Visions of Alt-Berlin in “Man in the High Castle” (2017)(mitsap.medium.com)
mitsap.medium.com
Visions of Alt-Berlin in “Man in the High Castle” (2017)
https://mitsap.medium.com/visions-of-alt-berlin-in-man-in-the-high-castle-no-spoilers-b3beaba77984
55 comments
There is a BBC article on this topic: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35569277
The DPRK has a huge business making and exporting giant statues for tin pot dictators.
The DPRK has a huge business making and exporting giant statues for tin pot dictators.
The article hints that Berlin's soil might have been unsuitable for some of the more monstrously monumental buildings conceived, and in fact, one of the surviving pieces of Speer's plans is the Schwerbelastungskörper, a massive block of concrete built to study just how much such a building would sink over time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwerbelastungskörper
After the war, it first seemed too massive to demolish with reasonable effort, and now it is protected as some kind of ozymandian monument.
After the war, it first seemed too massive to demolish with reasonable effort, and now it is protected as some kind of ozymandian monument.
I live close to this. And while I can say it is a interesting historical curiosity, it is very obscure as a monument.
The main legacy of the Nazis grandiose architecture is just down the street at the site of the former Tempelhof airport which is no longer in service but at the time of construction was one of the largest structures in the world.
It is a truly gigantic swept wing eagle shaped building that even when it was the main city airport was only partially occupied. It's now falling into disrepair, but the guided tours are well worth it for the history and architecture.
The main legacy of the Nazis grandiose architecture is just down the street at the site of the former Tempelhof airport which is no longer in service but at the time of construction was one of the largest structures in the world.
It is a truly gigantic swept wing eagle shaped building that even when it was the main city airport was only partially occupied. It's now falling into disrepair, but the guided tours are well worth it for the history and architecture.
The video game Wolfenstein: The New Order uses some similar ideas, but in a more sneakily satirical way: one of the recurring plot elements centers around the game's super-Berlin being such an overbuilt concrete labyrinth that it's nigh-impossible for the Reich to reliably secure anything from infiltration, and a background plot point is that the slave-labor-produced concrete mixtures have been sabotaged the whole time, so that the entire city is literally slowly falling apart.
Nazi's being literally undermined by their own hubris is a pretty good plot point.
It’s funny that the article uses the term “Alt-Berlin” to denote a new Berlin, whereas ’alt-Berlin’ in Deutsch means “old-Berlin”.
Even more confusing if you live in Berlin, because "Alt-Berlin" is a historically significant neighborhood of Mitte[1].
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt-Berlin
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt-Berlin
As a german-speaker this confused me a lot :)
Here “alt” is being used as an abbreviation of “alternate” - I am pretty sure it’s not proper English, just flows better if your going to have to use the word a lot.
I really like how the TV show Fringe named some of the alternate versions of the main characters - Walter and Walternate (short for Alternate Walter), Olivia and Bolivia (short for Olivia-B), etc. though many of the characters didn’t lend themselves to that naming or their alternate counterparts weren’t remarkably different.
Then Rick and Morty came along and there were so many alternate universes they just gave them all numbers - and added the twist that you never know which Rick from which universe your watching in any given episode which also conveniently explains away any continuity errors (sorry nit-pickers) and creative license needed for a given storyline.
I really like how the TV show Fringe named some of the alternate versions of the main characters - Walter and Walternate (short for Alternate Walter), Olivia and Bolivia (short for Olivia-B), etc. though many of the characters didn’t lend themselves to that naming or their alternate counterparts weren’t remarkably different.
Then Rick and Morty came along and there were so many alternate universes they just gave them all numbers - and added the twist that you never know which Rick from which universe your watching in any given episode which also conveniently explains away any continuity errors (sorry nit-pickers) and creative license needed for a given storyline.
I've always heard it as Faux-livia.
