Difficult Heritage and the Role of Nature. Nazi-Era Landscape Design in Post-War Germany

Theresa Stankoweit

Public confrontations in the Federal Republic of Germany with monuments dating from the National Socialist era have often been regarded as exemplary abroad. In the United States, for example, discussions of the destruction of monuments initiated by the Black Lives Matter movement have repeatedly cited Germany’s handling of its fascist legacy as a praiseworthy model. And while it is true that many statues and symbols dating from the 1930s and 40s have been removed, and that numerous new memorials to the victims of National Socialism have meanwhile been erected, much Nazi-era memorial architecture still exists, some of which has never been debated, and which has never become anchored in public awareness. The process of coming to terms with the built legacy of National Socialism has therefore by no means reached its conclusion. From a present-day perspective, it seems necessary to re-evaluate the strategies devised during the post-war era to explicate and frame this legacy, and to reconsider the forms of critical confrontation that were set into motion back then.

The project inquires explicitly into the role played by nature in the treatment of monuments from the Nazi era. After World War II, many architectural monuments were abandoned and left to decay; former NS rallying or parade grounds were converted into parks or newly landscaped. Outdoor areas landscaped by the National Socialists were often reutilized – an example being the former ‘Reichssportfeld’ (Reich sports field) in Berlin – or instead simply ignored, for instance the Bückeberg, a hillside used in 1933-1937 as a venue for ‘Reich harvest festivals’ that was converted into a ‘documentation and learning centre’ only in 2021. The conceptions taken up in the post-war era were often based on the idea of nature as something apolitical and innocent, yet such notions themselves seem problematical in relation to the biologistic ideology of the National Socialists. Central to this project are works of landscape architecture designed by the National Socialists, as well as their redesign or reutilization after World War II.