Modernism made its mark on Berlin's architectural trends, too. The Bauhaus style of modernism is characteristic of many of Berlin's social housing projects that sprouted up in the 1920s, and which recently became designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The early twentieth century marked the birth of the Weimar Republic, which gave rise to an industrial aesthetic that has become a hallmark of Berlin's look as well as symbolic of socialist ideology (Hake). For example, the Potzdammer Platz was conceived of as a symbolic collective space, a sentimental communal property made manifest in a massive public square.
Throughout Berlin's history, architectural development has paralleled social and political realities, and the Nazi years were no exception. Nazi monumentalist structures mirrored the warped dreams of the party. Hitler and his team of architects, designers, and builders helped create a network of structures in Berlin that enabled massive demonstrations and also imposed party ideology visually. After the Second World War ravaged Berlin and its buildings, a revivalist spirit crept into the city that fostered some of the most splendid architectural...
Examples include the stunningly symbolic and amazingly structured Jewish Museum, which offers ideal counterpoint for some of the still-remaining Nazi edifices. Likewise, leafy streets and public parks soften Berlin in ways that must be appreciated in person.
Works Cited
"Berlin's Social Housing Gets World Heritage Status." Spiegel Online. 2008. Retrieved April 22, 2009 from http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,564508,00.html
Egert-Romanowska, Joanna and Omilanowska, Malgorzata. Germany. London: Dorling-Kindersley, 2003.
Hake, Sabine. Topographies of Class. University of Michigan Press, 2008
Matthews, K. "Karl Friedrich Schinkel." Great Buildings. Retrieved April 22, 2009 from http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Karl_Friedrich_Schinkel.html
Schulte-Peevers, Andrea and Parkinson, Tom. Berlin. Lonely Planet, 2006
State Department for Urban Development. "Berliner Dom." Monuments in Berlin. Retrieved April 22, 2009 from http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/denkmal/denkmale_in_berlin/en/kirchen/berliner_dom.shtml
