Architecture as National Assertiveness in Poznań and Upper Silesia, 1890s-1930s
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the architecture of Eastern Europe's border areas played a significant role in shaping national identity. Under German governance in Poznań, prominent structures such as the Emperor Wilhelm's Library (1899-1902) and the Emperor Friedrich's Museum, designed by Karl Hinckeldeyn, were erected. Joseph Stübben's urban design for an Emperor's Forum included a neo-Romanesque castle by Franz Schwechten, finished around 1910. The Ostdeutsche Ausstellung of 1911 featured a tower by Hans Poelzig. Following 1918, architectural focus shifted towards Polish identity, exemplified by the 1929 Wystawa Krajowa. The Silesian Parliament (1929) in Upper Silesia adopted neo-classical styles. Modern architecture flourished, with notable works like St. Joseph Church (1930) and the Revenue Office skyscraper (1929-30), while the Polish museum was destroyed by Nazis in 1939.
Key facts
- Architecture was used as a tool for national identity in border regions like Poznań and Upper Silesia from the late 19th to early 20th centuries.
- In Poznań, German authorities built structures like the Emperor Wilhelm's Library (1899-1902) and a neo-Romanesque castle by Franz Schwechten to assert presence.
- The 1911 Ostdeutsche Ausstellung in Poznań featured a tower by Hans Poelzig, seen as a symbol of German power.
- After Polish independence in 1918, architecture in Poznań shifted to classicism as a national style, exemplified in the 1929 Wystawa Krajowa.
- Upper Silesia was divided between Germany and Poland in 1921, leading to nationalist architectural competition.
- The Silesian Parliament in Katowice, inaugurated in 1929, used neo-classical forms with Polish iconography to assert cultural identity.
- Modern architecture (International Style) emerged in the late 1920s in both German and Polish parts of Upper Silesia, used for national propaganda.
- Museums in Beuthen (1930-1932) and Katowice (1934-1939) were built as regional museums to prove historical presence, with the Polish museum destroyed by Nazis in 1939.
Entities
Artists
- Beate Störtkuhl
- Karl Hinckeldeyn
- Heinrich Grüder
- Joseph Stübben
- Franz Schwechten
- Wilhelm I
- Otto von Bismarck
- Wilhelm II
- Baurat Fürstenau
- Hartmann & Schlenzig
- Baurat Delius
- Heilmann & Littmann
- Hans Poelzig
- Bohdan Lachert
- Józef Szanajca
- Ignacy Moscicki
- Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz
- K. Wyczynski
- L. Wojtyczko
- S. Zelenski
- P. Jurkiewicz
- Michal Grazynski
- Paul Schultze-Naumburg
- Paul Mebes
- Carl Schabik
- Camillo Sitte
- Richard Gaze
- Karl Böttcher
- Erich Mendelsohn
- Dominikus Böhm
- M. Wolf
- Max Berg
- Paul Bonnatz
- Lehmann
- Tadeusz Kozlowski
- Tadeusz Michejda
- Witold Klebkowski
- Karol Schayer
- Bolko von Richthofen
- Boleslaw Chrobry
- Jörg. G. Hoensch
- Moritz Jaffé
- Alfred Grotte
- Zenon Palat
- Jan Skuratowicz
- Sophia Kemlein
- Hanna Brendel
- Andrzej K. Olszewski
- Stefan L. Zaleski
- Maciej Roman Bombicki
- Waldemar Odorowski
- Hanna Surowiak
- Bernhard Stephan
- Ignatius Krebs
- Konrad Hahm
- Barbara Gwiazda-Szczypka
- Dorotea Glazek
- Ewa Chojecka
- Tadeusz S. Jaroszewski
- Kurt Langer
- Hugo Leipziger
- Albrecht Jäger
- Goltz
Institutions
- ARTMargins Online
- MIT
- Prussian kingdom
- German Reich
- King's Commission of Town Planning in Posen
- Royal Academy in Posen
- Cooperative Bank
- Protestant Church Community Center
- Royal Settlement Commission
- New Municipal Theatre
- St-Pauli-Church
- Exposition of the German East
- Poznan Fairs
- Second Polish Republic
- Exposition of the Polish State
- Silesian Parliament
- Baugewerkschule
- Katowice diocese
- Province of Upper Silesia
- Municipal Building Offices
- German Heimatschutz
- Glass Chain
- Eichendorff High-School
- Friedrich-Wilhelm High-School
- Breslau Academy of Arts
- Wohn- und Werkraumausstellung
- Stuttgart Weißenhof Exhibition
- Cologne
- Revenue Office
- State Railways
- Polish Museum
- Oberschlesischen Landesmuseums
- Bundesinstitut für Kultur und Geschichte der Deutschen im östlichen Europa
- Architectural Museum of Wroclaw
- Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung
- Ostdeutsche Bauzeitung
- Architektura i Budownictwo
- Schlesische Zeitung
- Der Oberschlesischer Wanderer
- Architekt
Locations
- Poznan
- Poland
- Upper Silesia
- Germany
- Oldenburg
- East-Central Europe
- Prussian Province of Posen
- Great Poland
- Wielkopolska
- Berlin
- Stuttgart
- Silesia
- Pomerania
- Eastern Prussia
- Western Prussia
- Katowice
- Oppeln
- Opole
- Breslau
- Wroclaw
- Neisse
- Nysa
- Gleiwitz
- Gliwice
- Beuthen
- Bytom
- Hindenburg
- Zabrze
- Warsaw
- Gdynia
- Paris
- Cologne
- Sicily
- Apulia
- Elsaß-Lothringen
- Alsace-Lorraine
- Strasbourg
- Leipzig
- Lüneburg
- München
- Warszawa
- Kraków
- Czechoslovakia
- Boston
- Basel
- Wien