This page continues on from Odeonsplatz
My GIF on the right shows Himmler (centre) at the funeral of NSKK (National Socialist Motor Corps) leader Adolf Huenlein on May 21, 1942 and today. The
street housed several buildings that were instrumental for the Nazi
regime, including administrative offices and venues for political
rallies. It was here that many key decisions affecting not only Munich
but also the broader trajectory of Nazi policy were made. The
architectural grandiosity of Ludwigstraße also lent itself well to the
Nazi penchant for spectacle. Evans notes that architecture was a "key
element in the Nazi theatricality," and Ludwigstraße, with its
monumental scale and classical form, fit well within this aesthetic
framework. The street was often used for parades and other public
displays designed to showcase the strength and unity of the Nazi regime.
These events were meticulously choreographed, serving both to
intimidate and to create a sense of collective identity among
participants and onlookers. The grand buildings lining the street
provided a backdrop that amplified the sense of awe and power that the
Nazis sought to evoke. The street was not merely a backdrop but also a
symbol in its own right. Kershaw posits that the Nazis were adept at
using symbols to create a "mythical past," and Ludwigstraße, with its
historical and architectural significance, was incorporated into this
narrative. The street's classical architecture, reminiscent of a
glorified Germanic past, was co-opted to lend historical legitimacy to
the Nazi regime. This appropriation of public spaces for ideological
ends is a recurring theme in totalitarian regimes, and Ludwigstraße
serves as a case study in how architecture and urban planning can be
politicised.
Berlin's Under den Linden and Munich's Ludwigstraße are comparable in regard to their historical development and their urban context. They show common neo-classical features typical of the early 19th century town planning. The type as well as the location of institutions along the two royal boulevards correspond to the idealistic concepts of the "via triumphalis" in the centre of the capitals of authoritarian states. All institutions, from the royal castle on the edge of the older part of the city to the university, founded by the king, to the military and ecclesiastical edifices, demonstrate the royal power and the authority of the state, thus outlining the character of the city in the pre-industrial age, immediately before political, social, aesthetic, and stylistic changes universally started to transform the functions and physiognomy of urban structures. Today both streets are situated on the edge of the central business district; they continue to be surrounded by public buildings housing the arts and sciences as well as governmental institutions.
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Hitler paid tribute to this street which links the Feldherrnhalle, sacred to the Nazis, to the Siegestor, where Maxvorstadt spills over into
Schwabing and which serves today as a symbol of peace, in a speech on May 22, 1938 in Munich where he declared
Do you think a Ludwigstrasse would ever have been constructed had it been up to the citizens and other institutions of Munich? Great architectural solutions can only come about through a central plan, and this is the way it will be once again today... when the Ludwigstrasse was built, Munich had scarcely 70,000 inhabitants. Today Munich has a population of more than 800,000 and Berlin has more than 4,500,000. Nobody shall dare to come up to me to say that the new streets we are building are too wide.
Although the street itself owes more to Maximilian I who
dreamed of turning Munich into a city of
art and culture, an ‘Athens on the Isar’ with its uniform and well-
proportioned row of neoclassical architecture a
credit to court architects Klenze and Gärtner, the Nazis left their mark.
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Looking from the other direction as Hitler and Mussolini are driven down Ludwigstraße on June 18, 1940. On the left is the Central Ministry of the State of Bavaria, today Bavarian State Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry (Ludwigstraße 2) whilst on the right the Bazar at Odeonsplatz. Hitler arrived in the city at noon, aboard his special train. Reich Governor von Epp greeted him at the gate. After the customary welcome, review of the guards of honour, et cet., Hitler’s car bore him to his apartment at 16 Prinzregentenplatz. Three hours later, the Führer was back at the station gate to greet the Duce, whose train reached the Bavarian capital punctually at 14:58. Ciano accompanied Mussolini. Nearly the same ceremony that hours earlier had welcomed Hitler, now greeted the Duce. Then the two dictators drove to the Prince Carl Palace, where Hitler took leave of his guest for the time being.
The 'Bockerlbahn' in front of the destroyed Cafe Tambosi at Odeonsplatz. In October 1944 the authorities introduced an emergency lane to transport debris via this steam-powered locomotive. It appears on the right going through Wittelsbacher Platz.
Café Heck
Then and now, with the equestrian statue of Ludwig I. Below it appears in a photo taken by men of the American 14th Armoured Division right after taking the city. The statue itself is made of bronze with the the base made of stone. The main figure shows Ludwig I on horseback with crown and sceptre; the secondary figures show allegories of justice and perseverance , corresponding to the king's motto. The corner figures show allegories of religion, poetry, industry and architecture which were supposed to correspond to the king's interests. The base has the inscriptions "Ludwig I Koenig von Bayern" on the front and "Erected out of gratitude by the city of Munich on XXV. August MDCCCLXII" on the back. Accordingly, the equestrian statue was erected on August 25, 1862. Odeonsplatz is named for the former concert hall, the Odeon, on its southwestern side. The Odeon was built from 1826–1828 on a commission from King Ludwig I of Bavaria and was originally a concert hall and ballroom. .gif)
Klenze designed the exterior as an identical counterpart to that of the Palais Leuchtenberg, so that there was no outward indication of its function. The ministry itself was founded in 1806, whose core competencies include internal administration, the police and construction, despite considerable changes over time. With the establishment of the ministries for social welfare and agriculture, the interior department lost considerable competencies after the Great War, but the staff themselves were not replaced despite the revolution. From 1918 to 1920 the ruling SPD appointed the ministers of the interior followed from 1921 to 1933 by BVP politicians who then headed the ministry and who fought massively against the emergence of the Nazis. Nazi Interior Minister Adolf Wagner succeeded after 1933 in considerably expanding the responsibilities of his department. The Nazis also took over the previous officials, but were quickly able to infiltrate the authority with loyal party members.During the Nazi era, the ministry was responsible, among other things, for the mass killings of the mentally ill and disabled. The building was gutted in an air raid on the night of April 25, 1944. Beginning in 1951, it was rebuilt by Josef Wiedemann to house the Ministry of the Interior.
This route, approximately seven kilometres long, was significantly longer than 1933 but retained its u-turn on the Ludwigstraße. In addition to repeating the awkward u-turn, this also meant that the expanded number of floats and participants of the 1937 parade had to confine themselves to only one half of the street. At least one writer claimed this route led to 'special groupings and images that merged into each other, when for instance the turned-around parade passed itself in opposing directions', making the parade a 'parable of the repetition of life'. Yet parade organisers clearly intended to depict Nazism as the climatic finale and culmination of German history. Rather than a mere repetition of previous ages, the parade aimed to present an unassailable chronology of German achievement culminating in Nazism's New Age. The awkward orientation of the Ludwigstraße space partially obscured this trajectory as did the overall parade route which passed the House of German Art near its start. Although it is easy to understand why some would uncritically assume that the parade 'wound through the streets toward the new museum', the route actually led away from the museum. In 1938, organisers diverted the parade right on to Königstraße after passing the House location. From there it entered the Ludwigstraße from the north and proceeded along its length without having to double back. Now floats advancing along the Ludwigstraße would not have to compete with each other. The new route also allowed the parade to enter the Ludwigstraße by passing beneath the monumental Victory Gate, instead of turning around in front of it. The procession could also expand to cover the entire width of the Ludwigstraße. Although providing a more dramatic entry on to the Ludwigstraße, it required the parade to follow the Königstraße, an unremarkable residential street. Munich's existing spatial layout simply did not offer a clear and coherent route that could link the House of German Art and Munich's other important public spaces. Whilst the dimensions of the Ludwigstraße were conducive for the type of mass spectacle favoured by Nazi leaders, the architecture lining the street posed a problem. Commissioned by King Ludwig in an effort to transform Munich into an international cultural centre, these façades recalled classical and renaissance styles in Italy and Greece. Although not necessarily incompatible with Nazi ideology, these buildings did not easily connect to the revised parades which celebrated a narrower vision of Germanic cultural and military prowess. Indeed, the neo-classical period, which encompassed most of the Ludwigstraße's architecture, played a negligible role in the parades. In response, the street was adorned with myriad banners, flags and other decorations that almost completely screened the boulevard's buildings from view. Here, flags and other decorations provided a means to obscure the street's original architectural symbolism and focus spectators' attention on the more nationalistic message conveyed by the parade. While the effect along the Ludwigstraße was certainly impressive, the visual impact along other portions of the route was limited. Most of the rest of the parade route followed narrow streets which lacked the monumentality of the Ludwigstraße space and generally had fewer decorations. Again, Munich's existing layout and architecture served to limit its effectiveness as a venue for Nazi spectacle and performance. In addition to its awkward route and its ill-suited architectural backdrop, later parades demonstrated several additional shortcomings and contradictions. First, interpretation of the parade required a significant amount of historical knowledge, which many middle- and lower-class Germans may not have possessed. Second, some of the figures celebrated were difficult to reconcile with Nazi policy. For example, the mediæval Hohenstaufen emperors focused much of their energy on gaining territory in Italy, whereas Nazi rhetoric and policy obsessed about eastern expansion. It was also noteworthy what events and figures were omitted. References to classical Greece, so prominent in 1933, were removed in a shift away from a general narrative of Western culture to a narrower celebration of Nordic-Germanic history and values. 
On the left, a model of the Haus der Deutsche Kunst at the "Glanzzeiten deutscher
Geschichte" parade on the 1937 "Day of
German Art" in front of St. Ludwig’s church. As noted above, religion was almost totally absent, aside from pagan allegories. It was not surprising that the Reformation and the Thirty Years War were missing since they allude to national discord. Yet the parade celebrated the Gothic period, a time of national political fragmentation. Furthermore, achievements in Gothic art and architecture were closely tied to the Christian cathedral. This reflects a degree of ambiguity if not hostility between Christianity, which enjoyed significant support among the general public, and many party leaders, who cast Nazism as a new messianic religion. Even more striking was the omission of most modern history. Aside from Wagner, the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were largely absent. There was no reference to Bismarck or German unification in 1871, although they could represent national unity and military victory. Even the First World War, a pivotal personal experience for many Nazi leaders and of profound importance for the development of the party, was excluded. It is perhaps understandable that the Weimar period was excluded, although the period witnessed the birth of the Nazi Party. These sparse references to recent history reflected the Nazi movement's prevailing view of this as a time of cultural decay and racial degeneration. Although the parades' title suggested a message of continuity between successive historical epochs leading to National Socialism, these omissions had the effect of presenting Nazism as the expression of an eternal and ahistorical racial ethos that, after a period of decline, simply emerged beyond any context. In many respects, the party's ideologues drew greater inspiration from mythical images of prehistoric, pagan and mediæval times representing national unity, military valour, and racial purity, and sought to portray the Nazi movement as the embodiment of these supposedly timeless Germanic national values.
