Reich Chancellery

The Palais Borsig at Voßstraße 1 on the corner of Wilhelmstraße (in the background the old Reich Chancellery) was built by the wealthy industrialist August Julius Albert Borsig between 1874 and 1877. He never lived in his house since he died in April 1878. From that year, Otto von Bismarck used the neighboring Palais Schulenburg (Wilhelmstraße 77) as his residence, and the Reich Chancellery moved into the building with him. Despite the exposed location and the high property value, the Palais Borsig remained unused for around a quarter of a century under circumstances that are not described in detail, until it was acquired by the Prussian Pfandbriefbank in 1904 for 1.3 million marks and was expanded for the use as a bank building. Between 1928 and 1930, an extension of the Palais Schulenburg or Reichskanzlei was built on the neighboring property at Wilhelmstraße 78. The State Secretary of the Reich Chancellery was in charge of the relevant preliminary work. In the spring of 1927, there was an invitation competition for the building to be erected, which intended to close the gap between the existing office building and the Palais Borsig in a stylistically adapted way. More than 200,000 marks were available for the necessary work. The architects Eduard Jobst Siedler and Robert Kisch were the winners of the competition and their plans were largely implemented. Between 1932 and 1933, the Reich Chancellor's Palace was temporarily the residence of Reich President Paul von Hindenburg, since Hindenburg's apartment in the Reich President's Palace (Wilhelmstraße 73) was being renovated at the time. Although he had to give up his post as Reich Chancellor on 3 December 1932, Franz von Papen continued to live in his official residence and thus repeatedly had direct contact with the head of state. In 1934/35, Paul Ludwig Troost, Gerdy Troost and Leonhard Gall remodeled and redesigned the living and working rooms of the Reichskanzlei for Adolf Hitler, the Führer’s apartment.

The Reich Chancellery (German: Reichskanzlei) was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany in the period of the German Reich from 1878 to 1945. The "old" building was seriously damaged (ruin removed beginning 1949 on order of the Soviets) and the New Reich Chancellery (German: Neue Reichskanzlei; completed in early 1939 and in use until 1945) slightly damaged during World War II. The Soviet Military Administration in Germany also ordered the new building demolished, which was concluded by 1953,^[1] salvaged materials were used for other construction projects of the communists in the GDR.^[2]

History

Of all the Third Reich buildings, this was the most important and prestigious housing of the N.S. State. It was called the new Reichskanzlei because “Reichskanzler” was the traditional name of the Chancellor of Germany, who was at that time Adolf Hitler and in the old Kanzlei building. Chancellor Bismarck before Hitler was the most important occupant of the former governmental structure. This was the absolute center of power for Hitler and his German people and of course, all the famous state leaders such as Goebbels, Himmler, Göring, Ribbentrop, et al., converged often to meet with the Supreme Leader. The new chancellery was described by Hitler as his “Words of Stone!,” since it was he who designed it. The building was completed in 1939. The Führer was ably assisted in the design by Reich Architect Albert Speer. Some 4,000 workers toiled in shifts and it cost 90 million Reichsmarks (equivalent to $339 million today). All the paramount decisions dealing with the war effort were made here, the building that had to be one of the most important, but also the most beautifully designed buildings in world history. In this author’s opinion, its final destruction was illustrative in the Decline of the West by Oswald Spengler. It is a testimony to the process of decivilization as experienced by the so-called victors over Germany. The decline of Britain into a third-rate dump and the complete mindless personnel of many of Americans as who thought they had fought the “good war” now will see the meaning of the “chickens coming home to roost.”

