Reichskanzlei Thread

Discussions on the propaganda, architecture and culture in the Third Reich.
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Br. James
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Re: Reichskanzlei Thread

#2371

Post by Br. James » 21 Nov 2020, 00:23

The Library in the New Reichschancellery was situated along the northern wall of the Honor Court; it was located within the building immediately east of the Reichschancellery Dining Room. From the Library one could access the Model Room, where the architectural models of the New Germany were displayed, and from there the hallways leading through the Siedler Office Building to the Old Reichschancellery, and also to the bunker system.

I hope this is helpful to you. Prosit,

Br. James

hansj
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Re: Reichskanzlei Thread

#2372

Post by hansj » 13 Dec 2020, 01:13

Hello all,
Although new to posting here, I have read most of this thread, as well as the Führerbunker thread-- all in a search for an answer to a question I've had for years now. And that is this: (Unless I have missed it on either thread...) Has anyone ever been able to determine, with any certainty, just exactly from whence in the Reichskanzlei the furniture in AH's sitting room came? (Chairs, sofa in particular.)
For instance, "...the blue patterned arrangement was definitely matched to this set, or that, from so-ans-so's office. And here's a picture to prove it!" It's oftentimes said that the bunkers were furnished with pictures and furniture moved in from the Chancellery above. There is no reason to doubt this.
I'm merely wondering if anyone has ever compared photographs and discovered, "Sure enough, here's that sofa-- pre-bloodstains!-- in Minister X's waiting room!"
Have any of my keen-eyed friends, whom I have gotten to know now over the years of posts I've read, ever considered this?

Thanx,
hans

--ps OUTSTANDING forum, this!


Bartosz Kwiatkowski
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Re: Reichskanzlei Thread

#2373

Post by Bartosz Kwiatkowski » 15 Jan 2021, 18:19

Br. James wrote:
21 Nov 2020, 00:23
The Library in the New Reichschancellery was situated along the northern wall of the Honor Court; it was located within the building immediately east of the Reichschancellery Dining Room. From the Library one could access the Model Room, where the architectural models of the New Germany were displayed, and from there the hallways leading through the Siedler Office Building to the Old Reichschancellery, and also to the bunker system.

I hope this is helpful to you. Prosit,

Br. James
Could you please write individual room names on the plan?

Br. James
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Re: Reichskanzlei Thread

#2374

Post by Br. James » 15 Jan 2021, 21:10

"Could you please write individual room names on the plan?"

Which "plan" are you referring to? I went back in this thread as far as the summer of 2018 and could find no floorplan of the New Reichschancellery among the notes there.

Br. James

Mannheim
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Re: Reichskanzlei Thread

#2375

Post by Mannheim » 16 Jan 2021, 07:37

I'm guessing that hansj is referring to the furniture in the Bunker which was removed from the Chancellery when the air raids (and bombardment) made the move underground necessary. I've never seen the bloodstained 'sofa' in any other photo. Also, I've never seen anyone post "...the blue patterned arrangement was definitely matched to this set, or that, from so-ans-so's office. And here's a picture to prove it!" but that could be down to my ageing and dud memory. However, all the NRK furniture was bespoke and much excess furniture was in storage so there was occasionally a changing of various items (Hitler's desk, for example: there is photographic evidence of at least two different desks). So the sofa may well have come from anywhere in the building. While the chairs and other furniture were bespoke, they were made to a pattern and the same type of chair can be seen in various parts of the NRK so it would be difficult, I believe, to say "Oh look! There's that chair that was in the waiting area outside Hitler's office!" when similar chairs would be found in various corridors, etc. I think the furniture in Hitler's 'sitting room' - if you mean his rooms in the Bunker - is fairly utilitarian office furniture for the most part as the Bunker was damp and bleak by all accounts. The 'good' furniture was, AFAIK, moved first underground into various bunkers and was then removed from the building and possibly from Berlin.Two good books on the New Reich Chancellery are "Hitler's Chancellery" by Ronald Pawley and "Reichschancellery" by Cowdery and Cowdery. The Cowdery book has several pages of period advertisements by the companies responsible for outfitting and furnishing the building. Hope this helps.
Kein Irrtum ist so groß, der nicht seinen Zuhörer hat.

Bartosz Kwiatkowski
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Re: Reichskanzlei Thread

#2376

Post by Bartosz Kwiatkowski » 17 Jan 2021, 02:29

Br. James wrote:
15 Jan 2021, 21:10
"Could you please write individual room names on the plan?"

Which "plan" are you referring to? I went back in this thread as far as the summer of 2018 and could find no floorplan of the New Reichschancellery among the notes there.

Br. James
Image
For example on this plan

Br. James
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Re: Reichskanzlei Thread

#2377

Post by Br. James » 17 Jan 2021, 23:27

Thank you for providing part of the schematic of the main floor of the New Reichschancellery, and I'm sorry to say that I am unable to write onto this diagram. The library is the room along the garden wall on the upper side of the floorplan; it appears to have a dot in the center of the room. The library has five windows looking out onto the Reichschancellery garden. If you have access to a book titled "Hitler's Chancellery: A Palace to Last a Thousand Years," by Ronald Pawly (published by The Crowood Press Ltd., 2009), there is a nice description of the library and three photos, on pp 89-90.

I'm sorry that I can't be more descriptive; I hope this is helpful for you.

Br. James

Bartosz Kwiatkowski
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Re: Reichskanzlei Thread

#2378

Post by Bartosz Kwiatkowski » 18 Jan 2021, 01:50

Thank you for the answer. I don't have one, could you tell me please what things can be found in this book?

