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German newsreel film: Rapturous crowds greet Hitler on
Speer balcony of Old Reich
Chancellery after his triumphant return by train from France, July 6, 1940. Reichsmarschall
Hermann Göring stands next to Hitler.
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In 1945-46, the Russians obtained the marble for their
Berlin war memorial from the ruins of Hitler's New Reich Chancellery, on the
corner of Wilhelmstraße and Voßstraße, which Albert Speer designed and finished
in 1939.
Hitler had airily told Speer that the Old Reich Chancellery was “fit for a soap
company.” Located at Wilhelmstraße 77, the old chancellery had been built
1736-1739 as a palace for Count von Schulenburg. Otto von Bismarck remodeled the
building as his chancellery.
Hitler decreed that the enormous New Reich Chancellery should impress every
visitor with its monumentality. “On the long corridor from the entrance to the
reception hall, they’ll learn something about the grandeur of the German Reich,”
said the Führer. The long corridor was 300 meters, with a court of honor, a
forecourt, a mosaic hall, a round hall, and a marble gallery along the way. At
146 meters, the reception hall was twice as long as the hall of mirrors at
Versailles. Hitler’s own office was 400 meters square. From the exterior, the
Reich Chancellery had a stern, authoritarian appearance; Arno Breker's statue of
a muscular, nude sword-bearer, "Army," stood to the right of the honor
courtyard entrance. The
chancellery interior had an
ascetic, cool splendor. Only German wood and marble were used in the building.
Many of the couches were so heavy that four men were required to lift them. The
East Germans began demolishing the bombed out chancellery in 1949, and didn’t
finish until 1956.
Chancellery marble was incorporated into the Mohrenstraße subway station.
Authorities are divided over whether the red marble in the foyer of Humboldt
University came from the Chancellery.
Before 1933, the land under the New Reich Chancellery belonged to Jewish
department store magnate Georg Wertheim. The Nazis coerced Wertheim to dispose
of his Berlin property. The Wertheim family is now trying to recover this land,
but the German government, the present owner, does not want to give it up.
Video: German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop receives Soviet Foreign
Minister V. M.
Molotov at the Anhalter Bahnhof, November 12, 1940. Molotov is driven to the New
Reich Chancellery, where he confers with Hitler; the sharp interchanges between
the two men hardened Hitler's resolution to attack the Soviet Union. "Hitler
clasped me with one hand when our picture was being taken," Molotov told an
interviewer many years later. "I was asked in Canada in 1942 why I was smiling
in that picture. Simply because they got nothing from us and never would!"
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German newsreel film: Crowds greet Hitler in
Wilhelmstraße entrance courtyard of the Old
Reich Chancellery on the morning of his 50th birthday, April 20th, 1939.
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From the Chancellery, Hitler made his last radio speech,
January 30th, 1945, the twelfth anniversary of his appointment as Reich
Chancellor. On the same day, a Russian submarine sank the Wilhelm Gustloff,
evacuating German civilians and wounded German soldiers and sailors from Gdnyia
(Gotenhafen) to Kiel. The sinking remains the worst disaster in shipping
history, in terms of loss of life in a single vessel. Official German records
estimate that 6,050 people died in the icy Baltic waters, but others have calculated 9,000 to 10,000
fatalities. Many of the victims had just listened to Hitler's Chancellery speech
over the ship's loudspeakers:
| ...Ich appelliere in dieser Stunde deshalb an das ganze deutsche Volk, an der Spitze aber an meine alten Mitkämpfer und an alle Soldaten, sich mit einem noch größeren härteren Geist des Widerstandes zu wappnen, bis wir — wieder wie schon einmal den Toten dieses gewaltigen Ringens den Kranz mit der Schleife auf das Grab legen dürfen: „Und ihr habt doch gesiegt!“ Ich erwarte von jedem Deutschen, daß er deshalb seine Pflicht bis zum Äußersten erfüllt, daß er jedes Opfer, das von ihm gefordert wird und werden muß, auf sich nimmt, ich erwarte von jedem Gesunden, daß er sich mit Leib und Leben einsetzt im Kampf, ich erwarte von jedem Kranken und Gebrechlichen oder sonst Unentbehrlichen, daß er bis zum Aufgebot seiner letzten Kraft arbeitet, ich erwarte von den Bewohnern der Städte, daß sie die Waffen schmieden für diesen Kampf, und ich erwarte vom Bauern, daß er unter höchstmöglicher eigener Einschränkung das Brot gibt für die Soldaten und Arbeiter dieses Kampfes. Ich erwarte von allen Frauen und Mädchen, daß sie diesen Kampf, so wie bisher, mit äußerstem Fanatismus unterstützen. Ich wende mich mit besonderem Vertrauen dabei an die deutsche Jugend. Indem wir eine so verschworene Gemeinschaft bilden, können wir mit Recht vor den Allmächtigen treten und ihn um seine Gnade und seinen Segen bitten. Denn mehr kann ein Volk nicht tun, als daß jeder, der kämpfen kann, kämpft und jeder, der arbeiten kann, arbeitet und alle gemeinsam opfern, nur von dem einen Gedanken erfüllt, die Freiheit, die nationale Ehre und damit die Zukunft des Lebens sicherzustellen. Wie schwer auch die Krise im Augenblick sein mag, sie wird durch unseren unabänderlichen Willen, durch unsere Opferbereitschaft und durch unsere Fähigkeiten am Ende trotzdem gemeistert werden. Wir werden auch diese Not überstehen. Es wird auch in diesem Kampf nicht Innerasien siegen, sondern Europa — und an der Spitze jene Nation, die seit eineinhalbtausend Jahren Europa als Vormacht gegen den Osten vertreten hat und in alle Zukunft vertreten wird: Unser Großdeutsches Reich, die deutsche Nation!" | ...Therefore, in this hour, I call on the entire German Volk, especially my old comrades in arms and all soldiers, to resist even more tenaciously, until we can, as before, lay wreath and bow on the graves of the dead from this fierce battle, with the inscription, “and you still were victorious.” I expect that every German will fulfill his duty to the utmost, that he will make every sacrifice demanded of him. I expect that every able-bodied person will fight, body and soul. I expect that the sick, the frail, and the otherwise indispensable, will expend all their strength. I expect city dwellers to forge weapons for this war, and I expect farmers to devote themselves single-mindedly to providing bread for the soldiers and workers. I expect all women and girls to support the war fanatically. I turn to German youth with particular trust. If we can build a committed society, we can appeal rightfully to the Almighty for his grace and blessing. A Volk cannot do more. Everyone who can fight will fight, all who can work will work and sacrifice together, with only one reward: freedom, national honor, and thereby a secure future. No matter how bad the crisis looks now, our unbreakable will and willingness to sacrifice, and our capabilities, will allow us to prevail. We will survive our suffering. In this war, Asia will not triumph. Europe will triumph. And at its summit will stand that nation, which for 1500 years has been and will be a bulwark against the East: our Great German Reich, the German Nation! |
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