1 (Lit. synchronization, streamlining.) This is a standard term in the historiography of the Third Reich used to describe the standardization of all political, economic, social and cultural institutions under Hider.

2 Schrade, Hubert, Bauten des Dritten Reiches (Leipzig, 1937), p. 38 Google Scholar.

3 Quoted in Kießling, , Kraut, , Wanitzek, , ‘Großbauten des Staates & der Partei’, in Dokumente der Unterwerfung. Kunst im Dritten Reich (Frankfurter Kunstverein, 1974), p. 106 Google Scholar.

4 Quoted in Lane, Barbara Miller, Architecture and Politics in Germany 1918-45 (London, 1985 (1968) ), p. 188 Google Scholar.

5 Ibid.

6 From Hider’s ‘culture speech’, quoted in Hinz, Berthold, Die Malerei im Deutschen Faschismus (München, 1974), p. 120 Google Scholar.

7 Gau is the term for an administrative district in Nazi Germany.

8 Translations are difficult here since in German there is no differentiation between city and town, they are both Stadt. Qualifications of size are given through the descriptive prefixes Groß-, Mittel- or Klein- (big, middle or small).

9 This can be traced in the rising numbers of inhabitants: 1900 — 45,000; 1905 — 54,000; 1930 — 62,800; 1939 — 91,100. (Figures taken from Bauer, Rudolf, Koblenz, so wie es war (Düsseldorf, 1978), p. 8 Google Scholar.)

10 Simmer, Nikolaus, Überlegungen zu den Ideenskizzen zur Neu- und Umgestaltung der Gauhauptstadt Koblenz (Koblenz, 1941), p. 6 Google Scholar.

11 Dr Roth, Hans, Chronik der Stadt Koblenz an Rhein und Mosel (Koblenz and Berlin, 1939), p. 75 Google Scholar.

12 Jenrich, Franz, ‘Die Gaustadt wandelt ihr Gesicht’, article in Der Grenzgau, N0. 3 (Koblenz-Trier, 1938), p. 46 Google Scholar.

13 See especially Nikolaus Simmer, Überlegungen . . ., op. cit., p. 9. Simmer talks about a ‘double task’ in urban development, rising on the one hand from the ‘forces and given conditions active in the city of Koblenz’ and from the ‘ideology of National Socialism’ on the other hand.

14 Franz Jenrich, ‘Die Gaustadt. . .’, op. cit., p. 46.

15 Dr Hans Roth, Chronik . . ., op. cit., p. 75.

16 As can be seen in Figure 2, the plans carried the title Ideenskizze zum Generalbebauungsplan, which translates as ‘sketch of ideas for the general development plan’.

17 Nikolaus Simmer, Überlegungen . . ., op. cit., p. 18.

18 Regarding housing development, the achievements in Koblenz were rather weak — considering the high demand and need for housing at the time, little was actually built. Moreover, most of the plans for executed schemes (such as at the Pionierhöhe or in Lützel) already existed before 1933. However, the lack of activity in this field was compensated for by much rhetoric and promises. The Koblenzer Zeitung (27 January 1941), for instance, talks about a ‘gigantic social housing programme’ to be realized immediately after the war.

19 Herf, Jeffrey, Reactionary Modernism (Cambridge, 1984)Google Scholar.

20 Berthold Hinz, Die Malerei. . ., op. cit., p. 123.

21 The ‘Thingstead’, or ‘Thingstätte’/’Thingplatz’, takes its name from the Thing (pronounce: Ting), the meeting place in ancient Nordic mythology.

22 This number is an average of the varying figures I came across. Taylor, for instance, talks of 40 Thing places built in the Third Reich, whereas Lammert cites a number of 60.

23 Koch, Heinrich, ‘Aufgabe und Gestalt der NS-Feierstätte’, article in Der Grenzgau (Koblenz-Trier, Juli 1936), p. 61 Google Scholar.

24 Lammert, Peter, ‘Städtebau von 1917 bis zur Gegenwart’, in Geschichte der Stadt Koblenz — Band 2: Von der französischen Stadt bis zur Gegenwart (Stuttgart, 1993), p. 453 Google Scholar.