Despite claims to be a 'tremendous parade of peace', the parades of 1937 to 1939 offered an extended acclamation of martial achievements and heroic feats culminating in representations of Hitler's foreign policy successes. Although presented as a parade of German culture, warriors and political leaders rather than artists were the pivotal figures. As the exiled Social Democratic Party sarcastically reported: "The parade was more of a military rather than a cultural spectacle. Two thirds of all participants were warriors. From the fighters of the Germanic Age armed with spears to the military and party formations marching at the end of the parade, one could follow the exceptional development of the German warrior'. After the preceding floats recounted the history of this idealised Volk community, the extensive New Age section positioned the Nazi regime as the inheritor, defender and culmination of this legacy. The allusions to Sacrifice, Belief and Loyalty, which opened the New Age section, complemented efforts to ready men and women for their respective roles as the regime prepared its own war of conquest. Despite the parades' sharpened ideological message, they did not emerge as iconic images of Nazi Germany. In contrast to Munich's art exhibitions which were celebrated in professional journals, popular magazines and widely circulated programmes, the parades garnered relatively little coverage. The apparent disinterest of the party propaganda machinery in pushing the parades as part of the broader Nazi iconography raises questions about their effectiveness as propaganda events. Scholars examining parades and other public spectacles in democratic contexts have noted that organisers often attempt to reinforce the ideological message by actively involving the public in the spectacle. This objective has also been noted in dictatorial states, such as Fascist Italy, where David Atkinson argued that the regime sought to build control and consensus by staging 'inclusive spectacles' in Rome's public spaces. Nazi organisers stated a similar goal in the 1937 parade programme: Through forms drawn from the distant and recent past of German culture, we ourselves. stride, as an entire people, in the parade of German achievement, of German history. Not spectators but rather we are today and always a deeply edifying and extremely resolute community of blood and culture. This desire to blur the distinction between participant and observer was an important element in the power of the Nuremberg Rallies, the regime's most infamous propaganda spectacles. Yet unlike the massive parades and spectacles staged in Nuremberg, the Munich parades largely failed in this regard. There are various reasons, but one important consideration is the different types of spaces and venues within which the Nuremberg Rallies and Munich parades were performed. Unlike the Nuremberg Rally complex, which featured large venues designed and built by the Nazi Party to enclose both participant and observer, Munich's parade route lacked comparable spaces. Parade organisers had to make do with Munich's existing street layout and architecture, which were not designed with parades or mass gatherings in mind. In addition to the practical advantages offered by their sense of mon mentality and enclosure, the architecture of the Nuremberg Rallies was also purposely designed to place Hitler and the party within an aura of power, order and permanence. In contrast, Munich's relatively modest nineteenth-century neo-classical buildings were ill-suited for this task. On both a symbolic and practical level, Munich's urban layout presented a series of architectural and spatial limitations that diminished the propaganda impact of the Nazi culture parades. This highlights the degree to which an urban space's existing layout and symbolic associations can constrain its potential use, even in totalitarian societies. The urban landscape is certainly malleable and open to interpretation, but there are limits to its flexibility. This is also suggestive of why, after initial efforts to redevelop existing urban spaces, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany eventually shifted to building new urban centres from scratch that could be designed in accordance with their respective ideologies.
Zentralministerium für den gleichgeschalteten bayerischen Staat Café Heck
Just
off Odeonsplatz and overlooking the Hofgarten beside the Residenz, this
was a main Hitler site. The photo on the left shows him with his main
acolytes from Geoff Walden's Third Reich in Ruins.
Hanfstaengl with Hitler at Cafe Heck. Hanfstaengl wrote in his book Hitler: The Missing Years (132) that "whenever he was in Munich, he was usually to be found with his inner circle at the Cafe Heck, in the Galleriestrasse, which became his Stammtisch after leaving Landsberg". According to Kershaw, much of Hitler's time
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The Hofgarten in 1919 during the Munich civil war as seen in the first episode, Helped into Power, from the 1997 documentary The Nazis: A Warning from History:
Hanfstaengl with Hitler at Cafe Heck. Hanfstaengl wrote in his book Hitler: The Missing Years (132) that "whenever he was in Munich, he was usually to be found with his inner circle at the Cafe Heck, in the Galleriestrasse, which became his Stammtisch after leaving Landsberg". According to Kershaw, much of Hitler's time
was spent lounging around cafés in Munich. He specially liked the Café Heck in Galerienstraße, his favourite. In a quiet corner of the long, narrow room of this coffee-house, frequented by Munich’s solid middle class, he could sit at his reserved table, his back to the wall, holding court among the new-found cronies that he had attracted to the NSDAP. Among those coming to form an inner circle of Hitler’s associates were the young student Rudolf Heß, the Baltic-Germans Alfred Rosenberg (who had worked on Eckart’s periodical since 1919) and Max Erwin von Scheubner-Richter (an engineer with excellent contacts to wealthy Russian émigrés).
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Bavaria is a picture-book land, famous for its lederhosen and its beer halls, but at the end of WWI, conditions existed here which would create a revolution. After the war, the Allies continued to blockade Germany and the returning troops were shocked to discover how much their families were still suffering. Millions of Germans were hungry and thousands more were dying of tuberculosis and influenza. Politics were polarised. Conservatives and Socialists became radical in the face of crisis. With the whole of Germany in turmoil in the spring of 1919, the unrest in Munich resulted in a left-wing takeover of the city, the Raterepublik. This culminated, in April 1919, in the Munich Soviet Republic, an attempt to create a soviet-style government of the city, only 18 months after the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Soviet Union. Government troops were sent to quash the rebellion and there was fighting on the streets of Munich. More than 500 people were killed. The soldiers were supported by the Freikorps, right-wing mercenaries paid for by the government. In Munich, there were cases where the Freikorps simply shot members of the Raterepublik out of hand. Other Freikorps members heartily approved of the brutal measures used to suppress Communist revolutionaries throughout Germany.
The same site July 26, 1933 with a visiting group of 411 Italian fascist youth and today. From the central station they marched here to the residenz where, in the ballroom, they were offered a ceremonial reception that began with a speech of welcome from ambassador Vittorio Cerutti. After Hitler's own speech, the Jungfaschists then visited the Brown House. Only months earlier on March 31, 1933 he had given Hitler a letter from Mussolini concerning the upcoming actions against the Jews the next day which Hitler had brusquely rejected. Cerruti warned Mussolini of the dangers of German Austria policy for Italy. On October 12, 1933 Cerruti visited Hitler and brought him Mussolini's proposals on the issue of disarmament; soon after Göring agitated for Cerruti's dismissal which Mussolini refused, probably because of the increasing German-Italian tensions over Austria. Tensions were not improved by the reading of the reports Cerruti gave to Rome that came from the German interception services listening in to his telephone calls. When Mussolini sent two Italian divisions to the Brenner Pass during the Austrian crisis of July 1934 with the assassination of Chancellor Dollfuss, Hitler blamed Cerruti for the decision. As early as June 21, 1935, Hitler had informed his liaison with Mussolini, former Italian Consul General Renzetti, of his desire to have Cerruti replaced. When Ambassador Cerruti was ordered back to Rome by Mussolini, Hitler had ordered that no party member appear at his departure for Italy on August 13, 1935.
Bayerisches Staatsministerium des Innern
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Klenze designed the exterior as an identical counterpart to that of the Palais Leuchtenberg, so that there was no outward indication of its function. The ministry itself was founded in 1806, whose core competencies include internal administration, the police and construction, despite considerable changes over time. With the establishment of the ministries for social welfare and agriculture, the interior department lost considerable competencies after the Great War, but the staff themselves were not replaced despite the revolution. From 1918 to 1920 the ruling SPD appointed the ministers of the interior followed from 1921 to 1933 by BVP politicians who then headed the ministry and who fought massively against the emergence of the Nazis. Nazi Interior Minister Adolf Wagner succeeded after 1933 in considerably expanding the responsibilities of his department. The Nazis also took over the previous officials, but were quickly able to infiltrate the authority with loyal party members.During the Nazi era, the ministry was responsible, among other things, for the mass killings of the mentally ill and disabled. The building was gutted in an air raid on the night of April 25, 1944. Beginning in 1951, it was rebuilt by Josef Wiedemann to house the Ministry of the Interior.
Then and now, with the equestrian statue of Ludwig I
Map showing the route taken through Munich during the 1937 parade. Joshua Hagen has written extensively about these Nazi parades in his article Parades, Public Space, and Propaganda: The Nazi Culture Parades in Munich (Geografiska Annaler. Series B, Human Geography Vol. 90, No. 4 (2008), pp. 349-367):
The statue is shown on the bottom left behind Hitler being greeted by Gauleiter Wagner with Goebbels on the left and, second from the right, the Italian Chief of General Staff Pariani at the opening ceremony of the Tag der Deutschen Kunst on July 10, 1938. The top left is from the year before showing Frau Troost, Goebbels, Hitler, Göring, Adolf Wagner, and Rudolf Heß.
Map showing the route taken through Munich during the 1937 parade. Joshua Hagen has written extensively about these Nazi parades in his article Parades, Public Space, and Propaganda: The Nazi Culture Parades in Munich (Geografiska Annaler. Series B, Human Geography Vol. 90, No. 4 (2008), pp. 349-367):Unlike the 1933 event which appeared rather hastily organised, organisers had time to prepare a more visually extravagant affair in 1937. The parade's ideological content also reflected a more developed Nazi cultural policy and propaganda apparatus. The redesigned parade, titled Two Thousand Years of German Culture, positioned Nazism as the culmination of German history and focused on a promised glorious future. As the programme to the 1939 festivities explained, the parade offered a chance to 'experience German history, experience its greatness and tremendous past, and see how proudly the German future is being built'. In addition to the widely publicised opening of the House of German Art, Hitler and other party leaders declared its first exhibition, the Great German Art Exhibition, a showpiece of artistic achievement in Nazi Germany. 
These ideologically appropriate paintings and sculptures tended to depict nude figures, scenes of German landscapes and peasant life, or images glorifying the party and combat. A short distance away, another exhibit of so-called degenerate art scorned modernist and abstract art as foreign and contrary to a healthy folk culture. After a weekend of exhibitions, concerts and banquets, the official opening of the House on the morning of Sunday, 18 July 1937 would be followed by an afternoon parade concluding the weekend's festivities. Although scholars have paid scant attention to the parade, contemporary press coverage clearly depicted the parade as an integral component of the festival. Unlike the exhibitions which were naturally confined within smaller interior spaces, the parade offered an opportunity for mass participation and public spectacle comparable to the marches accompanying the Nuremberg Rallies. Adolf Wagner again oversaw the planning, including the creation of a quasi-private association to organise this and future events. Painter Hermann Kaspar and sculptor Richard Knecht, both professors at the Academy of Visual Arts, shared the overall artistic direction of the parade. Buchner again arranged street decorations. Expressing the regime's ideological intentions, the Nazi mouthpiece Völkische Beobachter proclaimed that 'according to the will of the Führer' the parade would be 'a grand demonstration of German culture' symbolising 'that we are one of the oldest civilised nations, that we are proud of our history, and that we pull strength from it for the future now beginning'. Rather than simply trying to 'repeat but amplify the parade of 1933', organisers took several steps to make the later parades more coherent and comprehensive expressions of the Nazi Party's vision of past, present and future national community. 