> Here “alt” is being used as an abbreviation of “alternate”
This is one of the (many) instances where reducing everything to pop-culture English falls flat. Berliners have been using 'Alt-Berlin' for the mitte district since ages, and it doesn't make sense for them.
This is one of the (many) instances where reducing everything to pop-culture English falls flat. Berliners have been using 'Alt-Berlin' for the mitte district since ages, and it doesn't make sense for them.
How does it "fall flat"? Berliners are not the target audience of this article, or just a tiny fraction of it.
I thought it was a nod to the fans coming up with alternate names and not a choice of the writers.
And Walternate was very different to this earths Walter
And Walternate was very different to this earths Walter
> Here “alt” is being used as an abbreviation of “alternate” ...
I would have said a shortening of alternative, as alternate is a verb (occasionally an adjective) and means to oscillate between two variations / options.
Alternative is very much an adjective and refers to one (of presumably many) permutations or possibilities.
Common usage seems to be dragging the latter closer to the former, unfortunately, but it's frustrating for people that appreciate the nuances of these two distinctly different words.
I would have said a shortening of alternative, as alternate is a verb (occasionally an adjective) and means to oscillate between two variations / options.
Alternative is very much an adjective and refers to one (of presumably many) permutations or possibilities.
Common usage seems to be dragging the latter closer to the former, unfortunately, but it's frustrating for people that appreciate the nuances of these two distinctly different words.
Impressive monumental structures like that have been built. The Albany Mall, New York,[1] Nelson Rockefeller's monument to brutalism, probably comes closest. The Raj Path in New Delhi is similar, built huge on purpose to intimidate the populace.
Sheer size to impress has gone out of fashion, since building very large structures isn't a big deal any more. Huge convention centers, air terminals, malls, and stadiums are normal now, and don't impress people much.
[1] https://earth.google.com/web/@42.6489482,-73.7611536,51.2061...
Sheer size to impress has gone out of fashion, since building very large structures isn't a big deal any more. Huge convention centers, air terminals, malls, and stadiums are normal now, and don't impress people much.
[1] https://earth.google.com/web/@42.6489482,-73.7611536,51.2061...
Rather than comparing it to the authoritarian architecture of the postwar period (which was horrible), I think it's more fair to point out the actual inspiration for Speer. It was the City Beautiful movement and the existing examples of grand boulevards in imperial capitals.
That main boulevard he envisioned lined by monuments and institutions of great importance was a German equivalent of basically Philadelphia's Franklin parkway or Paris' Champs-Elysees. Philadelphia razed entire city neighborhoods only decades earlier to build it.
In fact, an almost identical vision to Speer's Berlin already existed. It was Washington DC.
On a smaller scale, dozens of other cities had already embarqued on similar projects, Brussels Parc du Cinquantenaire is another on, or Budapest's parliament building and Heroes' Square.
Germany was playing catch-up to what was fairly mundane practice. The only thing that gives pause is perhaps the Volkshalle, which has a little too much of a mine-is-bigger vibe when putting it next to DC's congress building.
That main boulevard he envisioned lined by monuments and institutions of great importance was a German equivalent of basically Philadelphia's Franklin parkway or Paris' Champs-Elysees. Philadelphia razed entire city neighborhoods only decades earlier to build it.
In fact, an almost identical vision to Speer's Berlin already existed. It was Washington DC.
On a smaller scale, dozens of other cities had already embarqued on similar projects, Brussels Parc du Cinquantenaire is another on, or Budapest's parliament building and Heroes' Square.
Germany was playing catch-up to what was fairly mundane practice. The only thing that gives pause is perhaps the Volkshalle, which has a little too much of a mine-is-bigger vibe when putting it next to DC's congress building.
I don’t think sheer size to impress can truly go out of fashion since that sense of awe transcends topical sensibilities. It’s probably just not cost effective so no one does it. Huge buildings now are built out of light, transparent materials and part of being awed by scale requires the large building to be built out of solid, impenetrable feeling material like stone.
Exactly. We build lots of big buildings now, but “big” is not the same as “massive”.