25 Taylor, R., The Word in Stone (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, 1974), p. 210 Google Scholar.

26 After a phrase coined by Hider, quoted in Heinrich Koch, ‘Aufgabe . . .’, op. cit., p. 61.

27 From speech of the Gauleiter Simon, Gustav, in Koblenzer Zeitung, No. 7 (25 March 1935)Google Scholar.

28 From ‘Die Weihe der Koblenzer Thingstätte’, ibid.

29 Heinrich Koch, for example, in his above-cited article, uses the word organisch three times in the first three paragraphs.

30 R. Taylor, The Word . . ., op. cit., p. 213.

31 According to the statements of the Gauleiter in his introductory speech, the erection of the Thing must have caused a minor moral panic in the deeply religious Koblenz. It seems that some Christians saw the Thing as a threat to their faith and an attempt to re-establish a pagan cult or some other heathen faith in their town. Some seem to have gone as far as to predict bad weather as a just punishment from heaven. (See Koblenzer Zeitung (25 March 1935).)

32 Benjamin, Walter, Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit (Frankfurt, 1963), p. 48 Google Scholar. Essay originally written in 1935.

33 Quoted in Peter Lammert,’Städtebau . . .’, op. cit., p. 463.

34 File 623/9252, ‘Bedingungen für den Wettbewerb “Schloßplatz Koblenz”’, p. 3.

35 Ibid., p. 2.

36 File 623/9252, p. 89.

37 Franz Jenrich, ‘Die Gauhauptstadt. . .’, op. cit., p. 50.

38 A Chronik of Koblenz by Dr H. Roth, for instance, published in 1939, mentions al] planned and realized architectural and town-planning changes in Koblenz apart from the Schloß-axis. A letter from the mayor to Baurat Stanienda of 6 March 1940, on the other hand, states that the ‘project Schloßstraße shall be treated further’ (file 623/7317).

39 In his correspondence with the mayor, Richard Kanton, model constructor from Düsseldorf, confesses that the construction of a model for the Schloß-axis he had been commissioned to make in July 1940 was being delayed by ‘present economic conditions’ (8 March 1941, file 623/7303, p. 48), the lack of assistants (June 1942, file 623/7303, p. 54), and finally the bombing of his studio (October 1942, file 623/7303, p. 55).

40 See cost calculations 1940, file 623/7323.

41 From Koblenz, publication of the city government, 1941.

42 Hubert Schrade, Bauten des Dritten . . ., op. cit., p. 34. A similar idea of binding the Volk together and providing a metaphorical and actual link between different areas of the great future Reich was realized in the many bridges built during the Third Reich, their main advocate being Paul Bonatz. In Koblenz, at least two new bridges — one across the Rhine, one across the Mosel — were finished under the Nazis (although they originated from before 1933).

43 Dülffer, Jost, Thies, Jochen, Henke, Josef, Hitlers Städte — Baupolitik im Dritten Reich (Köln, 1978), p. 12 Google Scholar.

44 In order to create a unified topography in Germany the German League for the Protection of the Homeland even published guidelines (e.g. by Moeller van den Brucks) dictating that every city should have such features. See R. Taylor, The Word. . ., op. cit., p. 80.

45 Dülffer, Thies, Henke, Hitlers Städte . . ., op. cit., p. 12.

46 Nerdinger, Winfried, ‘A Hierarchy of Styles’, in Art and Power — Europe under the Dictators 1930-45, ed. Ades, D. and others, catalogue of an exhibition at the Hayward Gallery (London, 1995), p. 324 Google Scholar. Nerdinger’s article is written primarily as a reaction against the attempts of postmodernists and other scholars to neutralize Nazi architecture by re-integrating it into a wider canon of 1930s European and American neo-classicism and anti-modernism, or by misinterpreting stylistic variety as a manifestation of pluralistic elements.

47 Hager, Bauwerke im Dritten Reich (1937), p. 10, quoted in Gerhard Fehl, ‘Die Moderne unterm Hakenkreuz’ in Hartmut Frank (ed.), Faschistische Architekturen, op. cit., p. 98.

