Krakow – the new German metropolis
Paweł Stachnik
The capital of the General Government was detained in order to make it one of the exemplary German cities. The stories of the exhibitions presented at the International Cultural Center about the plans of the Nazis towards Krakow.
After the swift defeat of Poland in 1939, Adolf Hitler ordered the division of the captured territory. The major part, fixed for repair, incorporated, with the comparative part formed by the hull state subordinated to Berlin. They were called the General Government. For its capital city, Krakow.
Why Kraków and not Warsaw or Łódź? Germany needs a big city, but not too big. One where the eco aviation authority and its officials are not drowned in a wheelset. And also such as can be easily Germanized. For the same reason, the capital city with a population of over a million is right, and it was decided to have Krakow with a population of 1,000. In addition, Krakow because of its own person, who can easily remain as a city by the Germans and, for a long time, German.
Gauhauptstadt Krakow
On October 12, 1939, Hitler’s decree establishing the General Government (GG). This quasi-state was headed by Hans Frank, a doctor of law and minister without a portfolio in the Reich government. Krakow, as the capital of the General Government, obviously had to be de-polonized and Germanized. So the street names were changed, the monuments were demolished and the inhabitants were resettled. They traveled to Krakow with the Reich, thousands, officials and soldiers. The residence of the governor-general was renamed Wawel to Krakauer Burg.
After the defeat of France in the summer of 1940, the concept of the general status of the Governorate changed in Berlin. It was recognized that it was no longer an occupied territory, but a part of the Reich, although all the time keeping the sign of work – Work, customs and monetary.
– The consortium of this, additional supplementation on the opinion of Krakow, stopping its further path, going further, aimed at making the establishment of an exemplary German establishment. Krakow was supposed to be East Nuremberg. These plans were under the patronage of Hans Frank, who imitated Hitler, considering himself a trace of a builder – says prof. Jacek Purchla, co-author and curator of the exhibition ‘Unwanted Capital. Architecture and urban planning of Krakow during the German occupation 1939–1945 ”.
Already in late 1940, Krakow was included in the list of the so-called Gauhaupstädte, i.e. the main district cities of the Third Reich, will create a new urban face. Hans Frank was this kind of supporter and not creating that I was going to go to Krakow for a new German metropolis. That Mik. created. lit on June 1, 1941, on his initiative, the fourfold enlargement of the city’s territory, the initiative including neighboring villages and communes.
On July 15, 1940, at the Wawel that is offered, Hans Frank in his urban visa. Her student was, among others an experienced German architect Richard Rattinger, who, at the governor’s request, took the position of an expert attorney for construction investments in the GG.
– The Plenipotentiary, who was brought from Munich, acted at the “court” of Hans Frank, he acts as the ideologist of the system for the improved poly and quality of the urban concept and architectural designs made by the author in Krakow – explains prof. Purchla. From 1940, services in Krakow were provided by the Construction Directorate of the General Governor, which had the function of managing the function of Hans Frank.
Two plans
What did the German plans for the city on the Vistula envision? In life from his landscape, they prevent the removal of Kościuszko and Piłudski. Then, in Błonia, I intend to place the German Quarter, which includes a complex of government and district buildings as well as other central offices. The buildings were to be erected, of course, in a monumental style.
Equipment from this other plan for the reconstruction of Krakow, worthy of the order of the authorities in Berlin, a respected architect from Leipzig, Hubert Ritter. His plan, completed in May 1941, envisaged – contrary to what he intended for Frank – a district plan in Dębniki. In order to decide on the future of the 250 hectares created there, it was necessary to establish administration, district administration, NSDAP authority, Wehrmacht, activities, railroads and other offices, as well as canteens, casinos, and the possibility of conducting activities and conducting. In the plaza of activities on the site that have Festhalle – the place of meetings and events. The observed effect was to operate 10 thousand. German German.
These revitalization-based urban visions had not been realized from the point of help and technical support since the turn of 1942 1943. The great situation of Germany on the Eastern Front. Already in March 1942, a decree was issued suspending all construction works in the Reich on the grounds that it was another one. Nevertheless, Hans did not combine his ambitions, even now, in the context of Frank. His eyes were on the construction of a new law firm, which the law firm was established by the end of 1944.
