Exterior view of the entrance of the New Reich Chancellery.

The Reich Chancellery (German Reichskanzlei, Imperial Chancellery) was the traditional name of the office of the German Chancellor (Reichskanzler). Today the office is usually called Kanzleramt (Chancellor's Office), or more formally Bundeskanzleramt (Federal Chancellor's Office). ImageMetadata File history File links Neue_Reichskanzlei_exterior_color. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Neue_Reichskanzlei_exterior_color. ... The head of government of Germany is called Chancellor (German: Kanzler or Bundeskanzler meaning federal chancellor). ... Bundeskanzleramt, Berlin, Germany The Bundeskanzleramt (federal chancellory), or more common: Kanzleramt, is the administrative body of the Chancellor of Germany. ...

The term Reichskanzlei also refers to various buildings that housed the upper echelons of Germany's government.

New Reich Chancellery (1938)

This map shows the location of the New Reich Chancellery in Berlin 1945, along with the approximate location of the two bunkers.

In 1938, Hitler assigned his favorite architect Albert Speer to build the new Reich Chancellery, requesting that the building be completed within a year. Near the complex was the underground Führerbunker, where Hitler committed suicide at the end of World War II in 1945. The new Reich Chancellery had the address Voss-strasse 6, and the old Reich Chancellery, located along Wilhelmstrasse, probably had the address Wilhelmstrasse 77. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (720x946, 361 KB) Licensing I hereby release this image with the following declaration: Description This is a map of the location of the Fuehrerbunker and Vorbunker which I created in 2004. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (720x946, 361 KB) Licensing I hereby release this image with the following declaration: Description This is a map of the location of the Fuehrerbunker and Vorbunker which I created in 2004. ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Hitler redirects here. ... Albert Speer, c. ... This is a reconstruction of the layout of the Führerbunker. ... The front cover of Time magazine, May 7, 1945. ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... The site of the former Reich Chancellery at the corner of Vossstrasse and Wilhelmstrasse. ... Wilhelmstraße (William street) in Berlin became during the 19th century the governmental neighbourhood of Prussia. ...

Hitler commissioned Speer to build the Chancellery in late January, 1938, although preliminary planning had begun four years earlier. Hitler commented that the old Chancellery, which dated from Bismarck's time as chancellor in the 1870s, was "fit for a soap company" but was not suitable as headquarters of the German Reich nor him, the soon-to-be "master of the world". Hitler assigned Speer the work of creating grand halls and salons which "will make an impression on people". Alternate meanings: See Bismarck (disambiguation). ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ...

Hitler placed the entire Voss-strasse at Speer's disposal. Speer was given a blank check — Hitler stated that the cost of the project was immaterial — and was instructed that the building be of solid construction and that it be finished by the following January in time for the next annual diplomatic reception to be held in the new building. In the end it cost over 90 Million Reichsmark, well over one billion dollars today.

Speer claimed in his autobiography that he completed the task of clearing the site, designing, constructing, and furnishing the building in less than a year. In fact, versions of the designs were already being worked on as early as 1935. Over 4,000 workers toiled in shifts, so the work could be accomplished round-the-clock. This immense construction project was finished 48 hours ahead of schedule, and the project earned Speer a reputation as a good organizer, which, combined with Hitler's fondness for Speer played a part in the architect becoming Armaments Minister and a director of forced labor during the war.

In his memoirs, Speer describes the impression of the Reichskanzlei on a visitor: Albert Speer, c. ...

From Wilhelmsplatz an arriving diplomat drove through great gates into a court of honor. By way of an outside staircase he first entered a medium-sized reception room from which double doors almost seventeen feet high opened into a large hall clad in mosaic. He then ascended several steps, passed through a round room with domed ceiling, and saw before him a gallery 480 feet long. Hitler was particularly impressed by my gallery because it was twice as long as the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.

Hitler was delighted: "On the long walk from the entrance to the reception hall they'll get a taste of the power and grandeur of the German Reich!" During the next several months he asked to see the plans again and again but interfered remarkably little in this building, even though it was designed for him personally. He let me work freely.