Br. James
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Re: Reichskanzlei Thread

#2379

Post by Br. James » 18 Jan 2021, 16:49

"Hitler's Chancellery: A Palace to Last a Thousand Years," by Ronald Pawly, is a 192-page book dealing with many subjects about the building complex and the people who worked there, supplemented by many color and b/w photos. Here are the chapter headings:
Wilhelmstrasse No. 77
Hitler in the Wilhelmstrasse
Die Neue Reichskanzlei
Description of the Interior
Description -- the State Apartments
The Administrative Quarters, and Hitler's Private Apartments
Works of Art in the Chancellery
'How Adolf Hitler's Command Post Functions,' by Hubert Nunn
History -- the Reichs Chancellery at War
Hitler's Last Headquarters

As you can see, this is a comprehensive volume; I'm sure anyone with interest in the Reichschancellery will find interest here.

Br. James

bigger_chief
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Re: Reichskanzlei Thread

#2380

Post by bigger_chief » 15 Feb 2021, 14:37

Neue Reichskanzlei, Bibliothek (Library in the Reichskanzlei)
Berlin - Neue Reichskanzlei, Bibliothek - 107 B.jpg
Berlin - Neue Reichskanzlei, Bibliothek - 107 A.jpg

NepalH1ker
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Re: Reichskanzlei Thread

#2381

Post by NepalH1ker » 18 Feb 2021, 21:56

Br. James wrote:
17 Jan 2021, 23:27
The library is the room along the garden wall on the upper side of the floorplan; it appears to have a dot in the center of the room. The library has five windows looking out onto the Reichschancellery garden.
The library should be slightly left of what you're describing. It's directly above the Bogengang and about 55m long (it says so in the 1940 Speer book) with 8 windows facing north. I have this really low quality schematic actually showing the first floor (so not the ground floor). I also marked the model room which is above the Speisesaal, 49m long and possibly receiving natural light from above as it has no windows.
library 1st fl.jpg
This is the library from outside:
Speisesaal.jpg

Br. James
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Re: Reichskanzlei Thread

#2382

Post by Br. James » 19 Feb 2021, 18:55

The schematic you are showing is apparently what we in the USA refer to as "the second floor" of the building, which you are referring to as "the first floor." It is my understanding that the Library and the Model Room were on "the first floor" -- which you refer to as "the ground floor," though this is not your understanding. I'm not sure where we can go from this point...?

Br. James

NepalH1ker
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Re: Reichskanzlei Thread

#2383

Post by NepalH1ker » 20 Feb 2021, 22:55

You're right, I was going by the original German description saying "first floor" which means the first level that comes above the ground level (because the German ground floor has the number 0). Sorry for the confusion. I can see how this could create translation errors from German sources to English in some cases.
Anyway this photo shows the full length of the library a little bit better. The windows on the left cast light onto the floor, by that you can count 8 windows.
library Walter Schulze.jpg
The wall immediately behind the camera is shown in the 1940 Speer book on p. 132:
Bibliothek 132.jpg
Bibliothek 132.jpg (70.66 KiB) Viewed 1853 times
That wall is an outer wall, but it has no window. Since it's facing west I would guess they didn't want direct sunlight in the library.
library garden front.png
library garden front.png (888.1 KiB) Viewed 1853 times
Zooming out I've roughly marked the library in red, here you can see all the 8 windows I'm talking about:
004. Макет Новой Рейхсканцелярии в Берлине.jpg
I hope this makes sense.

Br. James
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Re: Reichskanzlei Thread

#2384

Post by Br. James » 21 Feb 2021, 17:06

Hi NepalH1ker,

Thanks so much for your helpful response. I too have Albert Speer's wonderful coffee-table book, "Die Neue Reichskanzlei," published by Eher Verlag in 1940. The photos you provide from pages in this book are indeed helpful, though the only schematics Speer shows us are of the 'First/Ground Floor' of that building. Can you provide a page reference where the text refers to the Library (and the Model Room) being located on the 'Second/First Floor' above the Speisesaal? As you know, there are no schematics of the upper or lower floors presented in Speer's book, so the architectural floor plan you present in your note above must be from another source document.

With many thanks,

Br. James

NepalH1ker
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Re: Reichskanzlei Thread

#2385

Post by NepalH1ker » 22 Feb 2021, 22:03

Yes that's the book I meant. I can also recommend the PDF version https://archive.org/details/SpeerAlbert ... i1940134S. which allows searching and copying text, useful for automatic translation.
As for the location of the library it says on page 42:
An die Terrasse schließt nach der Ostseite hin ein mit Kreuzgewölben gedeckter Bogengang aus großen Muschelkalksteinen an. Er verläuft vor dem Speisesaal, der sich in hohen rundbogigen Türen nach dem Gang öffnet, und bildet nach dem Garten zu das Erdgeschoß des östlichen Seitenteils, in dessen Obergeschoß die Bibliothek liegt, deren Fenster sich nach dem Garten öffnen.
I would say the underscored word is key, so here's a translation. Apparently British floor counting also differs from American...
Obergeschoss translation dict.leo.org.JPG
Obergeschoss translation dict.leo.org.JPG (21.87 KiB) Viewed 1745 times
Another reference to the library is on p. 82 where it says the room measures 55,5 x 7,4 m, in other words long and rather narrow. All photos of the library we commonly see are actually showing it in an unfinished state (for instance it has no books yet), because the white ceiling was going to get painted by Hermann Kaspar. I read this in a German source and the Speer book confirms it (also on p. 82). My understanding is Kaspar finished at least some of it.
From some less-known schematics and pictures in my collection I may have a few clues on some other locations people have been asking about earlier in this thread (like the Meissner office), so I might post about that later.

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