Reuse

The symposium accompanies the exhibition on planning and building in the National Socialist era and examines how the legacies of the dictatorships of the first half of the 20th century are dealt with in Europe. The speakers will present examples of places in Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Ukraine. European politics of remembrance are often dominated by national tunnel vision. It is therefore time for a cultural and political exchange about the respective approaches.

The culture of remembrance that Germany cultivates today differs considerably from that found in other countries. In Italy, experts recognise virtually every significant work of architecture and type of building that came about and every architect who worked under the dictatorship. Buildings are declared works of art and are often placed outside of their historical context. Architecture and symbols of the dictatorship such as the fasci—bundles of several wooden twigs, often called “bundles of twigs”—and Fascist calendar numbering are not only preserved and maintained, but are also restored and renovated. For the most part, on-site historical explanations are not provided.

During the Putin era in Russia, the memory of the Stalinist period has been gradually nationalised, steered and transformed into a culture of reverence. In Spain, a culture of forgetting was for decades supported through legislation. This is currently changing, as shown by the reinterment of the remains of General Franco in 2019, and by renaming the Valle de los Caídos (“Valley of the Fallen”) the Valle de Cuelgamuros ("Valley of Cuelgamuros") in 2022 – Spain's largest mass grave, which buries more than 30,000 victims from the Spanish Civil War and which may no longer be used by Franco nostalgics for rallies in the future. In the European politics of remembrance, national tunnel vision is a widespread phenomenon. A cultural exchange on how to deal with the legacies of the dictatorships rarely takes place – Europe remains a task in this field as well.

With Harald Bodenschatz, Oleksandr Burlaka, José Manuel Calvo, Marco Costanzi, Uwe Danker, Thomas Flierl, Łukasz Galusek, Benedikt Goebel, Christian Hellmund, Wolfgang Kil, Andreas Kilb, Patrick Leech, HG Merz, Jannik Noeske, Marco Odorizzi, Jacek Purchla, Carolina Rodriguez-López, Piero Sassi, Matthias Sauerbruch, Alexander Schmidt, Carolin Schönemann, Jan Schultheiß, Svitlana Smolenska, Jo Sollich, Max Welch Guerra et al.

Accompanying programme to the POWER SPACE VIOLENCE. Planning and Building under National Socialism exhibition.

Programme
Saturday, 1 July 2023

3 pm
Welcoming address (HG Merz, Deputy Director of the Architecture Section of the Akademie der Künste)

3:15 pm
European memory. Introduction (Harald Bodenschatz, urban planner, TU Berlin)

4 pm
1st round: Wiederverwendung in Germany (Moderation: Carolin Schönemann, Secretary of the Architecture Section of the Akademie der Künste, in German)

Nuremberg:

• Burden, challenge, usable urban space - the Nazi Party Rally Grounds and Nuremberg since 1945 (Alexander Schmidt, exhibition curator of the Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds, Nuremberg)
• Conversion of the Nuremberg Congress Hall (Christian Hellmund, architect, gmp, Berlin)

Schleswig-Holstein:

• New land reclamation as a central project of the early Nazi era (Max Welch Guerra, Bauhaus University Weimar)
• Neulandhalle on the former "Adolf-Hitler-Koog" (Uwe Danker, Director of the Research Centre for Regional Contemporary History and Public History (frzph) at the European University Flensburg)

5:30 pm
Break

6 pm
2nd round: European Capitals (Moderation: Piero Sassi, in English)

Madrid:

• The University City of Madrid – history and present (Carolina Rodríguez-López, Facultad de Geografía e Historia, University Madrid)
• Dealing with the architectural legacy of Franco's dictatorship: the example of the Arch of Victory in Madrid (José Manuel Calvo, local politician, Madrid)

Rom:

• EUR. Project and realisation (Jannik Noeske, urban historian, Berlin/Weimar)
• Fendi HQ, Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana (Marco Costanzi, architect)

7:30 pm
Guided tours through the exhibition “POWER SPACE VIOLENCE. Planning and Building under National Socialism” with curators Benedikt Goebel and Harald Bodenschatz on “Internationality”

Sunday, 2 July 2023

10 am
The venue Pariser Platz 4 and the GBI (Benedikt Goebel, historian, Berlin, in German)

10:30 am
3rd round: Private and municipal reuse (Moderation: HG Merz, architect, Berlin,)

Berlin:

• Air Armament Centre Greater Berlin (Jo Sollich, architect, Berlin) – in German
• Luftgaukommando III (private conversion) (Matthias Sauerbruch, architect, Berlin) – in German

Tresigallo near Ferrara:

• An agricultural new town (Piero Sassi, Bauhaus-Institut für Geschichte und Theorie der Architektur und Planung, Weimar) – in German
• SOGNI and creative actions: memory and future (Marco Odorizzi, representative for Comune di Tresignana) – in English

12 pm
Break

1 pm
4th round: Contested heritage in Poland and Ukraine (Moderation: Wolfgang Kil, journalist, Berlin)

Kraków:

• Unwanted Capital Status – the experience of Kraków (Jacek Purchla, historian, Kraków) – in English
• Dealing with the dissonant heritage of the Third Reich in the current city (Łukasz Galusek, architect, Kraków) – in English

Kharkiv/Ukraine:

• Multiple Modernity in Ukraine. Construction, Destruction and Reconstruction of the DniproHES (Thomas Flierl, architectural historian, Berlin) – in German
• Svoboda (Freedom) Square Ensemble in Kharkiv/Ukraine (Svitlana Smolenska, architect, Kharkiv/Berlin) – in English
• The Government Square Project in Kyiv (Oleksandr Burlaka, architect, photographer, Kyiv) – in English

3 pm
Closing panel (Moderation: Andreas Kilb, journalist, Berlin, in German)
The Architectural Legacy of Dictatorships - Perspectives on European Culture of Remembrance
with Jan Schultheiß (Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Construction), Patrick Leech (ATRIUM Association, Forlì) and Harald Bodenschatz (urban planner, Berlin)