The site of the Reich Chancellery at the corner of Wilhelmstrasse and Voss-strasse today, occupied by an apartment block and a Chinese restaurant. Postwar German governments have not allowed any memorialisation of the site.

Part of the Soviet War Memorial at Treptower Park, showing the red marble taken from the ruins of the Reich Chancellery

The series of rooms comprising the approach to Hitler's reception gallery were decorated with a rich variety of materials and colors and totalled 725 feet (220 meters) in length. The gallery itself was 480 feet (145 meters) long. Hitler's own office was 400 square metres in size. For the room of this name there, see the item in the article Palace of Versailles. ... The Versailles Palace is very Big and grand (Camacho, 2006). ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 517 KB) Photo by User:Adam Carr, May 2006 I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 517 KB) Photo by User:Adam Carr, May 2006 I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1600x1200, 761 KB) further Information: Andreas Steinhoff Please send me a notification if you use the picture: wikibilder. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1600x1200, 761 KB) further Information: Andreas Steinhoff Please send me a notification if you use the picture: wikibilder. ...

From the exterior, the chancellery had a stern, authoritarian appearance. From the Wilhelmplatz, visitors would enter the Chancellery through the Court of Honor (Ehrenhof). The building's main entrance was flanked by two bronze statues by sculptor Arno Breker: "Wehrmacht" and "Partei" ("Armed Forces" and "Party"). Breker (right) with Speer and Hitler in Paris, 23 June 1940. ...

Interior view of the Reich Chancellery

Hitler is said to have been greatly impressed by the building and was uncharacteristically effusive with his praise for Speer, lauding the architect as a "genius". The chancellor's immense study was a particular favorite of the dictator. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (890x655, 51 KB) Photo by Heinrich Hoffmann, 1941. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (890x655, 51 KB) Photo by Heinrich Hoffmann, 1941. ...

The large marble-topped table in Hitler's study served as an important part of the Nazi warlord's military headquarters, the study being used for military conferences from 1944 on. On the other hand, the Cabinet room was never used for its intended purpose. National Socialism redirects here. ...

Some 4000 workers were employed in the construction of the New Reich Chancellery. Speer recalls that the whole work force — masons, carpenters, plumbers, etc. were invited to inspect the finished building. Hitler then addressed the workers in the Sportpalast. The Berliner Sportpalast (built 1910, demolished 1973) was a multi-purpose winter sport venue and meeting hall near Potdamer Platz in the Schöneberg section of Berlin. ...

The New Reich Chancellery was badly damaged during the Battle of Berlin at the end of World War II in 1945. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

After the war, the remains of the Chancellery were demolished by orders of the Soviet occupation forces. Parts of the building's marble walls were used to build the Soviet war memorial in Treptower Park and to renovate the nearby war-damaged Mohrenstraße U-Bahn station. Soviet redirects here. ... The statue of the Soviet soldier holding a child Soviet 1-ruble commemorative coin, released in 1965 The inner area flanked by stone monuments, with four symbolic bronze garlands The Soviet War Memorial (sometimes translated as the Soviet Cenotaph), is a vast war memorial in Berlins Treptower Park. ... hayfield Treptower Park is a park area along the river Spree south of downtown Berlin in the district of Treptow-Köpenick. ... Mohrenstraße is an Berlin U-Bahn station located on the U2. ... The Oberbaumbrücke on the U1. ...

See also

• Nazi architecture
• Führerbunker

Nazi architecture was an integral part of the Nazi partys plans to create a cultural and spiritual rebirth in Germany as part of the Third Reich. ... This is a reconstruction of the layout of the Führerbunker. ...

References

• Kellerhoff, Sven Felix (2006). Berlin unterm Hakenkreuz (Berlin under the Swastika). Berlin: Berlin Edition be.bra Verlag GmbH. ISBN 978-3-8148-0147-6.

• Allied Intelligence Map of Key Buildings in Berlin (Third Edition, 1945)

External links

• Photos Of the Reich Chancellery area 1989-1999
• 3d animated Reich Chancellery
• The Bunkers of the Reich Chancellery and Führer Bunker

Coordinates: 52°30′42″N, 13°22′55″E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...