Adolf Hitler was a megalomaniac

Megalomaniac projects that were never accomplished

Have you ever heard of Welthauptstadt Germania (Germania, the Capital of the World)?

This overly ambitious project was never realized.

Work began, but was interrupted due to the bombings that devastated Berlin at the end of the Second World War, thus forcing the cancellation of the project to concentrate all available resources on the construction of bunkers. The plan essentially consisted of the demolition and reconstruction of Berlin after Germany’s victory. The lucky (or unfortunate) person chosen for the task was the architect Albert Speer, who still had time to produce several plans for the reconstruction of the German capital. Until the end of the Second World War and the consequent defeat of the Nazis, only a few structures and buildings were built.

Hitler found the city’s architecture very provincial and therefore intended to demolish it and rebuild it again and make it the largest capital in the world. The Führer only intended to maintain the symbol of the division and unification of Germany, the famous Brandenburg Gate.

The Olympic State in Berlin was built between 1934 and 1936. It was one of the few Nazi projects to see the light of day.

Brandenburg Gate was built on August 6, 1791. Inspired by the Acropolis of Athens, Inauguration: August 6, 1791.

· Height: 85 ft (ca. 26 m)

· Depth: 36 ft (ca. 11 m)

· Width: 213 ft (ca. 65 m)

6 Doric columns on each side.

An “Arc de Triomphe” similar to the one in Paris was also planned.

Like a good madman with a mania for grandeur, Hitler wanted one that was much larger, around a hundred meters high (328 ft (ca. 100 m)). Paris’ Arc de Triomphe would fit inside Hitler’s arch.

Arc de Triomphe in Paris

· Length 44.83 meters, 144 ft (ca. 44 m)

· Width 22.21 meters, 72 ft (ca. 22 m)

· Height 49.54 meters, 162 ft (ca. 49 m)

Albert Speer designed a new Chancellery for Hitler.

He also designed another chancellery that included a large room intended to be twice as large as the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. Hitler wanted the construction of a third, even larger Chancellery, although it was never started. The second Chancellery was destroyed by the Soviet army in 1945.

An avenue inspired by the Champs-Élysées in Paris was proposed.

With a length of 3.10 miles (ca. 5 km), exceeding the dimensions of the famous Parisian avenue. Which would connect the north and south railway terminals, and which would run through grand Nazi palaces, huge hotels, large department stores, grand cinemas and colossal government ministry buildings. At the end of this avenue, a palace was also suggested with a dome inspired by Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, exceeding 656 ft (ca. 200 m) in height.

The Volkshalle (the “people’s hall”).

The site, which would house 150,000 people simultaneously, would be the largest closed structure ever built in the history of humanity. Its dome would be 656 ft (ca. 200 m) high and 820 ft (ca. 250 m) in diameter, more than twenty times larger than that of the Sé Cathedral, in São Paulo. Some say that the condensation caused by so many people gathered together would make it rain inside.

Riese Project (“gigantic” in German).

It is a series of large interconnected bunkers that, together, would form a true city underground, with an area of ​​35 km2 (almost ten times that of the Copacabana neighbourhood, in Rio), and a capacity for 20 thousand people. The place would house bomb factories, which could be built down there, safe from enemy bombing. And he would also receive the necessary equipment to build the Nazi atomic bomb — the one that, luckily for the planet, Hitler was unable to get off the ground.

Many other projects such as underground roads in Berlin have been started and still exist.

Was Adolf Hitler a visionary?

He was a criminal, a madman obsessed with imitating the Roman Empire, and perhaps also a visionary. It is not always easy to distinguish madness from genius, especially for people who are led to believe that they will be the best in the world, the most evolved nation of all time. That’s why I got so many supporters in my madness. After all, who doesn’t get carried away by their ego?

Main sources:

· A cidade subterrânea de Hitler

· Germania (cidade) — Germania (city)

· Conheça a metrópole nazista que nunca saiu do papel

Thank you for reading to the end.