“Made to Human Measure”

Nazi Architecture in Poznań

Abstract

The number and size of residential estates in Poznań demonstrate the importance of the Third Reich’s presence in its tangible form for the Nazi propaganda. The fact that the construction industry in Germany was almost at a standstill during World War II only adds to their relevance. Hanna Grzeszczuk-Brendel shows that the impartial interpretations of Nazi architecture as a style and yet another art trend fail to provide an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon. Instead the author analysis the estates in Poznań in the context of other german plans for this city and offers new interpretation of their symbolical meaning in relation to main concepts of NS-ideology, like “blood and soil” or “the party group as a housing unit”.