The whole phenomenon can be summed up as decivilization since the abject failure of what used to be western values and today the west appears to accelerate its Spenglerian decline (Did I hear the word ‘zombies’?) Reich Chancellery Relics We recently acquired a great collection of various tableware that was formerly in the Reichskanzlei. Russians took some of it in their wild looting sprees in 1945, after their horrible, murderous onslaught in Berlin in April of that year. After this, on about April 20, the Russians and the Americans met at the town of Torgau on the Elbe River. At that time, looted items from the Ruskies, such as daggers, swords, and such items as these Reich Chancellery pieces, were exchanged mostly for American cigarettes. Some of the dining items were in pristine condition having been taken only weeks before this. Some of it showed some scarring from the heat of battle. A man approached us who collected Hitler personal items beginning back in 1947 and now being of advanced age he recently decided to sell much of his collection and we were fortunate enough to hear of this and we bought all the R.K. relics he had. Now we can offer them to collectors. Remember, a “Kanzlei” piece is just as desirable as an “A.H.” item in kitchen and dining pieces and possibly even rarer since there are many times more Adolf Hitler dining pieces than his chancellery items and the likelihood of his personal use of the “RK” items is much more assumed and probably assured. Most of these items are singular (usually one only!) when they are sold. It can practically be assured that another chance to acquire one is practically impossible! So, with particular pleasure we offer these Reich Chancellery items.^[3]

New Reich Chancellery

When Adolf Hitler also took over the office of Reichspräsident after the death of Paul von Hindenburg in 1934, as "Führer and Reich Chancellor" he wanted a new Reich Chancellery that would symbolize National Socialist Germany's claim to power. The new, monumental, representative residence based on designs by Albert Speer was to be built on Voßstraße. In 1934, the purchase of buildings not yet owned by the state began.

By April 1938, all the houses there had been demolished. Only the representative Palais Borsig remained largely intact and was integrated into the complex. The completion of the New Reich Chancellery was planned for 1940. But Hitler soon pushed for completion by early 1939.

After just under twelve months of construction, the new representative building of the was essentially complete when it was handed over on 9 January 1939 (with minor construction phases until 1943). The celebration of it's completion took place in the Sportpalast on Potsdamer Straße (Schöneberg) in the presence of 8,000 construction workers.^[4] The total cost of building the New Reich Chancellery was around 90 million Reichsmark (RM).

On 12 January 1939, the first and – due to the beginning of the Second World War – the only New Year's reception of the diplomatic corps took place in the New Reich Chancellery. Representatives from 52 countries took part.

The New Reich Chancellery with address Voßstraße 1 primarily served representational purposes and was a place of demonstration of power. Like other monumental buildings, it was intended to impress with the value of the materials used and with its sheer size. The New Reich Chancellery stretched 420 meters along the entire north side of Voßstrasse. Its east wing housed the Presidential Chancellery and the Supreme Command of the Sturmabteilung (SA) and enclosed the Court of Honor (Ehrenhof).

State guests were received there and mourning ceremonies were held, for example for Reinhard Heydrich in 1942. The entrance portal was flanked by two statues by Arno Breker: "The Party" and "The Wehrmacht". Also in the east wing was the Mosaic Hall, the most used representational hall of the New Reich Chancellery.

The marble gallery was in the central wing. With a length of 146 meters, it was exactly twice as long as the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles. It was intended to impressively illustrate German dominance in Europe. The Marble Gallery had to be crossed to get to Hitler's grand study (Arbeitszimmer). The monumental room, with a floor area of 400 square meters, a height of 10 meters, marble walls and a heavy oak coffered ceiling, was intended to convey the power and glory of the Führer. The desk was also part of the furniture designed by Speer, which served primarily as a backdrop for Hitler's appearances with guests. Across from the desk hung a painting by Franz von Lenbach depicting the founder of the German Empire, Otto von Bismarck.

The guards in front of the Führer's office were considered "men of honour", but the Führer's escort (Führer-Begleit-Kommando) was responsible for personal security. Hitler rarely stayed in this second largest room in the building and instead used the much smaller study in the old Reich Chancellery. Adjoining the marble gallery was the Great Reception Hall in the west wing, which at 404 square meters was the largest room in the New Reich Chancellery. At Hitler's instigation, it was remodeled by 1943 and enlarged to an area of 870 square meters.

In the summer of 1943, the New Reich Chancellery was the target of an Allied bombing raid for the first time. On 3 February 1945, USAAF planes again bombed the government district. They also hit the New Reich Chancellery and Hitler's apartment (Führerwohnung) in the old Reich Chancellor's Palace (Reichskanzlerpalais). In April 1945, the Red Army took over Berlin and with it the New Reich Chancellery.^[5]