Reflecting this propaganda goal, the official parade programme explained: 'Our walk today is a glowing tribute to the historical achievements of our Volk, a military journey of the national community, a parade into the great future of the eternal Germany'. Based on official programmes and German press accounts, it's clear that, although sharing certain similarities with its predecessor, every facet of the later parades was grander and presented a more rigid and expansive chronology showcasing German history as a prelude to the proclaimed grandeur of the thousand-year Nazi Reich. Whilst the amalgam of Greek and German elements in the 1933 parade was interpreted as representing a 'balance between north and south', the entire 1937 production portrayed, as one writer argued, 'German achievement for the culture of humanity from Germanic prehistory to the present'. Stretching nearly four kilometres and lasting for over two hours, the revised parade began with riders bearing the standards and flags of the Nazi Party and the arts followed by seven main sections, each devoted to a specific historical period with its own music: Germanic, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Romantic, and the New Age. As the parade's second largest grouping with about 480 participants, the Germanic Age introduced the revised narrative with 'tall, weathered blondes' proudly battling against nature and other peoples to 'create the destiny and the culture of the Nordic-Germanic world'. The Germanic group contained eight floats which positioned 'Nordic-Germanic' tribes as the earliest ancestors of modern Germans. After warriors escorting a Viking-like ship, most of the successive floats symbolised specific religious icons like the sun, the day, the night, the creation of the first humans, the sea god, and Walhalla where the gods welcomed heroes after death. 
In an overt attempt to link Nazism to the epoch's perceived racial purity and martial valour, the sun group presented a stylised swastika as an ancient representation of the sun, while the Walhalla allegory featured long banners and draperies with swastika motifs. The prominence of the swastika was an obvious attempt by parade organisers to position the Nazi movement as the modern incarnation of this prehistoric warrior race. As one writer explained: 'As our ancestors honoured the swastika as a rune for well-being and promise, it is again holy for us today'. Compared to the 1933 parade, the later parades, with their grounding of Nazi symbols in prehistory and prominent rhetoric of blood ties between ancient Nordic tribes and modern Germans, began with a much more direct ideological statement. Reflecting orthodox Nazi views of a national community based on racial purity and martial valour, the parade programme explained how the Germanic group and subsequent floats would demonstrate that 'throughout nearly three thousand years the racial strength remained unbroken and devoted itself to life in work and battle'. Although the Germanic group was replete with pagan religious icons, the Romanesque Age with its ten floats and the Gothic Age with seven floats were largely devoid of Christian overtones. Apart from three floats celebrating the architecture and sculpture of the period, the Romanesque section focused on Charlemagne, Friedrich Barbarossa, and other political leaders flanked by squadrons of German warriors and crusaders. Of the seven elements of the Gothic Age, three focused on the arts including a model of a Gothic fountain reused from the 1933 parade, while the remaining four were formations of knights mounted for battle, jousting or hunting. Although the Germans adopted Christianity and were active in religious affairs during these periods, the parade's interpretation largely focused on military exploits, reflecting the Nazi Party's valorisation of conflict but ambivalence towards Christianity. The next three groupings, celebrating the Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical and Romantic Ages, were relatively small. Three elements of the Renaissance Age depicted a flowering of painting, sculpture and science, while two others featured a grouping of peasants and riders. The four elements of the Baroque Age symbolised music, theatre, sculpture and the Bavarian rococo, a second leftover from the 1933 parade. 
The fifth Baroque element featured military formations recalling Friedrich the Great. The Classical and Romantic Age had only two elements: one recognising the neo- classical arts, the other devoted to Richard Wagner. Although many of the major cultural trends symbolised here originated in non-German lands, the parade programme emphasised the unique German contribution by explaining that although 'foreigners often gave us example and impetus; the borrowed form always obtained its own original life from the spirit of our bloodline'. Compared with the preceding groups, these three ages are remarkable in their relative brevity and lack of martial themes. This may stem from the fact that many of the major events of these periods, such as the Reformation, the Thirty Years War and the slow decline of the Holy Roman Empire, conjured images of German disunity rather than the Nazi ideal of national unity.
These ideologically appropriate paintings and sculptures tended to depict nude figures, scenes of German landscapes and peasant life, or images glorifying the party and combat. A short distance away, another exhibit of so-called degenerate art scorned modernist and abstract art as foreign and contrary to a healthy folk culture. After a weekend of exhibitions, concerts and banquets, the official opening of the House on the morning of Sunday, 18 July 1937 would be followed by an afternoon parade concluding the weekend's festivities. Although scholars have paid scant attention to the parade, contemporary press coverage clearly depicted the parade as an integral component of the festival. Unlike the exhibitions which were naturally confined within smaller interior spaces, the parade offered an opportunity for mass participation and public spectacle comparable to the marches accompanying the Nuremberg Rallies. Adolf Wagner again oversaw the planning, including the creation of a quasi-private association to organise this and future events. Painter Hermann Kaspar and sculptor Richard Knecht, both professors at the Academy of Visual Arts, shared the overall artistic direction of the parade. Buchner again arranged street decorations. Expressing the regime's ideological intentions, the Nazi mouthpiece Völkische Beobachter proclaimed that 'according to the will of the Führer' the parade would be 'a grand demonstration of German culture' symbolising 'that we are one of the oldest civilised nations, that we are proud of our history, and that we pull strength from it for the future now beginning'. Rather than simply trying to 'repeat but amplify the parade of 1933', organisers took several steps to make the later parades more coherent and comprehensive expressions of the Nazi Party's vision of past, present and future national community. 
Reflecting this propaganda goal, the official parade programme explained: 'Our walk today is a glowing tribute to the historical achievements of our Volk, a military journey of the national community, a parade into the great future of the eternal Germany'. Based on official programmes and German press accounts, it's clear that, although sharing certain similarities with its predecessor, every facet of the later parades was grander and presented a more rigid and expansive chronology showcasing German history as a prelude to the proclaimed grandeur of the thousand-year Nazi Reich. Whilst the amalgam of Greek and German elements in the 1933 parade was interpreted as representing a 'balance between north and south', the entire 1937 production portrayed, as one writer argued, 'German achievement for the culture of humanity from Germanic prehistory to the present'. Stretching nearly four kilometres and lasting for over two hours, the revised parade began with riders bearing the standards and flags of the Nazi Party and the arts followed by seven main sections, each devoted to a specific historical period with its own music: Germanic, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Romantic, and the New Age. As the parade's second largest grouping with about 480 participants, the Germanic Age introduced the revised narrative with 'tall, weathered blondes' proudly battling against nature and other peoples to 'create the destiny and the culture of the Nordic-Germanic world'. The Germanic group contained eight floats which positioned 'Nordic-Germanic' tribes as the earliest ancestors of modern Germans. After warriors escorting a Viking-like ship, most of the successive floats symbolised specific religious icons like the sun, the day, the night, the creation of the first humans, the sea god, and Walhalla where the gods welcomed heroes after death. 
In an overt attempt to link Nazism to the epoch's perceived racial purity and martial valour, the sun group presented a stylised swastika as an ancient representation of the sun, while the Walhalla allegory featured long banners and draperies with swastika motifs. The prominence of the swastika was an obvious attempt by parade organisers to position the Nazi movement as the modern incarnation of this prehistoric warrior race. As one writer explained: 'As our ancestors honoured the swastika as a rune for well-being and promise, it is again holy for us today'. Compared to the 1933 parade, the later parades, with their grounding of Nazi symbols in prehistory and prominent rhetoric of blood ties between ancient Nordic tribes and modern Germans, began with a much more direct ideological statement. Reflecting orthodox Nazi views of a national community based on racial purity and martial valour, the parade programme explained how the Germanic group and subsequent floats would demonstrate that 'throughout nearly three thousand years the racial strength remained unbroken and devoted itself to life in work and battle'. Although the Germanic group was replete with pagan religious icons, the Romanesque Age with its ten floats and the Gothic Age with seven floats were largely devoid of Christian overtones. Apart from three floats celebrating the architecture and sculpture of the period, the Romanesque section focused on Charlemagne, Friedrich Barbarossa, and other political leaders flanked by squadrons of German warriors and crusaders. Of the seven elements of the Gothic Age, three focused on the arts including a model of a Gothic fountain reused from the 1933 parade, while the remaining four were formations of knights mounted for battle, jousting or hunting. Although the Germans adopted Christianity and were active in religious affairs during these periods, the parade's interpretation largely focused on military exploits, reflecting the Nazi Party's valorisation of conflict but ambivalence towards Christianity. The next three groupings, celebrating the Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical and Romantic Ages, were relatively small. Three elements of the Renaissance Age depicted a flowering of painting, sculpture and science, while two others featured a grouping of peasants and riders. The four elements of the Baroque Age symbolised music, theatre, sculpture and the Bavarian rococo, a second leftover from the 1933 parade. 
The fifth Baroque element featured military formations recalling Friedrich the Great. The Classical and Romantic Age had only two elements: one recognising the neo- classical arts, the other devoted to Richard Wagner. Although many of the major cultural trends symbolised here originated in non-German lands, the parade programme emphasised the unique German contribution by explaining that although 'foreigners often gave us example and impetus; the borrowed form always obtained its own original life from the spirit of our bloodline'. Compared with the preceding groups, these three ages are remarkable in their relative brevity and lack of martial themes. This may stem from the fact that many of the major events of these periods, such as the Reformation, the Thirty Years War and the slow decline of the Holy Roman Empire, conjured images of German disunity rather than the Nazi ideal of national unity. After the parade's rather cursory treatment of German history and culture from the Gothic period onward, it skipped ahead to a 'New Age' as the culmination of German national development. The eight elements of the New Age section focused exclusively on the achievements and ideology of the Nazi regime with scant reference to the arts. Likely accounting for over one-third of all costumed participants, the New Age section was by far the largest of the parade, although it covered only five years. The section began with riders in black armour bearing crests representing the Nuremberg Party Rallies and the arts. Young torch-bearing women mourners, 'symbols of the eternal watch over the graves of the heroes' heralded the next element, which actually consisted of separate allegorical floats representing Sacrifice, Belief and Loyalty. 
The next float, Mother Earth, emphasised the importance of nature and fertility. These two sections displayed Nazi conceptions of appropriate gender roles in this new national community. Female participants received roles associated with fertility, while males were associated with action. In light of the coming war, it was prophetic that women accompanying the Sacrifice float appeared to be mourning, while Belief and Loyalty, seen as vital military attributes, were represented by male statues escorted by young men. The remaining elements of the New Age depicted political achievements starting with the reincorporation of the Rhineland and Saarland. Next, a large eagle led a series of models of 'Monumental Buildings of the Führer' in Munich and Nuremberg. The high profile accorded to architecture was especially striking considering that the other arts were basically absent from this New Age. This was indicative of the importance Nazi leaders and propaganda placed on new construction projects as evidence of the regime's progress towards a new economy, culture and national community. Surprisingly, there was no direct reference to the new age of German painting supposedly initiated by the Great German Art Exhibition. Although participants in other sections wore costumes reflecting that section's specific time period, men in the New Age section wore costumes reminiscent of mediæval monks or knights, while women appeared in flowing robes in an attempt to portray the Nazi movement in 'timeless beautiful garments'. 
