Reich Chancellery

The Reich Chancellery was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany, Reichskanzler, between 1878 and 1945. Originally the chancellery was situated in the former city palace of Prince Antoni Radziwiłł on Wilhelmstraße in Berlin, where Hitlers was appointed chancellor on 30 January 1933 and which served his as his bunker, the notorious Führerbunker. Immediately after the National Socialists rise to power, the old Reich Chancellery on Wilhelmstrasse was remodeled according to designs by Paul Ludwig Troost (1878-1934) in order to put the stamp of National Socialist architecture on this central government building. In January 1938, Hitler appointed Albert Speer to build a new chancellery, situated in Voßstrasse, which he was tasked to complete within the year. The Neue Reichskanzlei (nNew Reich chancellery) primarily served representational purposes and was a place of demonstration of power. In the summer of 1943, the New Reich Chancellery was first targeted by Allied bombing raids. On February 3, 1945, American planes again bombed the government quarter, including the Neue Reichskanzlei as well as Hitler’s apartment situated in the old Reich Chancellor’s Palace. In April 1945, the Red Army captured Berlin and thus also the New Reich Chancellery. The building was subsequently demolished.

Literature: Marian Bertz, “Die Neue Reichskanzlei.” Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin 2015. https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/ns-regime/innenpolitik/neue-reichskanzlei.html. Accessed on 2 June 2021. Koop, Volker. Hans-Heinrich Lammers: der Chef von Hitlers Reichskanzlei. Dietz 2017. Hitlers neue Reichskanzlei: Haus des Grossdeutschen Reiches, 1938-1945. Zeigeschichte in Farbe, Arndt, 2002. Lehrer, Steven. The Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker complex: an illustrated history of the seat of the Nazi regime. McFarland & Co. 2006.