Robert | title=The Word in Stone. The Role of Architecture in the National Socialist Ideology. | location=Berkeley | publisher=University of California Press | year=1974 }}
• {{Cite book | author=Speer, Albert | title=Die Neue Reichskanzlei / Architekt Albert Speer. | location=München | publisher=Eher Verlag | year=1940 | url = https://archive.org/details/SpeerAlbertDieNeueReichskanzlei1940134S.}}
• {{Cite book | author=Neubauer, Christoph | title=Stadtführer durch Hitlers Berlin (Deutsch/English)| location=Frankfurt (Oder) | publisher=Flashback Medienverlag | year=2010 | url = http://www.flashback-medien.de/3d-projekte-stadtfuehrer-durch-hitlers-berlin-e.html | isbn = 978-3-9813977-0-3}}
• Neubauer, Christoph (2014): [https://web.archive.org/web/20140810032938/http://www.die-reichskanzlei.de/Veroeffentlichungen-Buch-DRK-Band-01.html Die Reichskanzlei – Architektur der Macht, Band 1 (1733–1875)]. Chr. Neubauer Verlag, Großschönau 2014, {{ISBN|978-3-9813977-1-0}}.

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090522161048/http://historyquestvideo.com/Ruins%20Volume%20II.html Ruins of the Reich] DVD R.J. Adams (Third Reich architecture ruins)
• [http://www.flashback-medien.de/3d-projekte-hitlers-berlin-3d-die-reichskanzlei-e.html Hitlers Berlin 3D – Die Reichskanzlei Interaktiv] DVD (Computer Animation of the Reich Chancellery).

{{Commons category|Reichskanzlei}}

{{Commons category|Neue Reichskanzlei}}

• [http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/kanzlei.htm Photographs of the Reich Chancellery]
• [http://www.atelier-neubauer.de/3d-projekte-hitlers-berlin-3d-die-reichskanzlei-e.html/3D Animation of the Reich Chancellery]
• [http://www.reichskanzlei-3d.de/g-rk-ws77-fass-front-gesamt-e.html 3D-stereoscopic images of Chancellery] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804044743/http://www.reichskanzlei-3d.de/g-rk-ws77-fass-front-gesamt-e.html |date=2016-08-04 }}
• [http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/nazi/kunst/architektur/index.html Website of the German History Museum with photographs and information]
• [http://www.stevenlehrer.com/reich_chancellery.htm Photographs of the Reich Chancellery]

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{{Authority control}}

Category:Nazi architecture

Category:Government buildings completed in 1938

Category:Buildings and structures in Berlin

Category:Demolished buildings and structures in Germany

Category:Berlin in World War II

Category:Government of Nazi Germany

Category:World War II sites in Germany

Category:Führer Headquarters

Category:Buildings and structures in Germany destroyed during World War II

Category:Former palaces in Germany