The parade's finale was successive formations of SA, ϟϟ, Labour Service, police and military units as 'symbols of German strength'. As one writer explained, these were to be both symbolically and literally 'guardians and keepers of a historical legacy, protectors of two thousand years of German culture, guarantees for its preservation in the near and distant future'. Although little documentation of the parade's planning and administration survived, it is possible to piece together some general statistics from published accounts and photographs. Whilst parade organisers and party officials may have exaggerated, estimates from Wagner and Wenzel that between 21,000 and 24,000 people were involved in preparations for the parade, totalling approximately 143,000 work hours, appear plausible. The number of costumed participants in 1937 likely totalled around 3,200, mostly members of various party organisations. About 450 of these rode on horseback, including a few women. Dozens of additional horses pulled twenty-six floats, while about an equal number of smaller elements were transported by hand. The closing formations included approximately 3200 uniformed marchers, while approximately 13,500 additional men, mostly members of the SA and ϟϟ, provided crowd control.
The next float, Mother Earth, emphasised the importance of nature and fertility. These two sections displayed Nazi conceptions of appropriate gender roles in this new national community. Female participants received roles associated with fertility, while males were associated with action. In light of the coming war, it was prophetic that women accompanying the Sacrifice float appeared to be mourning, while Belief and Loyalty, seen as vital military attributes, were represented by male statues escorted by young men. The remaining elements of the New Age depicted political achievements starting with the reincorporation of the Rhineland and Saarland. Next, a large eagle led a series of models of 'Monumental Buildings of the Führer' in Munich and Nuremberg. The high profile accorded to architecture was especially striking considering that the other arts were basically absent from this New Age. This was indicative of the importance Nazi leaders and propaganda placed on new construction projects as evidence of the regime's progress towards a new economy, culture and national community. Surprisingly, there was no direct reference to the new age of German painting supposedly initiated by the Great German Art Exhibition. Although participants in other sections wore costumes reflecting that section's specific time period, men in the New Age section wore costumes reminiscent of mediæval monks or knights, while women appeared in flowing robes in an attempt to portray the Nazi movement in 'timeless beautiful garments'. 
The parade's finale was successive formations of SA, ϟϟ, Labour Service, police and military units as 'symbols of German strength'. As one writer explained, these were to be both symbolically and literally 'guardians and keepers of a historical legacy, protectors of two thousand years of German culture, guarantees for its preservation in the near and distant future'. Although little documentation of the parade's planning and administration survived, it is possible to piece together some general statistics from published accounts and photographs. Whilst parade organisers and party officials may have exaggerated, estimates from Wagner and Wenzel that between 21,000 and 24,000 people were involved in preparations for the parade, totalling approximately 143,000 work hours, appear plausible. The number of costumed participants in 1937 likely totalled around 3,200, mostly members of various party organisations. About 450 of these rode on horseback, including a few women. Dozens of additional horses pulled twenty-six floats, while about an equal number of smaller elements were transported by hand. The closing formations included approximately 3200 uniformed marchers, while approximately 13,500 additional men, mostly members of the SA and ϟϟ, provided crowd control.At least two contemporary accounts of the 1938 parade claimed that it involved 5,000 costumed participants, a significant increase since 1937. In a departure from other party spectacles, women were well represented in the Munich parades, with about 2,000 females versus 3,000 males. Yet, as suggested above, Nazi gender ideals were clearly on display. 
As shown in my GIF on the left, female participants appeared passive, often simply walking alongside floats, whilst males rode horses, were dressed for battle, or muscled floats through the streets. Whilst claims that hundreds of thousands lined Munich's streets for the parade are difficult to verify, the festivities drew large crowds. On this festival weekend, nearly 73,000 more travellers than usual passed through Munich's train station, whilst an additional 100,000 were estimated to have arrived by motor vehicle. It is clear that the parades of the late 1930s far surpassed their 1933 predecessor. The later parades were monumental spectacles offering a more coherent presentation of Nazi views of politics, culture and national community. Yet, given the parade's extravagance and the Nazi Party's penchant for fiscal mismanagement, the parade association founded in 1937 soon ran into financial troubles and was dissolved in 1940. Viewing the 1937 Day of German Art as a success, national and local leaders resolved to repeat the exhibition and parade annually. The parades in 1938 and 1939 had the same basic content and ideology as the 1937 performance with minor changes. The Mother Earth float, for example, was re-named Blood and Soil. The other changes involved additional floats celebrating foreign policy triumphs or planned building projects. The 1938 parade featured three new elements depicting the annexation of Austria and a personification of the Danube. There were also new models of buildings planned in Nuremberg, Hamburg and Berlin. The 1939 parade was updated with three new floats celebrating recent foreign policy victories: the annexation of the Czech Sudetenland, the Czech Protectorate and the Memel Land. Wartime conditions precluded further parades. The route Organisers also revised the route but still faced complications from Munich's existing layout. The new route followed the same initial course, but now, once reaching the southern end of the Ludwigstraße, the parade turned west towards the Königsplatz then circled south through the city centre.
This route, approximately seven kilometres long, was significantly longer than 1933 but retained its u-turn on the Ludwigstraße. In addition to repeating the awkward u-turn, this also meant that the expanded number of floats and participants of the 1937 parade had to confine themselves to only one half of the street. At least one writer claimed this route led to 'special groupings and images that merged into each other, when for instance the turned-around parade passed itself in opposing directions', making the parade a 'parable of the repetition of life'. Yet parade organisers clearly intended to depict Nazism as the climatic finale and culmination of German history. Rather than a mere repetition of previous ages, the parade aimed to present an unassailable chronology of German achievement culminating in Nazism's New Age. The awkward orientation of the Ludwigstraße space partially obscured this trajectory as did the overall parade route which passed the House of German Art near its start. Although it is easy to understand why some would uncritically assume that the parade 'wound through the streets toward the new museum', the route actually led away from the museum. In 1938, organisers diverted the parade right on to Königstraße after passing the House location. From there it entered the Ludwigstraße from the north and proceeded along its length without having to double back. Now floats advancing along the Ludwigstraße would not have to compete with each other. The new route also allowed the parade to enter the Ludwigstraße by passing beneath the monumental Victory Gate, instead of turning around in front of it. The procession could also expand to cover the entire width of the Ludwigstraße. Although providing a more dramatic entry on to the Ludwigstraße, it required the parade to follow the Königstraße, an unremarkable residential street. Munich's existing spatial layout simply did not offer a clear and coherent route that could link the House of German Art and Munich's other important public spaces. Whilst the dimensions of the Ludwigstraße were conducive for the type of mass spectacle favoured by Nazi leaders, the architecture lining the street posed a problem. Commissioned by King Ludwig in an effort to transform Munich into an international cultural centre, these façades recalled classical and renaissance styles in Italy and Greece. Although not necessarily incompatible with Nazi ideology, these buildings did not easily connect to the revised parades which celebrated a narrower vision of Germanic cultural and military prowess. Indeed, the neo-classical period, which encompassed most of the Ludwigstraße's architecture, played a negligible role in the parades. In response, the street was adorned with myriad banners, flags and other decorations that almost completely screened the boulevard's buildings from view. Here, flags and other decorations provided a means to obscure the street's original architectural symbolism and focus spectators' attention on the more nationalistic message conveyed by the parade. While the effect along the Ludwigstraße was certainly impressive, the visual impact along other portions of the route was limited. Most of the rest of the parade route followed narrow streets which lacked the monumentality of the Ludwigstraße space and generally had fewer decorations. Again, Munich's existing layout and architecture served to limit its effectiveness as a venue for Nazi spectacle and performance. In addition to its awkward route and its ill-suited architectural backdrop, later parades demonstrated several additional shortcomings and contradictions. First, interpretation of the parade required a significant amount of historical knowledge, which many middle- and lower-class Germans may not have possessed. Second, some of the figures celebrated were difficult to reconcile with Nazi policy. For example, the mediæval Hohenstaufen emperors focused much of their energy on gaining territory in Italy, whereas Nazi rhetoric and policy obsessed about eastern expansion. It was also noteworthy what events and figures were omitted. References to classical Greece, so prominent in 1933, were removed in a shift away from a general narrative of Western culture to a narrower celebration of Nordic-Germanic history and values. 
On the left, a model of the Haus der Deutsche Kunst at the "Glanzzeiten deutscher
Geschichte" parade on the 1937 "Day of
German Art" in front of St. Ludwig’s church. As noted above, religion was almost totally absent, aside from pagan allegories. It was not surprising that the Reformation and the Thirty Years War were missing since they allude to national discord. Yet the parade celebrated the Gothic period, a time of national political fragmentation. Furthermore, achievements in Gothic art and architecture were closely tied to the Christian cathedral. This reflects a degree of ambiguity if not hostility between Christianity, which enjoyed significant support among the general public, and many party leaders, who cast Nazism as a new messianic religion. Even more striking was the omission of most modern history. Aside from Wagner, the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were largely absent. There was no reference to Bismarck or German unification in 1871, although they could represent national unity and military victory. Even the First World War, a pivotal personal experience for many Nazi leaders and of profound importance for the development of the party, was excluded. It is perhaps understandable that the Weimar period was excluded, although the period witnessed the birth of the Nazi Party. These sparse references to recent history reflected the Nazi movement's prevailing view of this as a time of cultural decay and racial degeneration. Although the parades' title suggested a message of continuity between successive historical epochs leading to National Socialism, these omissions had the effect of presenting Nazism as the expression of an eternal and ahistorical racial ethos that, after a period of decline, simply emerged beyond any context. In many respects, the party's ideologues drew greater inspiration from mythical images of prehistoric, pagan and mediæval times representing national unity, military valour, and racial purity, and sought to portray the Nazi movement as the embodiment of these supposedly timeless Germanic national values.