48 Whereas today there are still many scholars who believe that ‘Fascist architecture’ exists in its absolute, Nazi writers seemingly made no secret of the fact that the architecture of their times was neither unified nor innovative. Thus Schrade writes for instance that the ‘buildings erected since the National Socialist revolution . . . neither stylistically correspond amongst each other, nor . . . stylistically represent something totally new’ ( Schrade, Hubert, Bauten des Dritten Reiches (Leipzig, 1937), p. 8)Google Scholar. Even Reich architect Speer confesses in his memoirs that ‘there was no “Führer’s style”. . .’ (in Inside the Third Reich, quoted in Golomstock, Igor, Totalitarian Art (London, 1990), p. 299)Google Scholar.

49 Gerhard Fehl, ‘Die Moderne . . .’, op. cit., p. 93.

50 Winfried Nerdinger, ‘A Hierarchy of Styles’, op. cit., p. 325.

51 This distinction is often made. See for instance R. Taylor, The Word in Stone, or Hartmut Frank, ‘Welche Sprache sprechen Steine?’ in Faschistische Architekturen.

52 Schäche, Wolfgang, ‘Die Bedeutung der Berliner Neugestaltungsmaßnahmen für die NS- Architekturproduktion’, in Hinz, , Mittig, , Schäche, , Schönberger, (eds), Die Dekoration der Gewalt (Gießen, 1979), p. 158 Google Scholar.

53 File 623/9087, ‘Die schöne Stadt’, p. 23.

54 Ibid.

55 Ibid.

56 Further projects include, for example, the remodelling of the city hall, the Göbenplatz, the Magazinplatz, the area around the main station and the redesign of the public grounds along the Rhine and the Mosel (under Dipl. Ing. Löb). All the projects are mentioned in Simmer, Überlegungen . . ., op. cit.

57 File 623/9087, ‘Die schöne Stadt’, p. 23.

58 Schultze-Naumburg, quoted in R. Taylor, The Word. . ., op. cit., p. 82.

59 Mentioned before 1939, together with hospitals, homes and some worker’s houses, in the reports from the building sites, file 623/7318, e.g. pp. 13 and 42. Additionally, in October 1939, ten air raid shelters in Koblenz are listed as completed or in the process of being completed (p. 42).

60 The Ordensburgen (lit. order casdes) were elite institutions of further education (‘Universities’) where ‘gifted’ young men could be trained and educated in the Nazi spirit. Several Ordensburgen were built during the Third Reich, famously — and truthful to the ‘casde’ concept — in the most beautiful, scenic locations of Germany.

61 Prof. Klotz, Clemens, ‘Adolf-Hider-Schule Koblenz-Asterstein’, article in Der Grenzgau, No. 4 (Koblenz-Trier, 1939), p. 81 Google Scholar. Klotz, an autodidact from Cologne, was architect to the NSDAP from 1933 and had designed Ordensburgen Vogelsang and Krässinsee.

62 Klose, Baurat, ‘Neue Bauten in Koblenz’, article in Der Grenzgau, N0. 4 (Koblenz-Trier, 1939), p. 80 Google Scholar.

63 Reichel, Peter, Der Schöne Schein des Dritten Reiches (München and Wien, 1991), p. 256 Google Scholar.

64 Kampfbahn literally translates as ‘combat track’ and is a perfect example for the Nazi tendency to militarize everyday language. It is also a proof for my claim that sport under the Nazis functioned as a preparation of the nation for war, both spiritually and physically.

65 Koblenzer Zeitung, no. 266, p. 3.

66 Exactly the same method was applied when the new Mosel bridge was built: the project, begun in the Weimar years, was taken over and finished off by the Nazis and ended up being named ‘Adolf-Hider-bridge’. (That this liking for big names reflecting political trends is still alive in Koblenz today is illustrated by the fact that after a long period of anonymous existence the new Mosel bridge was recendy denominated ‘Europe-bridge’.)

67 Dr Hans Roth, Chronik der Stadt Koblenz . . ., op. cit., p. 80.