For this kind of thing, the cost is part of the point made.
The mood and scenes in the series are impressive, really enjoyed the show.
It's good enough that you ignore the flaws: the renderings are never quite realistic, the scale of the Volkshalle especially is so odd that I couldn't comprehend what I was seeing, the first time it showed up on screen. There are like a million people at ground level [1] but then the POV shifts and the distance is 2x shorter. The lack of the eagle statue also makes it less recognizable [3].
Kung Fury, with it's terrible effects and all, did a better job in setting the mood.
[1] https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_fit,f_au...
[2] https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/agArdO6_700bwp.webp
[3] https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/pyffinavar...
It's good enough that you ignore the flaws: the renderings are never quite realistic, the scale of the Volkshalle especially is so odd that I couldn't comprehend what I was seeing, the first time it showed up on screen. There are like a million people at ground level [1] but then the POV shifts and the distance is 2x shorter. The lack of the eagle statue also makes it less recognizable [3].
Kung Fury, with it's terrible effects and all, did a better job in setting the mood.
[1] https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_fit,f_au...
[2] https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/agArdO6_700bwp.webp
[3] https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/pyffinavar...
>Architects and urban planners who have analysed [Speer’s planned] city in recent years claim it would probably have been nightmarish to live in: hostile to pedestrians, who would regularly have be sent underground to cross streets, and with a chaotic road system,
So sorta like the Las Vegas strip?
So sorta like the Las Vegas strip?
More like Boston. Though of all the places I’ve driven it’s D.C. that really leaves me wondering WTF people were thinking when they designed some of the intersections - multiple u-turn lanes connecting to different streets in the opposite direction, reversing the traffic flow through the intersections, lanes turning across other lanes, bisected roundabouts, roundabouts with traffic lights every 22 degrees, etc.
The street plan mirrors the government?
So many modern architects follow the same philosophy as Speer - create statements and spectacle that intimidate and inflict misery on the ordinary inhabitants of the cityscapes they abuse.
Interesting. I didn't know they moved the Siegessäule. Reminds me of what I read about the approach to the Vatican and the way Mussolini obliterated bits of (messy) historic city to achieve a suitably scenic and impressive vista.
If you want to compare to modern visions of Berlin have a look here (articles in German):
https://unvollendete-metropole.de/wettbewerb-berlin-brandenb...
https://www.morgenpost.de/berlin/article229533354/Visionen-f...
https://www.morgenpost.de/berlin/article230886508/Berlin-im-...
https://unvollendete-metropole.de/wettbewerb-berlin-brandenb...
https://www.morgenpost.de/berlin/article229533354/Visionen-f...
https://www.morgenpost.de/berlin/article230886508/Berlin-im-...
Say what you may, but there was the famous Lenin Monument in Berlin, that was demolished post reunification, but it had certain majestic qualities, it should perhaps have been preserved.
HBO's movie Fatherland (1994) was filmed in post-communist Prague. They used both matte paintings and real locations (of Prague) to depicts never-built nazi city of Germania.
This use of real-life locations leads to some (for locals) hilarious moments like scene where gestapo tries to catch some man who is running away from them by train. The chase goes from station A to B where the man is killed. But funny thing is that they used just one real station to shoot both locations of A and B and they are actually just some 100m away.
See https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109779/
This use of real-life locations leads to some (for locals) hilarious moments like scene where gestapo tries to catch some man who is running away from them by train. The chase goes from station A to B where the man is killed. But funny thing is that they used just one real station to shoot both locations of A and B and they are actually just some 100m away.
See https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109779/
You’ve just described virtually all mainstream moviemaking, at least in the US. Even on location shoots there is almost never a case, for example, where an establishing shot of the exterior of a house or other building takes place within 100m or even 100 miles of where the interior set is.
Behold the California filmmaking map. The whole world, in one state.
https://mk0brilliantmaptxoqs.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/upload...
https://mk0brilliantmaptxoqs.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/upload...