Despite claims to be a 'tremendous parade of peace', the parades of 1937 to 1939 offered an extended acclamation of martial achievements and heroic feats culminating in representations of Hitler's foreign policy successes. Although presented as a parade of German culture, warriors and political leaders rather than artists were the pivotal figures. As the exiled Social Democratic Party sarcastically reported: "The parade was more of a military rather than a cultural spectacle. Two thirds of all participants were warriors. From the fighters of the Germanic Age armed with spears to the military and party formations marching at the end of the parade, one could follow the exceptional development of the German warrior'. After the preceding floats recounted the history of this idealised Volk community, the extensive New Age section positioned the Nazi regime as the inheritor, defender and culmination of this legacy. The allusions to Sacrifice, Belief and Loyalty, which opened the New Age section, complemented efforts to ready men and women for their respective roles as the regime prepared its own war of conquest. Despite the parades' sharpened ideological message, they did not emerge as iconic images of Nazi Germany. In contrast to Munich's art exhibitions which were celebrated in professional journals, popular magazines and widely circulated programmes, the parades garnered relatively little coverage. The apparent disinterest of the party propaganda machinery in pushing the parades as part of the broader Nazi iconography raises questions about their effectiveness as propaganda events. Scholars examining parades and other public spectacles in democratic contexts have noted that organisers often attempt to reinforce the ideological message by actively involving the public in the spectacle. This objective has also been noted in dictatorial states, such as Fascist Italy, where David Atkinson argued that the regime sought to build control and consensus by staging 'inclusive spectacles' in Rome's public spaces. Nazi organisers stated a similar goal in the 1937 parade programme: Through forms drawn from the distant and recent past of German culture, we ourselves. stride, as an entire people, in the parade of German achievement, of German history. Not spectators but rather we are today and always a deeply edifying and extremely resolute community of blood and culture. This desire to blur the distinction between participant and observer was an important element in the power of the Nuremberg Rallies, the regime's most infamous propaganda spectacles. Yet unlike the massive parades and spectacles staged in Nuremberg, the Munich parades largely failed in this regard. There are various reasons, but one important consideration is the different types of spaces and venues within which the Nuremberg Rallies and Munich parades were performed. Unlike the Nuremberg Rally complex, which featured large venues designed and built by the Nazi Party to enclose both participant and observer, Munich's parade route lacked comparable spaces. Parade organisers had to make do with Munich's existing street layout and architecture, which were not designed with parades or mass gatherings in mind. In addition to the practical advantages offered by their sense of mon mentality and enclosure, the architecture of the Nuremberg Rallies was also purposely designed to place Hitler and the party within an aura of power, order and permanence. In contrast, Munich's relatively modest nineteenth-century neo-classical buildings were ill-suited for this task. On both a symbolic and practical level, Munich's urban layout presented a series of architectural and spatial limitations that diminished the propaganda impact of the Nazi culture parades. This highlights the degree to which an urban space's existing layout and symbolic associations can constrain its potential use, even in totalitarian societies. The urban landscape is certainly malleable and open to interpretation, but there are limits to its flexibility. This is also suggestive of why, after initial efforts to redevelop existing urban spaces, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany eventually shifted to building new urban centres from scratch that could be designed in accordance with their respective ideologies.
With
the launch in 1933 of the Gleichschaltung, to unify all state
institutions under Nazi control, the various Bavarian ministries were
united into a central ministry which was moved here to Ludwigstraße 2 in
1940. In place of four demolished houses by Leo von Klenze and the Reichsbank, the "Central Ministry of the State of Bavaria" was built from 1938-39 based on designs by Fritz Gablonsky on the corner of Ludwigs- and Von-der-Tann-Straße for the Ministry of Finance as well as the state chancellery. The original idea of building a building for all Bavarian ministries could not be implemented due to space constraints. The structure of the facade shows that the main entrance was intended for today's Galeriestrasse. Within ruled the two most powerful men in Bavaria-
Ministerpräsident Ludwig
Siebert and Gauleiter Adolf Wagner. When the former died in 1942 and the
latter suffered an heart attack, Paul Giesler took over all posts to
enjoy absolute 
power until the end of the Third Reich by which point he
had attempted to have all the surviving inmates at Dachau murdered.
power until the end of the Third Reich by which point he
had attempted to have all the surviving inmates at Dachau murdered.After the war, this building served as the headquarters of the American Military police and later the American Consulate General from where "Voice of America" was broadcast. In 1955 the building was returned to the Bavarian authorities and is now the official residence of the Bavarian State Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry.
Landeszentralbank- Reich Bank Head Office in Bavaria
Ludwigstraße
13 was the site of the Herzog-Max-Palais, birthplace of Elisabeth of
Bavaria, 
Empress of Austria and Queen consort of Hungary as the spouse
of Franz Joseph I.
Two plaques on the house wall refer to the Herzog-Max-Palais as the birthplace of the later Austrian empress and Queen of Hungary 'Sissi' (shown left) and the completion of the current building by Carl Sattler after the war. The building had been demolished by 1937 to make way for Heinrich Wolff's commission on Hitler's request. The original purpose of the house, the construction work up to 1941 and the Nazi clients at that time are not mentioned, ignoring the fact that the building itself was built to serve the Nazis who had planned the building to serve as the branch office of the Reichsbank in Munich. It was constructed in the context of the planning of a traffic axis oriented from east to west. For the new building, the Herzog-Max-Palais (also known as Karl-Theodor-Palais and Herzog-Karl-Palais), built according to plans by Leo von Klenze from 1828 to 1830, was demolished in 1937-38. After three years of construction completed in 1941, work had to be stopped due to the war with only the first floor finished. The corner building at what was then Ludwigstrasse 8 between Von-der-Tannstrasse and Rheinbergerstrasse was built up to the first floor and was only completed from 1949 to 1951 on behalf of the Bavarian State Central Bank according to the old Nazi plans of Carl Sattler. Today it serves as the Bavarian State Central Bank.
Ludwigstrasse 5 on the left, built in 1821 for the master tailor Gampenrieder. Around 1900 the building on the corner of Ludwigstrasse and von-der-Tannstrasse was replaced by a new building for the Reichsbank. In 1937 all four houses were demolished in order to set up a central ministry for the Bavarian state, based on plans by Fritz Gablonsky. During the war, Ludwigstrasse was badly damaged by bombing and artillery fire, and, in the last days, by street fighting. It still hasn't been fully restored. Indeed, it suffered further destruction in the 1960s and 1970s with the establishment of the Altstadtring (Oskar-von-Miller-Ring/Von-der-Tann-Straße) which resulted in the demolition of two other historic von Klenze buildings and overall gutting of properties as part of the so-called urban redevelopment project. Most of the post-war losses are those buildings which were located at Ludwigstraße 6 and 7 (today 11), which were built by Klenze in 1822-23. Even before the war, the Nazis wanted to tear it down to make room for Frühlingsstrasse (today's Oskar-von-Miller-Ring) in order to widen the axis linking Prinzregentenstraße with Tannstraße, Frühlingstraße and Gabelsbergerstraße in order to create an impressive connection between Riem Airport and the Nazi party district at Königsplatz, but the outbreak of war prevented the plan from being implemented. Nevertheless, the Nazis' plans were implemented in 1949 as the building at Ludwigstraße 7 was demolished and the neighbouring building to the south were converted into a single corner building, expanding it by two axes and thus destroying its symmetry to make room for the Altstadtring and the neighbouring site at Ludwigstrasse 6 (today 11). In this way, two Klenze buildings were destroyed in the post-war period.
Empress of Austria and Queen consort of Hungary as the spouse
of Franz Joseph I.Two plaques on the house wall refer to the Herzog-Max-Palais as the birthplace of the later Austrian empress and Queen of Hungary 'Sissi' (shown left) and the completion of the current building by Carl Sattler after the war. The building had been demolished by 1937 to make way for Heinrich Wolff's commission on Hitler's request. The original purpose of the house, the construction work up to 1941 and the Nazi clients at that time are not mentioned, ignoring the fact that the building itself was built to serve the Nazis who had planned the building to serve as the branch office of the Reichsbank in Munich. It was constructed in the context of the planning of a traffic axis oriented from east to west. For the new building, the Herzog-Max-Palais (also known as Karl-Theodor-Palais and Herzog-Karl-Palais), built according to plans by Leo von Klenze from 1828 to 1830, was demolished in 1937-38. After three years of construction completed in 1941, work had to be stopped due to the war with only the first floor finished. The corner building at what was then Ludwigstrasse 8 between Von-der-Tannstrasse and Rheinbergerstrasse was built up to the first floor and was only completed from 1949 to 1951 on behalf of the Bavarian State Central Bank according to the old Nazi plans of Carl Sattler. Today it serves as the Bavarian State Central Bank.
This block of houses on Ludwigstrasse between Hofgarten and von-der- Tannstrasse was built in 1820-21 according to plans by Leo von Klenze. The facades all follow a similar scheme, namely that of the Italian High Renaissance townhouse as found in Florence and Rome. but with reduced dimensions windows larger than the wall area due to the climatic conditions in Central Europe and the resulting living habits. The considerable difficulties in finding buyers who wanted to live in such Italian palazzi as Ludwig I had in mind for the new houses on Ludwigstrasse led to Klenze's famous statement:"Munich is not Rome and Mr. Mayer, for whom the house is being built, is not a Farnese or Pitti." He further elaborated by stating that "[t]he poverty of the Munich builders and the Nordic need to give the little sun and light access and to heat the rooms in winter there are just as many obstacles to the charm of Italian facades.” As a result, Ludwig changed architects from Klenze to Gärtner, deciding to settle only state or church institutions on Ludwigstrasse.
Ludwigstrasse 5 on the left, built in 1821 for the master tailor Gampenrieder. Around 1900 the building on the corner of Ludwigstrasse and von-der-Tannstrasse was replaced by a new building for the Reichsbank. In 1937 all four houses were demolished in order to set up a central ministry for the Bavarian state, based on plans by Fritz Gablonsky. During the war, Ludwigstrasse was badly damaged by bombing and artillery fire, and, in the last days, by street fighting. It still hasn't been fully restored. Indeed, it suffered further destruction in the 1960s and 1970s with the establishment of the Altstadtring (Oskar-von-Miller-Ring/Von-der-Tann-Straße) which resulted in the demolition of two other historic von Klenze buildings and overall gutting of properties as part of the so-called urban redevelopment project. Most of the post-war losses are those buildings which were located at Ludwigstraße 6 and 7 (today 11), which were built by Klenze in 1822-23. Even before the war, the Nazis wanted to tear it down to make room for Frühlingsstrasse (today's Oskar-von-Miller-Ring) in order to widen the axis linking Prinzregentenstraße with Tannstraße, Frühlingstraße and Gabelsbergerstraße in order to create an impressive connection between Riem Airport and the Nazi party district at Königsplatz, but the outbreak of war prevented the plan from being implemented. Nevertheless, the Nazis' plans were implemented in 1949 as the building at Ludwigstraße 7 was demolished and the neighbouring building to the south were converted into a single corner building, expanding it by two axes and thus destroying its symmetry to make room for the Altstadtring and the neighbouring site at Ludwigstrasse 6 (today 11). In this way, two Klenze buildings were destroyed in the post-war period.
Kriegsministerium
The
site six months after the fall of the monarchy when a demonstration
took place in front of the Bavarian war Ministry on the afternoon April 22, 1919, and the building today.
Himmler (holding the Imperial German Army flag) and SA leader Ernst Röhm in front of the Kriegsministerium (now the Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv und Staatsarchiv München) on Ludwigstraße during the Munich Beer hall Putsch. Himmler
would later be instrumental in the latter's death on the Night of the
Long Knives.
