Hitler's Plans for Berlin

To implement these plans, Speer demanded and supported expulsions, deportations and slave labour. In the proposed redevelopment of the metropolis, vision and crime were inextricably linked.

The historical exhibition organised by Berliner Unterwelten e.V. sheds light on architecture and urban planning in Berlin during the Nazi era and analyses the ideological objectives and criminal consequences.

Furthermore, it deconstructs the myths and clichés surrounding the ‘World Capital Germania’.

The multimedia exhibition invites visitors to explore this multi-layered topic for themselves. Over 20 authors – many of whom work for Berlin’s universities, memorial sites and documentation centres – have contributed to this interdisciplinary project.

Across its seven thematic sections, the exhibition showcases selected building projects whilst shedding light on their structural, social and ideological backgrounds – always in the context of the crimes committed in the name of ‘reorganisation’: expulsion, deportation and forced labour.

The spaces on a mezzanine level at Gesundbrunnen Underground station provide the ideal venue for the exhibition.

Here, multimedia stations, text and image panels, exhibits and architectural models provide a comprehensive insight into the GBI’s plans and projects. Additional film, audio and computer stations, as well as ‘pull-out drawers’ providing further detailed information, allow visitors to explore the subject in greater depth.

The original exhibits include part of a ‘Speer candelabra’, artefacts from the site of the ‘Klinkerwerk’ concentration camp satellite camp near Oranienburg, a column fragment from the New Reich Chancellery and a test lamp from a tunnel in front of the Soviet War Memorial on Straße des 17. Juni.

In addition, the large-scale model of ‘Germania’ created for the film ‘Downfall’ (2004) is on display. This stands in striking contrast to an adjacent illuminated panel depicting the criminal consequences of the large-scale construction project. In April 2015, the permanent exhibition was expanded to include a new thematic section.