- In Stargate SG-1 pretty much every planet in the universe looks like either a Canadian forest or a closeup of a sand dune.
- If you watch classic Dr Who episodes the entire universe is either a rock query or a plywood hallway that nobody dare lean against.
- If you watch classic Dr Who episodes the entire universe is either a rock query or a plywood hallway that nobody dare lean against.
I get the sense that Kafka would have been proud of Dr. Who. More so, discussing it on the internet decades later in the context of fallen grand architectures.
I have seen that first hand. Some scenes of season 7 of Game of Thrones were recorded in my city. I can clearly remember the scene after Euron captures Ellaria and Tyene and takes them to King's Landing, and a couple of episodes later when Samwell leaves the Citadel. In GoT's world both places are supposed to be hundred of km away, in reality they are 200 m away.
Also some massive towers in the background that don't exist in real life.
Also some massive towers in the background that don't exist in real life.
I recently binged Netflix's Last Kingdom. Many of the "Saxon" towns appeared to be the same place shot from a slightly different angle. It turns out that may be the case: much of the series was shot in Hungary at Korda Studios, which has a Medieval Village Set on their backlot, as well as a New York/Brooklyn Set and Renaissance Set.
I clicked on the article expecting to make the joke that alt-Berlin looks a lot like Vancouver since they did a lot of the shooting here. I was out at the university when they were filming the first season and they had done the main mall up in Nazi flags, it was really weird.
Living in a city where they do a lot of filming is weird from the standpoint of recognizing the backgrounds of areas. One that sticks out in my mind is the ending of Tron:Legacy. They have multiple shots that are supposed to be the characters driving, but consecutive shots are all out of order including switching between driving north and south multiple times.
Living in a city where they do a lot of filming is weird from the standpoint of recognizing the backgrounds of areas. One that sticks out in my mind is the ending of Tron:Legacy. They have multiple shots that are supposed to be the characters driving, but consecutive shots are all out of order including switching between driving north and south multiple times.
If someone liked MitHC then it's a must-see, and must-read since HBO movie is based on Robert Harris novel from 1992. Of course movie differs from book original just like Dick's novel does from the tv series.
I think the production people did a great job for a scale of tv movie of portraying 60s Nazi-owned Germany seen shortly on the screen - in both real locations and models.
I think the production people did a great job for a scale of tv movie of portraying 60s Nazi-owned Germany seen shortly on the screen - in both real locations and models.
This was a great article for learning some of the details of the architecture and its designer.
I have no idea why it got so anti-architecture / anti-40s, just because Seer employed similar techniques. It tried to _implicate_ the architecture as a tool of facism, which is a bananas theory to me.
> "Even more problematically, the techniques of fascist architecture (or music or film or graphic design) may in fact be so powerful that they transcend history and even geo-politics: this is not just a “Nazi problem” we can relegate to the past. These tools work for fascists, but non-fascists are tempted to use them as well."
But it was a style of the times that a facist adopted. That, oh god, may have come from america!
> "Further complicating the story, the influence actually runs in multiple directions: in addition to admiring Haussmann’s Paris and classical Rome, Speer was a big fan of L’Enfant’s monumental plan for Washington, DC — so where are the roots of the problem?."
> "As Dietmar Schirmer has noted, much of the best architecture from the period — whether in Berlin, Paris, or Washington, DC — employs the “Stripped Classicism” favored by Speer."
> "But perhaps we need to feel the shock and try to push back on the awe: even if these structures are glorious, do we endorse the beliefs they embody?"
Well thanks for trying to cancel 1940s architecture, and warn me away from admiring the very art you brought to me in this article.
I have no idea why it got so anti-architecture / anti-40s, just because Seer employed similar techniques. It tried to _implicate_ the architecture as a tool of facism, which is a bananas theory to me.