The future overlord of the ϟϟ empire was at this time still in his twenties, a well-educated and intelligent former agricultural student who had briefly worked for a fertiliser firm and reared chickens. With his short-back-and-sides haircut, small moustache, round glasses, and unathletic build, he resembled a small-town bank clerk or pedantic schoolmaster. Whatever appearances might have suggested, he had, however, few peers in ideological fanaticism and, as time would prove, cold ruthlessness. The young nationalist idealist, already imagining dire conspiracies involving ‘the red International’, Jews, Jesuits, and freemasons ranged against Germany, had joined the NSDAP in the summer of 1923, influenced by the man whose murder he would orchestrate eleven years later, Ernst Röhm. It was at Röhm’s side that, on 8 November that year, the night of the putsch, he had carried the banner at the head of the Reichskriegsflagge unit engaged in attempting to storm the Bavarian War Ministry.
Kershaw Hitler
Richard Rhodes goes further, describing how
Himmler carried the flag, marching with his brother Gebhard and four hundred other men of the Reichskriegsflagge to the War Ministry, where Röhm ordered them to occupy the building and surround it with a barbed-wire barricade. It was for the purpose of rescuing the Reichskriegsflagge that Hitler and two thousand fellow putschists linked arms and marched into the Odeonplatz the next day, where a firefight started with the Munich police. Hitler dislocated his shoulder diving for cover (or being dragged down by the weight of the man shot dead next to him; accounts vary). At the War Ministry Röhm was arrested, but the rank and file, including the Himmler brothers, were merely disarmed and sent home. “Toward the authorities,” Smith reports of the aftermath, “Heinrich was very bitter, his mood alternating between imaginary fears of his own arrest and disappointment that the government was not interested in him.” He began to suspect that people were opening his mail.
Masters of Death (81)
After
this 1934 purge, Röhm's face was eliminated from the photograph by
painting in an additional barricade element obscuring his face as seen
in this doctored version. Roehm, at the head of a detachment of storm troopers from another fighting league, the Reichskriegsflagge, had seized Army headquarters at the War Ministry in the Schoenfeldstrasse but no other strategic centres were occupied, not even the telegraph office, over whose wires news of the coup went out to Berlin and orders came back, from General von Seeckt to the Army in Bavaria, to suppress the putsch... By dawn Regular Army troops had drawn a cordon around Roehm’s forces in the War Ministry... Shortly after noon the marchers neared their objective, the War Ministry, where Roehm and his storm troopers were surrounded by soldiers of the Reichswehr. Neither besiegers nor besieged had yet fired a shot. Roehm and his men were all ex-soldiers and they had many wartime comrades on the other side of the barbed wire. Neither side had any heart for killing... Roehm surrendered at the War Ministry two hours after the collapse before the Feldherrnhalle.
Despite the friendly picnic-like atmosphere Shirer describes it, according to Ernst Röhm in his book Die Geschichte eines Hochverräters,
Martin Faust and Theodor Casella, both members of the armed militia
organisation Reichskriegsflagge, were shot down accidentally in a burst
of machine gun fire during the occupation of the War Ministry as the
result of a misunderstanding with II/Inf.Regt 19. The best account of the putsch I've found was in Anthony Read's The Devil's Disciples: Hitler's Inner Circle which states that "Two of Röhm's men were also shot dead as they tried to break through the army cordon around the War Ministry to join the battle." (100)
I
can't find anything more than that about the incident; most books (of
course) focus on Hitler's role and limit or ignore their examination of
the peripheral events. This includes Evans's The Coming of the Third Reich which,
despite a chapter entitled "The Beer-Hall Putsch", spends just over a
single page on the actual events of that day (193-4).
The Bavarian State Library decked out in swastikas in 1933 and today. Founded
in 1558 by Duke Albrecht V, and built again by Gärtner, housing 9.1
million volumes, nearly 400,000 maps and subscriptions to over 42,000
periodicals; one of the largest libraries in the German-speaking world.On April 7, 1933 the Reich government issued the "Law for the Restoration of the Civil Service." This affected the state library because the scientific librarian Max Stefl, the candidate for the middle library service Paul Schumacher and the administrative assistant Marianne Lacher were dismissed, having been considered politically unreliable because they had spoken critically about the Nazis to colleagues. Likewise, the leading librarian Otto Hartig was also transferred in 1935 for political reasons to the State Library Bamberg. Director General Georg Reismüller fell victim to an intrigue planned by his deputy Georg Leidinger, who had wanted to become general director himself. On March 23, the SD arrested Reismüller; his forced retirement went into effect from July 1, 1935. Then in October, Reismüller was interrogated in the State Ministry of Education and Culture under suspicion of having acquired and anti-Nazi writings and withheld pro-Nazi titles from library users. Reismüller fell seriously ill and died in 1936.
The influence of the Nazi regime was not limited to personnel matters. Books could not simply be borrowed without first applying in advance whilst the order to exclude Jews at the German universities of 1938 denied Jewish users access to the academic libraries. Like all scientific libraries, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek also had to comply with certain requirements when compiling and loaning out the books. In 1936, the Reichsschrifttumskammer published a list of harmful and unwanted literature, which was constantly updated. The publications concerned had to be set up separately and could only be submitted if the users could prove their political reliability and scientific interest. After Kristallnacht Jews were not allowed access for several weeks, but in March 1939 the new General Director, Rudolf Buttmann, instructed on October 1, 1935 "that in principle a review of the Aryan descent of the library users is ignored". Visitors were then only allowed to be asked if they were Jews if they had been offended by their behaviour. From September 15, 1941 when Jews had to wear the Jewish star, they were forbidden to use the Bavarian State Library. Nevertheless, newly published documents critical of the Nazis found their way into the library's collections under Buttmann, but these works were not accessible to library users. When Buttmann introduced the referral system in his house in 1939, he also neglected subjects such as "Literature of the NSDAP" and the "Jewish Question".
Hard to reconcile such an image after the war with Ludwigstrasse today
 |
| Hitler at the Staatsbibliothek |
How the Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek appeared after the wartime bombing and today. In 1941, the search for places of refuge for the collection began and in 1942 Buttmann had the location directories filmed and the catalogues relocated to magazine rooms, which were classified by the Munich Land Office. Before the library building suffered the first heavy bomb damage on March 9-10 1943, tens of thousands of manuscripts had been brought to safety. On the other hand, Buttmann only arranged for the salvage of the large mass of books afterwards. About one-fifth of the total stock - between 400,000 and 500,000 books - had been destroyed by the bombing. As a result of the second major fire in the Bavarian State Library in April 1944, the rental and reading room business finally collapsed, and only the acquisition department continued to pursue its tasks. After the war in 1946 the reconstruction of the Bavarian State Library began with the library staff in the former Nazi buildings on Arcisstraße resumed its internal work in 1947. From 1948 books could be borrowed again and the administration and the main departments returned to the building on Ludwigstraße in 1952 along with the repatriation of books and documents.
The interior has since been extensively restored much to how it originally appeared
1949
photo of the thousands of books from the Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek
in the Haimhauser Schlosskapelle; site of my school, the Bavarian International School. During the 1944 bombing, the library's
collection was distributed throughout 28 sites in Oberbayern.
The bombed Haslauer-Block and its reconstruction today at Ludwigstraße 6-10. This block of builings was built for Ludwig I as three private houses in 1827-1830 by architect Leo von Klenze behind a single Florentine façade. The building was heavily damaged during the war, so it had to be completely demolished and rebuilt by Erwin Schleich in 1960-1968 who followed the specifications of Klenze, but not the internal structure. Today office, residential and business premises are in the building and serves as the office of the Munich School of Political Sciences.
Ludwigstraße 11; it can clearly be shown the legacy of the war in that the building on the corner has been completely removed.
Munich UniversityMembers of the Hitler Youth training as Firefighters in front on the right. The
Ludwigskirche was badly damaged during the war, especially after water
damage was recorded in the vaulted area after the vault of the south
aisle had collapsed. In addition the windows were destroyed except for
small remains, and the external plaster and numerous facade details were
considerably damaged. In contrast to most other churches in the centre of Munich however it remained usable. Nevertheless,
the American occupation forces confiscated the church and elevated it
to a garrison church, which it remained until 1949.
As
early as 1957, at the request of university preacher Romano Guardini, a
people's altar was erected - remarkably early, since this was actually
only decided at the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).
became active in the Bavarian army persuading German troops that Communism was wrong. Part of his training consisted in attending a course at Munich University. At this point he became acquainted with the völkisch (i.e. radical nationalist and racialist) thinker, Gottfried Feder, who was helping to organise the event. The lectures Hitler attended there included titles such as: ‘Socialism in Theory and Practice’, ‘Russia and the Bolshevik Dictatorship’, ‘German History since the Reformation’, ‘Germany 1870–1900’, ‘The Meaning of the Armed Forces’, ‘The Connection between Domestic and Foreign Policy’, ‘Foreign Policy since the End of the War’, ‘Price Policy in the National Economy’, ‘The Forced Economy in Bread and Grain’ and ‘Bavaria and the Unity of the Reich’. Many of these topics could have served as headings for the talks Hitler himself gave in the early 1920s. They must have made a massive impression on a man who unquestionably absorbed information like a sponge.
Within days he had been assigned to the first of the anti-Bolshevik ‘instruction courses’, to take place in Munich University between 5 and 12 June 1919. For the first time, Hitler was to receive here some form of directed political ‘education’. This, as he acknowledged, was important to him; as was the fact that he realised for the first time that he could make an impact on those around him. Here he heard lectures from prominent figures in Munich, hand-picked by Mayr, partly through personal acquaintance, on ‘German History since the Reformation’, ‘The Political History of the War’, ‘Socialism in Theory and Practice’, ‘Our Economic Situation and the Peace Conditions’, and ‘The Connection between Domestic and Foreign Policy’. Among the speakers, too, was Gottfried Feder, who had made a name for himself among the Pan-Germans as an economics expert. His lecture on the ‘breaking of interest slavery’ (a slogan Hitler recognised as having propaganda potential), on which he had already published a ‘manifesto’ – highly regarded in nationalist circles – distinguishing between ‘productive’ capital and ‘rapacious’ capital (which he associated with the Jews), made a deep impression on Hitler, and eventually led to Feder’s role as the economics ‘guru’ of the early Nazi Party. The history lectures were delivered by the Munich historian Professor Karl Alexander von Müller, who had known Mayr at school. Following his first lecture, he came across a small group in the emptying lecture hall surrounding a man addressing them in a passionate, strikingly guttural, tone. He mentioned to Mayr after his next lecture that one of his trainees had natural rhetorical talent. Von Müller pointed out where he was sitting. Mayr recognised him immediately: it was ‘Hitler from the List Regiment’.
The façade of the university after the war and today.
