The Führerbau ("the Führer's building") is a historically significant building at Arcisstrasse 12 in Maxvorstadt, Munich. It was built during the Nazi period, between 1933 and 1937, and used extensively by Adolf Hitler. Unlike many other buildings associated with the Nazis, the building still stands today. It currently houses the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich (German: Hochschule für Musik und Theater München).
Construction and architecture
editPlans for the building were first made in 1931, by architect Paul Ludwig Troost, Hitler's then-favorite architect. It was constructed from 1933 to 1937, part of a major remodeling of the Königsplatz plaza which included two Nazi temples in neo-Classical style that "enshrined" the remains of the 15 Nazis killed in the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. Since Troost died in 1934, Leonhard Gall continued the process. The Führerbau was constructed north of the Brienner Strasse. A nearly identical building south of the Brienner Strasse and opposite the Führerbau was also built. The south building served as the Administrative Building of the NSDAP (German: Verwaltungsbau der NSDAP) at No. 10 Katharina-von-Bora-Strasse. Today it houses the Museum für Abgüsse Klassischer Bildwerke (Museum of Casts of Classical Statues) and Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte (Central Institute for Art History)..
History
editDuring the Nazi era, the building served as a symbolic building for Adolf Hitler. The building is also notable as the site of the signing of the historic 1938 Munich Agreement, in which Germany received the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia. Hitler himself signed the document in his office in the building. Other signatories included Germany, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom but notably not Czechoslovakia itself. This is today commemorated by the memorial written in German, Czech and Slovak.[1]
Today, the building houses the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. Its congress hall now serves as a concert venue. From 2005 to 2011, an unknown number of Stolpersteine (between 20 and 25) were installed in the building until city officials removed them for reasons of "fire protection".[2]
After the German surrender, the US occupation forces used the Führerbau and the Nazi administrative building next door as the "Zentrale Sammelstelle" (Central Collecting Point), which stored looted art stolen by the Nazis all over Europe.[3]
References
edit- ^ "Echoes of 'Peace in our time'". The Irish Times. 30 September 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
- ^ Rudolf Stumberger: In München darf niemand stolpern [In Munich no one is allowed to stumble], Stolpersteine zur Erinnerung an die Opfer der Nazi-Diktatur sind auf städtischen Grundstücken verboten. Neues Deutschland (Berlin), 2 December 2012, retrieved on 14 July 2017
- ^ Lauterbach, Iris; Elliott, Fiona; Sheehan, James J. (2019). The Central Collecting Point in Munich - A New Beginning for the Restitution and Protection of Art. Getty Publications. ISBN 978-1606065822.