> "Even more problematically, the techniques of fascist architecture (or music or film or graphic design) may in fact be so powerful that they transcend history and even geo-politics: this is not just a “Nazi problem” we can relegate to the past. These tools work for fascists, but non-fascists are tempted to use them as well."
But it was a style of the times that a facist adopted. That, oh god, may have come from america!
> "Further complicating the story, the influence actually runs in multiple directions: in addition to admiring Haussmann’s Paris and classical Rome, Speer was a big fan of L’Enfant’s monumental plan for Washington, DC — so where are the roots of the problem?."
> "As Dietmar Schirmer has noted, much of the best architecture from the period — whether in Berlin, Paris, or Washington, DC — employs the “Stripped Classicism” favored by Speer."
> "But perhaps we need to feel the shock and try to push back on the awe: even if these structures are glorious, do we endorse the beliefs they embody?"
Well thanks for trying to cancel 1940s architecture, and warn me away from admiring the very art you brought to me in this article.
"As a wise friend once quipped, “There are two kinds of people: those who feel that all parades are a little bit fascist, and fascists.”"
What's with this kind of all-or-nothing thinking about what's fascist and what isn't? Am I the only person who finds the irony in this?
What's with this kind of all-or-nothing thinking about what's fascist and what isn't? Am I the only person who finds the irony in this?
Am I the only person who finds the irony in this?
In that spirit, jingoism and displays of national pride/allegiance such as parades are indeed slightly fascist.
In reality of course, all things exist on a continuum.
I have been in Independence Day parades myself here in the U.S. here in my small town! Was it a little bit fascist? Yes, very slightly, but obviously I judged it to be overwhelmingly on the harmless side of things.
Still, it's instructive to look at parades in Nazi Germany and so forth. Lots of friendly, smiling faces waving flags, not so different from the ones I wave to each July 4th. Societies can go down dark roads much more easily than we'd like to think.
> Lots of friendly, smiling faces waving flags, not so different from the ones I wave to each July 4th. Societies can go down dark roads much more easily than we'd like to think.
The difference is in level of violence that went on openly on the streets at exact same time. That propagandist camera did not caught that does not change it.
At the time people smoke and wave flags, considerable oppression is going on.
The difference is in level of violence that went on openly on the streets at exact same time. That propagandist camera did not caught that does not change it.
At the time people smoke and wave flags, considerable oppression is going on.
<cough> George Floyd <cough>
That is really not comparable to Germany back then.
Right, but the point is not "are we brutalizing people on a scale comparable to Nazi Germany?"
No, obviously not, by orders of magnitude! But we are doing it and that should be a warning to us. Also the consider that mass incarceration and poverty in America, which disproportionately affect minorities, are brutalization of a different sort.
Again, this is not me or anybody claiming that America is bad, or directly comparable to Nazi Germany.
But, it's our duty to rigorously analyze ourselves and think about which parts of America are good and which parts resemble fascist or otherwise evil regimes. I honestly cannot think of anything more fundamentally good and patriotic!
Just as we hopefully think about ourselves as individuals and think about which parts of us are good and which parts are bad, or perhaps represent the seeds of something bad.
No, obviously not, by orders of magnitude! But we are doing it and that should be a warning to us. Also the consider that mass incarceration and poverty in America, which disproportionately affect minorities, are brutalization of a different sort.
Again, this is not me or anybody claiming that America is bad, or directly comparable to Nazi Germany.
But, it's our duty to rigorously analyze ourselves and think about which parts of America are good and which parts resemble fascist or otherwise evil regimes. I honestly cannot think of anything more fundamentally good and patriotic!
Just as we hopefully think about ourselves as individuals and think about which parts of us are good and which parts are bad, or perhaps represent the seeds of something bad.
To me, the author's point seems more complicated than that. No, fascists didn't come up with certain techniques, like military parades. But those same techniques seem to be particularly effective when employed as tools of the fascist state in service of the fascist agenda. Can you separate the cultural relevance those techniques have for us from the work they have done in a fascist context? I don't know, but I don't think anyone is trying to "cancel" anything.
