The Realism Of Germany During World War II - 1331 Words

â€Å"Architecture of Doom† is a film that documents the aesthetics of Germany during the Third Reich, and features sketches and scale models of the Greater Berlin he intended to build before World War II began. But more importantly, the film uses the aesthetics as a vessel to delve into Hitler’s psychology to try to understand the mindset of a madman when imbued with absolute power. The fact is that Adolf Hitler is remembered as a murderous dictator responsible for killing six million Jewish citizens and brainwashing an entire generation of young followers. Hitler was a corrupt totalitarian dictator and committed himself to the pursuit of cultural and genetic â€Å"purity† in Germany. As the sole leader of his nation, and with an obsession for†¦show more content†¦Art was something that Hitler enjoyed and something that he later applied to his career as the Fuhrer and in a very unexpected way. By looking closely at the consistent tone evoked from h is paintings, his architecture sketches, his conception of the â€Å"New German Man†, we can begin to understand the origin and manifestation of Hitler’s obsession with purity. As a young artist, Hitler struggled to make a living by selling his paintings during his time in Vienna. Many of his paintings featured the architecture of Vienna. He enjoyed painting structures with intricate designs, and would often use nature as a backdrop. While his paintings were of quality, what must be noted was his utter lack of creative agency. His paintings had no liveliness, there was nothing interesting or different about his art. His work was essentially capturing the work of other men and selling it as his own. Something disturbing about Hitler’s art was his omission of people. Painting mostly public places one would think that an artist would be able to identify people as a crucial component that gives life and action to a painting, after all what is a city without its people? Although, if these omissions were not a mistake, they may have been an intentional motif, perhaps a signature of his work. The absence of people would indicate a strong distaste f or human interaction, or a strong appreciation for the world around him whether it be natural or manmade.