Wehrtechnische Fakultät

The history of this site goes back to 28 November 1937, when Hitler laid the first stone for the Wehrtechnische Fakultät – a military school/academy. More than just a contribution to Nazi Germany’s military force, the Wehrtechnische Fakultät was a major part of the project to develop the Ost-West Achse – a planned axis from the city centre East (Alexanderplatz) – passing the Siegessäule which was relocated from the Königplatz (now: Platz der Republik) to its current destination (the Großer Stern) in 1938, the Technische Hochschule (now: Technische Universität), the Adolf Hitler-Platz (nowadays: Theodor-Heuss-Platz) till the city’s West, where the Olympic Stadium on the northside and the Fakultät.

Description

The Wehrtechnische Fakultät should have taught the new military elite. Its architect, Albert Speer, designed the school as a castle –both to capture the grandeur, historic rights, and might of the Nazi Army, but also to act as a defensive countermeasure if required. The construction of the Wehrtechnische Fakultät was put on a hold because Karl Becker – the leader of the building development – committed suicide in April 1940. As well as the Ost-West Achse, the Fakultät was never finished before Nazi Germany was defeated. Originally assaulted by the Red Army, and later the US Army (who claimed the territory), the Fakultät proved almost impregnable, and if it had been finished it could have posed a real risk for the attacking forces during the Battle of Berlin. Unknown to all but the highest echelons of the Nazi elite, there also existed a multi-tiered bunker deep beneath the Fakultät, where horrific experiments were conducted by members of the Ahnenerbe under Projekt Werewolf...

Owner: Occupied by a small US Force
Suburb: Grunewald
City: Berlin
Country: Germany