> Can you separate the cultural relevance those techniques have for us from the work they have done in a fascist context?
I think you must be aware of them and learn from history but we shouldn’t abandon everything that was misused for evil purposes or we’d have nothing left. Worse than that we’d inevitably forget it and reinvent it and make the same mistakes being ignorant of the past. The wisest thing to do is to take those things and correct their flaws and turn them into something that can benefits everyone.
I think you must be aware of them and learn from history but we shouldn’t abandon everything that was misused for evil purposes or we’d have nothing left. Worse than that we’d inevitably forget it and reinvent it and make the same mistakes being ignorant of the past. The wisest thing to do is to take those things and correct their flaws and turn them into something that can benefits everyone.
The author's claim isn't simply that they were "used for evil". The claim was that they are much more effectively employed in the service of evil than otherwise. I'm not positing a solution here, simply pointing out the extra degree of nuance.
US architecture - in fact the more corporate end of modernist architecture in general - has very literal and obvious links to fascism.
https://architecturehereandthere.com/2016/04/21/fascism-mode...
The monumentalism of city centres in the US - especially DC - is not an accident.
This is obvious when you consider what non-fascist architecture would look like: human scale, communitarian, diverse, accessible, quirky and humorous, colourful, ecologically integrated.
Generally the opposite of massive concrete statement buildings and monuments which intimidate, bully, and exclude.
https://architecturehereandthere.com/2016/04/21/fascism-mode...
The monumentalism of city centres in the US - especially DC - is not an accident.
This is obvious when you consider what non-fascist architecture would look like: human scale, communitarian, diverse, accessible, quirky and humorous, colourful, ecologically integrated.
Generally the opposite of massive concrete statement buildings and monuments which intimidate, bully, and exclude.
I think we tend to underestimate the effect of environment and organization on the individual.
A city (or office...) can be 'democratic' if it has a variety of places to meet with different degrees of formality or organization, be it in a park, a public place or a side street.
Or it could be 'authoritarian' if it's centered around institutions, makes the public easy to surveil and discourages deviation from the task at hand.
It's easy to see how through a systematic understanding of these factors (or by instinct) leadership would want to build a city (or design an office) a certain way and it's worth paying close attention to what's going on in this regard.
A city (or office...) can be 'democratic' if it has a variety of places to meet with different degrees of formality or organization, be it in a park, a public place or a side street.
Or it could be 'authoritarian' if it's centered around institutions, makes the public easy to surveil and discourages deviation from the task at hand.
It's easy to see how through a systematic understanding of these factors (or by instinct) leadership would want to build a city (or design an office) a certain way and it's worth paying close attention to what's going on in this regard.
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The art for the show makes sense, but celebrating the art and discussing it as if you’re ascribing awe and respect to the terrible men that created it is wrong.
Hitler was a monster and the Germans that supported him were monsters. I used to think their inventions were neat, but now that I know more about what happened there, it sickens me.
Hitler was a monster and the Germans that supported him were monsters. I used to think their inventions were neat, but now that I know more about what happened there, it sickens me.
You'd probably really hate "The Wind Rises"
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2013293/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2013293/
On the train, they met some North Koreans and talked to them (in North Korea it is pretty impossible to talk to people, thanks to the government minders. So, this was still in China, and they were guarded and circumspect, but talked.). They said that they had just come from a work assignment in Uganda, doing construction. The friend asked, what sort of construction, residential or commercial? The reply: "Museums and monuments!"
Yep, that's one thing authoritarian regimes are good at, monumental architecture...
(For example, the Arch of Triumph [3], which, it was pointed out, is 10 m higher than the one in Paris...)
[1] https://goo.gl/maps/MZkFVC7v4sBTisqS7
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yalu_River_Broken_Bridge
[3] https://koryogroup.com/travel-guide/north-korea-guide-arch-o...
More examples: https://thespaces.com/mapping-pyongyangs-monumental-landmark...