Synopses & Reviews
Adolf Hitlerandrsquo;s makeover from rabble-rouser to statesman coincided with a series of dramatic home renovations he undertook during the mid-1930s. This provocative book exposes the dictatorandrsquo;s preoccupation with his private persona, which was shaped by the aesthetic and ideological management of his domestic architecture. Hitlerandrsquo;s bachelor life stirred rumors, and the Nazi regime relied on the dictatorandrsquo;s three dwellingsandmdash;the Old Chancellery in Berlin, his apartment in Munich, and the Berghof, his mountain home on the Obersalzbergandmdash;to foster the myth of the Fanduuml;hrer as a morally upstanding and refined man. Author Despina Stratigakos also reveals the previously untold story of Hitlerandrsquo;s interior designer, Gerdy Troost, through newly discovered archival sources.
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At the height of the Third Reich, media outlets around the world showcased Hitlerandrsquo;s homes to audiences eager for behind-the-scenes stories. After the war, fascination with Hitlerandrsquo;s domestic life continued as soldiers and journalists searched his dwellings for insights into his psychology. The bookandrsquo;s rich illustrations, many previously unpublished, offer readers a rare glimpse into the decisions involved in the making of Hitlerandrsquo;s homes and into the sheer power of the propaganda that influenced how the world saw him.
Review
andquot;In a book of rich detail, Stratigakos lays out the complex and multilayered significance of the three main residences that Adolf Hitler once called home. She shows how their designs shed new light on the instrumental use of culture by the regime, and how sensationalized meanings were projected onto the structures from abroad both during and after the Nazi period.andquot;andmdash;Paul B. Jaskot, DePaul University; Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art
Review
andquot;Stratigakosandrsquo;s highly original study brings to light the previously overlooked subject of Hitlerandrsquo;s domestic image. Although Hitlerandrsquo;s homes were not part of the Third Reichandrsquo;s grandiose plans for public architecture, these ostensibly private spaces were deeply ideological. Stratigakos convincingly argues that the production of Hitlerandrsquo;s domesticity was among the regimeandrsquo;s most successful propaganda campaigns, serving to transform Germanyandrsquo;s leader from odd bachelor to civilized statesman.andquot;andmdash;Karen Fiss, California College of the Arts
Review
andquot;Stratigakos convincingly argues that the production of Hitlerandrsquo;s domesticity was among the regimeandrsquo;s most successful propaganda campaigns, serving to transform Germanyandrsquo;s leader from odd bachelor to civilized statesman.andquot;andmdash;Karen Fiss, California College of the Arts
Review
andldquo;. . . A page-turner. Readers with an interest in Hitlerandrsquo;s personal life and in the effects of propaganda on international public sentiment will find this book fascinating.andrdquo;andmdash;Felicia J. Williamson, Library Journal
Synopsis
Around the beginning of the twentieth century, women began to claim Berlin as their own, expressing a vision of the German capital that embraced their feminine modernity, both culturally and architecturally. Women located their lives and made their presence felt in the streets and institutions of this dynamic metropolis. From residences to restaurants, schools to exhibition halls, a visible network of women’s spaces arose to accommodate changing patterns of life and work.
A Women’s Berlin retraces this largely forgotten city, which came into being in the years between German unification in 1871 and the demise of the monarchy in 1918 and laid the foundation for a novel experience of urban modernity. Although the phenomenon of women taking control of urban space was widespread in this period, Despina Stratigakos shows how Berlin’s concentration of women’s building projects produced a more fully realized vision of an alternative metropolis. Female clients called on female design professionals to help them define and articulate their architectural needs. Many of the projects analyzed in A Women’s Berlin represent a collaborative effort uniting female patrons, architects, and designers to explore the nature of female aesthetics and spaces.
At the same time that women were transforming the built environment, they were remaking Berlin in words and images. Female journalists, artists, political activists, and social reformers portrayed women as influential actors on the urban scene and encouraged female audiences to view their relationship to the city in a radically different light. Stratigakos reveals how women’s remapping of Berlin connected the imaginary to the physical, merged dreams and asphalt, and inextricably linked the creation of the modern woman with that of the modern city.
Synopsis
A revelatory look at the residences of Adolf Hitler, illuminating their powerful role in constructing and promoting the dictatorandrsquo;s private persona both within Germany and abroad
About the Author
Despina Stratigakos is associate professor of architecture and director of the Gender Institute at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York.