The Architecture of the Third Reich in Silesia and Spatial Planning in the “German East”

Abstract

The article highlights major issues and problems regarding our understanding of the architecture of the Third Reich in Silesia through two examples: a public building of the Neue Regierung Office in Wrocław/Breslau, and a small village Neuvorwerk/Pogorzele near Przemków, a model settlement for forestry workers. One such issue is the image of Silesia as an area exposed to colonization and Germanization processes, especially in the Middle Ages and in the eighteenth century. Another is the Third Reich’s selective use of history and the architecture of the past in propaganda, which fed into the myth of German Silesia and the superiority of German achievements in the region. The impact of these concepts and personal relationships are evident in projects implemented later in the occupied territories.