This is the beginning of dawn in the years 1941-1944 at the starting site in 1941-1944 g building No. 5, closing the castle courtyard from the west. The former hospital was rebuilt into lace for Frank’s clinkers. Entrance to the castle with the gate from ul. Bernardyńska. – The rebuilt Wawel was supposed to be the Thousand-year-old Reich – says prof. Purchla.
In the first line of the occupation, there is no mercy yet, which ends with the construction of several investments before the war. Formerly to: Municipal Market Hall at al. Daszyńskiego, the State Agricultural Bank at ul. Dunajewskiego (it was supposed to be a seven-story hotel) and the National Museum at al. Mickiewicz, which was converted into State Funds for German followers.
Construction and reconstruction
The urban instances of floating workers in the Reich that the Germans commented on in Krakow struggled with the lack of a base. To remedy this, the aforementioned conversion of the Agricultural Bank into a hotel was carried out, and a second such facility was planned at the premises of pl. Invalids (also large). For housing units, also a residential district in the western part of the city, along ul. Królewska (early Reichstrasse).
– Instead of building tenement houses for workers there, building them in part of the plot, which were obtained by internal herbaceous plants. It was until the news in Krakow. The designers and contractors of this team were Polish Poles (including Zbigniew Kupiec, a dedicated architect, graduates of the Lviv Polytechnic University), starting, of course, under the control of the head of the Municipal Construction Office, Georg Stahl. All facilities were built by a construction company from Kraków – emphasizing prof. Purchla.
The occupation authorities are also carrying out an urban planning campaign for the city. The City Construction Office dealt with it. The hills were cleaned, some boulevards on the Vistula River were built, and the building on pl. The Holy Spirit was converted into a health center. In houses at ul. Grodzka and Krakowska, in the church of St. Idzi and the Norbertine Virgins in Salwator had arcades pierced. Currently, it seems as if they have been there forever.
In an attempt to start the “urdeatsche Stadt Kraft alsou” from Krakow, restoration works were also carried out. One, e.g.
the main tenement house at Bonerowska 9, which we intended to run at the market square in the seat of the Chamber of Commerce. The plans at the exhibition for the expansion of the Wielopolski Palace, the transformation of the grand-city spirit of pl. Szczepański, and on the Main Square there is a connection between the guardhouse at the Town Hall Tower and the Cloth Hall. Tarnowski Palace at ul. The trail became Haus der Jugend, i.e. the Youth House, the Pod Krukami tenement house at 25 Rynek Główny, the seat of the NSDAP for the entire governorate.
Railways, airport, roads
A significant construction investor in the city of German Railways. As early as 1939, the General Directorate of Eastern Railways with its seat in Kraków was established. A great modernization of the Krakow railway system was carried out, carried out in two “will be conducted by” Ottto “(1940) and” Ottobau “(1942). We saw it with preparations, and then with preparations with preparations. The most recent years of 1942 of these investments were the construction of the so-called Marking of the next railway, the toll of the Kraków-Łobów and Kraków stations, with traces of origin 9 km, and a slip road established a year later leading the traffic towards Płaszów towards Warsaw. This investment from the investment in the investment enable the execution of the main investment from transit traffic.
Another way to quickly change Krakow’s significant inventory infrastructure. Created i.a. modern settings, a large complex of service stations in Płaszów was expanded and in Professionally arranged, the development of a housing estate for railways. The Germans also expanded the Rakowice-Czyżyny airport in 1941-1943, which from June 1941 was one of the eastern fronts of one of the Luftwaffe bases.
Strategic halt stopped road network. The Germans planned that in the future, what would be a parallel company, would pass through Krakow and its vicinity, while they were building two important transit units. In 1942, Reichstrasse leading to the west, i.e. ul. Królewska, a year later the counterfeit arteries of generating Aleje Trzech Wieszczów from ul. Wielicka (i.e. haberdashery: aleja Krasińskiego and streets: Konopnicka and Kamieńskiego).
Fortunately, Hans’s bombing plans were not implemented. – Hitler’s investments did not leave too many permanent traces in Krakow. So that the remnants of this unwanted capital still blend in with the cities, do not wake up and warn the inhabitants – notes prof. Purchla. The exhibition “Unwanted Capital” can be seen at the ICC until June 12.