Kershaw (67)
Hitler revisiting the University in 1935 on the occasion of the Annual Meeting of the “Academy of German Law” (Akademie für deutsches Recht). In the 1920s Munich was a centre
for reactionary and extremist groups that counted many students among
their members. Their degree of radicalisation and their public impact
increased as the decade advanced. In 1925 Richard Willstätter personally
drew attention to the growing threat by resigning from his position as
Professor of Chemistry. During these years there were frequent acts of violence on campus, and the University was
repeatedly forced to close temporarily. However, whilst attacks
perpetrated by left-wing students were severely punished, the Senate’s
response to violence by right-wing elements of the student body was
usually much less decisive. The Nazis would bring far-reaching changes. With the appointment of Walther Wüst, Indologist and Aryan ideologist
(President of the National Socialist Forschungsgemeinschaft Deutsches
Ahnenerbe), as Führer-Rektor of the University in 1941, responsible
research and soundly based tuition programs became more and more
difficult, particularly in ideologically sensitive disciplines. These
authoritarian measures led to a further fall in student enrolment. By the time the war began, Munich University was one of the few in Germany
able to remain in operation. But as the war progressed, the lack of
qualified staff soon made itself felt. In the first year of the war, the
number of registered students rose to 6,700, before falling back to
between 3,000 and 4,000 in 1941-1944. After the Main Building was
destroyed by Allied bombers in July 1944, only a rudimentary teaching
program could be maintained, and the scheduled Summer Semester of 1945
was cancelled.
When the Americans marched into Munich on April 30, 1945, around 80% of the university was in ruins and around a third of all books in the university library were lost or destroyed.As early as November 1945 and hence
before the university forecourt on the western side of Ludwigstraße
was renamed Geschwister- Scholl-Platz, the then Minister of Culture
Franz Fendt announced the city’s intention to erect a memorial to the
resistance group at this location. The plain plaque made of Jura marble
and designed by Theodor Georgii was mounted the following year next to
the entrance to the main assembly hall. The Latin inscription
commemorates the seven members of the White Rose who were executed as
martyrs and who had had to die an inhumane death because of their
humanity. However, only the date reveals that they died under the Nazi
regime. The text ends with a quotation from the “Epistulae morales” of
the Roman philosopher Seneca: “It is only in this way that the true
spirit can be tested, – the spirit that will never consent to come under
the jurisdiction of things external to ourselves.” In 1957 the plaque
was moved to the wall of the northern upper gallery – the place from
which Hans and Sophie Scholl dropped their pamphlets into the inner
courtyard and where another memorial was unveiled during the
celebrations to mark the restoration of the courtyard the following
year..gif)
With the opening of the Summer Term 1933, the university law passed by the Nazis following Hitler’s accession to power came into effect which subjected university governance to the dictatorial Führerprinzip, and compulsory duties of various sorts were imposed on students such as redefining the entrance requirements for students. All Jewish or politically
suspect individuals on the faculty were dismissed from their posts. The
numbers of Jews admitted to university were restricted and the
curriculum was restructured in accordance with the new ruling ideology. The new law was officially welcomed at a ceremony at the Lichtof in the Atrium of the Main Building on May 10 that year, shown here and the site today. After this demonstration professors and students marched by torchlight to burn books on
Konigsplatz May 10, 1933. Once there, Munich students, as their fellows were doing in other German university cities, burned books by authors deemed to be “un-German.”
This was also the site of the apprehension of Hans and Sophie Scholl of the White Rose (Weiße Rose), a non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany, consisting of a number of students from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor. The group became known for an anonymous leaflet campaign, lasting from June 1942 until February 1943, that called for active opposition to Hitler's regime. The core of the group comprised of students from this university- Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans Scholl, Alex Schmorell, Willi Graf, Christoph Probst, Traute Lafrenz, Katharina Schueddekopf, Lieselotte (Lilo) Berndl, and Falk Harnack. 
Most were in their early twenties. A professor of philosophy and musicology, Kurt Huber, was also an associate with their cause. It was in this atrium upon which the last leaflets had been dropped where today a permanent exhibition to them has been set up. In addition, a single memorial and a bust of Sophie School alone has been erected despite her questionable involvement in the resistance movement. The bust was created by Nicolai Tregor, initiated and financed by the Weiße Rose Stiftung e.V. and was unveiled on February 22, 2005, the anniversary of the execution of Hans and Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst. The unveiling was done by the actress Julia Jentsch, who played Sophie Scholl in Marc Rothemund’s prize-winning film Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage. Two of my students wrote their IBDP internal assessments on Sophie Scholl and the White Rose.
Most were in their early twenties. A professor of philosophy and musicology, Kurt Huber, was also an associate with their cause. It was in this atrium upon which the last leaflets had been dropped where today a permanent exhibition to them has been set up. In addition, a single memorial and a bust of Sophie School alone has been erected despite her questionable involvement in the resistance movement. The bust was created by Nicolai Tregor, initiated and financed by the Weiße Rose Stiftung e.V. and was unveiled on February 22, 2005, the anniversary of the execution of Hans and Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst. The unveiling was done by the actress Julia Jentsch, who played Sophie Scholl in Marc Rothemund’s prize-winning film Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage. Two of my students wrote their IBDP internal assessments on Sophie Scholl and the White Rose.
Just
in front of the entrance on Geschwister-Scholl- Platz is this memorial
to the Weiße Rose showing biographies and reproductions of the last
leaflets.
On February 18, nearly two thousand copies of this flyer were distributed by Hans and Sophie Scholl in broad daylight throughout the university building on Ludwigstrasse and were thrown over the balcony of the inner, glass-covered light well. They were observed by a caretaker, who immediately took them to the university rector, Professor Walther Wüst, a Colonel in the ϟϟ and an intimate of Himmler’s. Wüst held the two in his office until the Gestapo came to take them away. Hans and Sophie Scholl together with Christoph Probst were tried before the People’s Court on February 22. Graf, Schmorell, and Huber followed a few months later. (Schmorell had tried to flee to Switzerland, but had been hindered by deep snow. A former girlfriend, Gisela Schertling, allegedly betrayed him after recognizing him in a Munich air raid shelter. The sentence for all was death by guillotine. When Hans put his head on the block, he shouted: “Long live freedom!” Sophie said to her parents, who had come to say good-bye from Ulm: “This will make waves.” But as courageous as her remarks were at the time, they were not prescient.
Kater (129) Hitler Youth
On the corner of the University building
in the red brick wall of its library is another memorial- one of the
"Scars of Remembrance" (also referred to as “Wounds of Memory”) showing bullet holes from the last days of the war. The work is part of a much larger European project by the artists Beate Passow and Andreas von Weizsäcker who in 1994-95 set out to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the war by drawing attention to the holes made by bombshells and grenades that are still visible on streets and squares, buildings and works of art in a total of seven European countries. Using a series of square panes of glass the artists subtly alert us to the wounds of war in our everyday environment that one would otherwise scarcely notice. The building suffered heavy bomb damage during World War II, but most of the walls remained intact. Since its restoration, it has served as a seminary to this day. Since 1986, the important sacred art collections of the Georgianum - mainly old Bavarian and Swabian art from Romanesque to Rococo - can be viewed in the in-house museum.
Near Munich University at Franz-Joseph-Strasse 13 is where the Scholls had lived, with only a plaque on the wall serving to remind people. When Drake Winston and I visited, a white rose had been stuck under it:
Across from the University is the House of German Justice (Haus des Deutschen Rechts):
Near Munich University at Franz-Joseph-Strasse 13 is where the Scholls had lived, with only a plaque on the wall serving to remind people. When Drake Winston and I visited, a white rose had been stuck under it:
The members of the White Rose, particularly Hans and Sophie Scholl, have become the most famous and most admired members of the German resistance. Munich alone now has almost thirty sites to keep their memory alive, whether in the form of memorials and street names or institutions named after them. Since 1980 the Bavarian branch of the German Booksellers’ and Publishers’ Association and the city’s Department of Art and Culture have awarded an annual “Geschwister-Scholl Prize” whose prize-giving ceremony is held in the main assembly hall of the Ludwig Maximilian University.
Constructed by Oswald Eduard Bieber and inaugurated in 1939, this served as Hans Frank's headquarters as Bavarian Minister of Justice and Reich Commissioner for the Gleichschaltung of jurisdiction in the Federal States before being made Governor-General of occupied Poland. To him the Haus des Deutschen Rechts was an "NSDAP ideal set in stone."
Located on what was then Ludwigstrasse 18 as part of a planned overall system, it was intended to have been expanded through three further construction phases with the existing Max Josephs Abbey being converted into a reading hall, and a boardroom building and a "German Law School" to have been constructed on the adjacent Schackstrasse.
Located on what was then Ludwigstrasse 18 as part of a planned overall system, it was intended to have been expanded through three further construction phases with the existing Max Josephs Abbey being converted into a reading hall, and a boardroom building and a "German Law School" to have been constructed on the adjacent Schackstrasse.
Looking from the western part of the university forum; the two fountains were made in 1840-44 according to Gärtner's designs.
Across from Munich University, the Nazi eagle has been removed, but everything else remains the same. On the undeveloped east side, the Nazis planned a large building for the newly founded "Academy for German Law", the so-called "House of German Law". This new construction project also included the Max-Joseph-Stift, which was vacated in 1939, but which was not demolished due to the outbreak of the war. In fact, planning from 1940 shows that the Neo-Renaissance group of buildings opposite should have been demolished and replaced by a monumental new building. It is interesting that in the meeting room of this building there are some classicist frescoes by Robert von Langer from the Herzog-Max-Palais demolished in 1937-38, which had been painstakingly removed and transferred here before the demolition of the same because of their high artistic value. During the war the building was destroyed, especially in the northern part, but restored in 1950 by the same architect in an unchanged form. It now belongs to the Law Faculty of the Ludwig Maximilians University (economics, social and legal sciences).
Beside the University and Haus des Deutschen Rechts is the Siegestor (Victory Gate)
Hitler's paintings of the Siegestor. The idea for a triumphal arch had already emerged in 1826, and from 1840 the project finally became concrete and was assigned to Friedrich von Gärtner for planning. The Siegestor was to be based on the Roman Arch of Constantine and dedicated to "the Bavarian army" , as the inscription on the north side reads, and to its heroic deeds in the wars of liberation from 1813-15 against Napoleon. Bavaria had actually been an ally of Napoleon under Elector Max IV Joseph and had been elevated to the status of kingdom as a token of his gratitude; Ludwig I, the son of Max Joseph, was an enemy of the French and a supporter of the national liberation struggle throughout his life (seen in the construction of the Liberation Hall in Kelheim ). Although construction work began in 1843, after Ludwig's abdication 1848 the work came to a halt before being resumed in 1850 by Eduard Metzger (Gärtner having died in 1847) and completed in 1850. The core of the 24 metre wide, 11.9 metre deep and 20.7 metre high Siegestor is a brick construction clad in limestone. 
The plaster models for the sculptures were made by the sculptor Johann Martin von Wagner, who was based in Rome as art agent for Ludwig I, and then executed in marble by various sculptors. A bronze quadriga cast by Ferdinand von Miller is enthroned on the triumphal arch, depicting the six metre high figure of Bavaria on a chariot drawn by four lions (as opposed to the original horses intended) and weighing twenty tonnes. In fact, it was only erected in 1852, two years after the Victory Gate was completed. It is remarkable that tondi with scenes from art and culture are depicted above the rectangular reliefs, which generally depict antiquity battle scenes, which should thus rise above the war in Ludwig's intention and should represent his peace and art policy. Nevertheless, the question has always been to which victory the arch refers. When Bavarian troops entered the solemnly decorated gate on July 16, 1871 after their victories in the Franco-Prussian, it was only then properly consecrated. In the actual sense of a triumphal arch - the passage of victorious troops - this was the only time it was used as one which, ironically given that at the same time also meant the end of Bavaria's independence, it was therefore not a full triumph. In 1918 defeated First World War soldiers marched through it, and then of course various Nazi associations.
The plaster models for the sculptures were made by the sculptor Johann Martin von Wagner, who was based in Rome as art agent for Ludwig I, and then executed in marble by various sculptors. A bronze quadriga cast by Ferdinand von Miller is enthroned on the triumphal arch, depicting the six metre high figure of Bavaria on a chariot drawn by four lions (as opposed to the original horses intended) and weighing twenty tonnes. In fact, it was only erected in 1852, two years after the Victory Gate was completed. It is remarkable that tondi with scenes from art and culture are depicted above the rectangular reliefs, which generally depict antiquity battle scenes, which should thus rise above the war in Ludwig's intention and should represent his peace and art policy. Nevertheless, the question has always been to which victory the arch refers. When Bavarian troops entered the solemnly decorated gate on July 16, 1871 after their victories in the Franco-Prussian, it was only then properly consecrated. In the actual sense of a triumphal arch - the passage of victorious troops - this was the only time it was used as one which, ironically given that at the same time also meant the end of Bavaria's independence, it was therefore not a full triumph. In 1918 defeated First World War soldiers marched through it, and then of course various Nazi associations.As
he was to depart for his self-imposed exile to Bolivia over his
opposition to the Frontbann at the end of 1924, SA leader Ernst Roehm
was said to have told Hitler
Das Größere Opfer (the Greater Sacrifice) by Adolf Reich, 1943 and standing before the actual 230.5 by 260.5 cm painting itself at the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin. Showing Munich in early 1943 at the time when the news of the Stalingrad disaster started coming a small group of citizens is depicted standing with two Pimpfen from the Hitler Youth who are collecting for the Winterhilfswerk (WHW). In the background a young widow is pushing her pram as two women are looking around at a war invalid who has had his leg amputated. Whilst at first glance might have appeared to be like an anti-war picture, the painting refers directly to a quote from Hitler: “If anyone is in doubt about giving again, let them look around. He will see someone who has made a far greater sacrifice.” The picture shows three groups making sacrifices: the donating citizens, the soldier with an amputated leg and the young widow pushing the pram. On the face of it, it apears to doubt whether the conspicuously well-dressed citizens who are willing to
donate are convinced that the war will continue. For example, the face of the older
woman with the dark hat seems more exhausted and lethargic than
confident of victory, and the young woman's look seems worried and her
worries are not directed at the war invalid. 
The latter is the tallest figure
in the painting and is purposefully walking forward. He's still wearing
his uniform; although he's no longer needed for military service, his
hair is short, his shoes have been shined- he doesn't quarrel with his
fate. An example therefore should be taken from him as he has sacrificed
his physical integrity, a far greater sacrifice than the pennies the
boys collect in their cans.
You have only to give me the word- "be at the Siegestor at 6 a.m. on such and such a day with your men" and I shall be there.
Heiden (198)
It
was through the arch and down Ludwigstrasse, shown from both sides with help from Drake Winston, that Hitler led the annual
commemoration of the failed Beer Hall Putsch, past the burning pylons.
It was doubtless an impressive ceremony, this laying out of the dead in
the dark of night, witnessed by scores of honorary formations acting as guards of honour.
During the celebration of the Day of Brown Ribbon horse race on January 1, 1939.
During the celebration of the Day of Brown Ribbon horse race on January 1, 1939.
The latter is the tallest figure
in the painting and is purposefully walking forward. He's still wearing
his uniform; although he's no longer needed for military service, his
hair is short, his shoes have been shined- he doesn't quarrel with his
fate. An example therefore should be taken from him as he has sacrificed
his physical integrity, a far greater sacrifice than the pennies the
boys collect in their cans. The picture thus became an appeal to the Volksgemeinschaft, which was repeatedly invoked by the Nazi ideology. In fact, the painting was originally intended to have a pedestal engraved with the quote from Hitler. Despite the accusations of defeatist tendencies, it was exhibited in 1943 in the Haus der Deutschen Kunst. According to the painter, Hitler supposedly greatly applauded his work.
The following year both Reich's house and studio were destroyed during an air attack forcing him to seek emergency accommodation in Oberpfalz. After the war Reich was imprisoned in the Glazenbach camp in the suburbs of Salzburg along with thousands of high-ranking German officers and forced to paint portraits of American officers and their spouses. After his release in 1949 he settled in Salzburg and, due to his involvement with the past regime, was forbidden from teaching art and would die on November 19, 1963.
After the war and today. As seen in these images, during the war, the Siegestor suffered severe damage, especially in the upper area. The Quadriga was badly damaged and thrown down. After the war, the north side was restored to an almost original state, with the second statue from the right being absent in addition to a few details; the side facing the city, on the other hand, was only 'restored' smoothly in the upper area with the cornices, statues, reliefs above the central arch, tondi and the original inscription ( "Erbaut von Ludwig I. König von Bayern MDCCCL" ) not restored. This simple restoration was initially only intended as a temporary measure, but in 1958 it was reapplied with the inscription "Dedicated to Victory - Destroyed by War - Admonishing Peace" and preserved as a memorial against the war. The Quadriga was restored after the destruction with reconstruction of the carriage and the upper part of the Bavaria in 1969-72.
Dem Sieg geweiht, vom Krieg zerstört, zum Frieden mahnend "Dedicated to victory, destroyed by war, reminding of peace".
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This inscription was suggested by the theatre professor Hanns Braun. The Quadriga could only return to its original place in the 1972 Olympic year. Bavaria and her chariot had to be cast again; only the four Bavarian heraldic animals are original. This gives Siegestor a new symbolic meaning: war not only brings victory but also suffering and destruction - it even destroys symbols of victory. Therefore, the solution can only be peace. Thus the Siegestor is also a peace memorial, similar to the tower of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche in Berlin. In 1972 the Quadriga- a triumphant Bavaria piloting a team of four lions, reminiscent of the Brandenburg Gate- was restored by Elmar Dietz and placed atop the Siegestor. On the right is from the 94th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron collection.
The remains are left haphazardly on display not far from the Munich History museum and synagogue; the four goddesses of victory and the stone medallions were only discovered in 1995 in an urban building yard and presented again to the public. The rubble today forms a “lapidarium”, a small, hidden historical open-air museum, between the city museum and the Viktulienmarkt.
Upper and Lower Bavaria: Alpine cattle breeding;
Upper and Middle Franconia: Crafts and Livestock;
Unterfranken: wine, grain and shipping;
Rheinpfalz: wine and fishing;
District of Oberpfalz: Blacksmiths;
Swabia: Weaving.
Akademie der Bildenden Künste München
In 1945 with the Siegestor in the background and today.After the First World War the Academy, whose history dates back to the 18th century, quickly lost its importance, and the suppression of the Munich Soviet Republic left a repressive climate. In 1924 German Bestelmeyer, as Government Commissioner, took over the supervision of the School of Applied Arts and accelerated the cooperation with the Academy. For the Nazis' cultural policy, the academy was an important place of activity after 1933. Nazi artists such as Adolf Ziegler and the sculptor Josef Thorak were called to the academy, whilst non-Aryan professors were dismissed. The largely disempowered President Karl Caspar retired in 1937, as the subsequent management removed so-called "post 1910 decadent art" was removed from the holdings of the Academy. Bestelmeyer died in 1942 and received a pompous state funeral. After his death Bernhard Bleeker provisionally took over the management of the academy. In a bombing raid in July 1944, the Academy building was largely destroyed, with extensive collections of art, plaster casts and costumes and the archive lost. The outsourced art library has been largely preserved and today with its roughly 90,000 volumes remains one of the best of its kind. However, it is intended only for internal use. 
In 1945 with the Siegestor in the background and today. After the First World War, the Academy, whose history dates back to the 18th century, quickly lost its importance, and the suppression of the Munich Soviet Republic left a repressive climate. In 1924 German Bestelmeyer, as Government Commissioner, took over the supervision of the School of Applied Arts and accelerated the cooperation with the Academy. For the Nazis' cultural policy, the academy was an important place of activity after 1933. Nazi artists such as Adolf Ziegler and the sculptor Josef Thorak were called to the academy, whilst non-Aryan professors were dismissed. The largely disempowered President Karl Caspar retired in 1937, as the subsequent management removed so-called "post 1910 decadent art" was removed from the holdings of the Academy. Bestelmeyer died in 1942 and received a rather pompous state funeral. After his death Bernhard Bleeker provisionally took over the management of the academy. In a bombing raid in July 1944, the Academy building was largely destroyed, with extensive collections of art, plaster casts and costumes and the archive lost. The outsourced art library has been largely preserved and today with its roughly 90,000 volumes remains one of the best of its kind. However, it is intended only for internal use. In October 1945, the the military government released former Nazi members and Nazi-era artists by as Adolf Schinnerer took over as acting director. In 1946, the Academy of Applied Arts was incorporated. In the post-war years the Munich Academy found it difficult to break away from its Nazi past as one controversial example of a missed denazification was Hermann Kaspar, one of the cultural celebrities of the Third Reich, who from 1956-1972 again worked as a professor of painting.
In 1945 with the Siegestor in the background and today. After the First World War, the Academy, whose history dates back to the 18th century, quickly lost its importance, and the suppression of the Munich Soviet Republic left a repressive climate. In 1924 German Bestelmeyer, as Government Commissioner, took over the supervision of the School of Applied Arts and accelerated the cooperation with the Academy. For the Nazis' cultural policy, the academy was an important place of activity after 1933. Nazi artists such as Adolf Ziegler and the sculptor Josef Thorak were called to the academy, whilst non-Aryan professors were dismissed. The largely disempowered President Karl Caspar retired in 1937, as the subsequent management removed so-called "post 1910 decadent art" was removed from the holdings of the Academy. Bestelmeyer died in 1942 and received a rather pompous state funeral. After his death Bernhard Bleeker provisionally took over the management of the academy. In a bombing raid in July 1944, the Academy building was largely destroyed, with extensive collections of art, plaster casts and costumes and the archive lost. The outsourced art library has been largely preserved and today with its roughly 90,000 volumes remains one of the best of its kind. However, it is intended only for internal use. In October 1945, the the military government released former Nazi members and Nazi-era artists by as Adolf Schinnerer took over as acting director. In 1946, the Academy of Applied Arts was incorporated. In the post-war years the Munich Academy found it difficult to break away from its Nazi past as one controversial example of a missed denazification was Hermann Kaspar, one of the cultural celebrities of the Third Reich, who from 1956-1972 again worked as a professor of painting.