kunsttexte.de/ostblick 3/2019 - 1 Wojciech Szymań ski Vernacularism, Lesser Poland’s Heimat, and Auxiliary Sciences in the Study of Architecture for the Third Reich How did you translate Heimat? which ha##en to recur in the studies on the architec- Heimat is an untranslatable word. ture o& the 'hird (eich, are t!#es o& vernacular archi- And does the concept even exist? tecture9 :urely, both the Heimatstil and Heimats- It’s a human fabrication: an illusion. chut/stil" b! their ver! de&inition, are t!#es o& indigen- Paul Celan in conversation with Jean Daive1 ous architecture. 'hat said" the Heimatstil" as the late e$bodiment o& historicist architecture" $a! be de- Essentially, the article #rovides $ethodolo%ical sug- scribed as a t!#e o& vernacular architecture whose %estions &or the stud! o& architecture &or the 'hird &orm and re#ertoire de#end on its local, that is, re- (eich in the )eneral )overnment. *owever" it also o&- %ional, setting and its %eo#oetics. 6d$ittedly, the &ers an interpretation o& the #heno$enon. 'hese sug- Heimatschut/stil" too" draws on indigenous and tradi- %estions are ver! $uch #resent in the title" which tional 8ualities, re%ionalism" and building techniques brings to%ether &our dif&erent terms that are ke! &or deriving &ro$ &olk traditions and #easant cra&ts: ele- understanding $! investigations. 'hese terms are+ $ents such as high-pitched and tiled %able or hip vernacularism" ,esser Poland-s Heimat" auxiliar! sci- roo&s, wattle-and-daub walls, and their $odern re- ences, and architecture for the Third Reich. state$ents, etc., the use o& which is %rounded both in Naturally, vernacularism" or vernacular architecture" histor! and available $aterials.; Nevertheless, it is still is hardly a new thing &or the stud! o& Na/i architecture $ore o& a universal and #an-German architectural and the architecture o& the 'hird (eich 0or in the 'hird style in that it disre%ards both its local and re%ional (eich).2 'he term recurs in considerations on 2indi- setting. <n contrast to the vernacular indigenous style %enous styles” such as the Heimatstil and Heimats- 0Heimatstil1" the Heimatschut/stil see$s to use a nar- chut/stil. 4! understanding o& vernacularism is rather row and codified arra! o& 2indigenous” $eans, which conventional: it is a style o& architecture that enga%es in &act are i$a%ined rather than real and based on tra- in a #eculiar dialo%ue with its pre-existing %eo%ra#hic- ditional $aterials 0timber" bricks, and tiles1 and ele- al and historical setting and is e$broiled, as it were" in $ents 0high-pitched and $ansard roo&s or $ullion both %eo#oetics and %eo#olitics.3 5hile the ver! windows). 'he Heimatschut/stil is similar to the $o- de&inition o& vernacularism enca#sulates its %eo#olit- numental Neoclassicism o& the 'hird (eich in that it ical #otential, the vernacular designs o& individual i%nores its surroundings. 'he Heimatstil acts to the buildings or building co$#lexes draw upon the tradi- contrar!+ it enga%es in a vernacular dialo%ue with a tions o& local and re%ional architecture and de#lo! a #lace and its histor!. <n other words, while there is wide arra! o& &orms that are historically &itting &or #ar- only one Heimatschut/stil, it is use&ul to identif! dif&er- ticular re%ions. 6s such, vernacularism is a #erform- ent t!#es o& Heimatstils inso&ar as the! $a! be de- ance work in which #articular #laces with their space scribed in vernacular terms. and histor! are ex#osed to dif&erent #olicies and ideo- < a$ now $oving on to the second issue $en- lo%ies. tioned in the title+ did ,esser Poland-s Heimat ever ex- 'his ostensibly straight&orward de&inition o& verna- ist9 <& so" it did #rimarily exist as a space subservient cularism as a t!#e o& re%ionalism o&&ers intriguing im- to Na/i ideolo%!" a #lace ima%ined and discursive #lications &or the stud! o& the architecture o& the 'hird rather than real. 'he resulting 8uestion is this: were (eich. 7ne 8uestion &re8uently rea##ears: what does there atte$#ts at creating and usin% indigenous re- it $ean that the Heimatstil and Heimatschut/stil" %ional architecture (the Heimatstil19 5o=ciech :/!$ański ?ernacularism" Lesser Poland-s *ei$at" and 6uxiliary :ciences in the kunsttexte.de/ostblick 3/2019 - 2 :tudy o& 6rchitecture &or the 'hird (eich 'his 8uestion is ver! $uch relevant %iven the dif&er- an areas in the 'hird (eich.10 Designs and buildings ences between the vernacular Heimatstil and the uni- &or numerous Na/i-)erman labour and extermination versal Heimatschut/stil" and the e8ually universal ca$#s in the )eneral )overnment as well as styleless Neoclassicism. <t also brings out the term Heimat in $ilitar! buildings such as bunkers, shelters, air raid its a$biguit! and idiosyncrasy, the notion o& the little trenches, antitank barriers, and water reservoirs are a ho$eland" serving as the ultimate ex#ression o& one-s whole se#arate issue. The rural areas or smaller towns attitude to a #lace. @or Heimat is not so $uch @ather- and cities in the historic range o& ,esser Poland that land but 2little &atherland"3 or even #atrimony, and its was incorporated into the )eneral )overnment o&&er %eo#oetics tends to be de&ined as the #rivati/ation o& only a &raction o& what KrakEw #ossesses in terms o& space in a #articular re%ion. In subse8uent sections o& extended designs and buildings survivin% &ro$ the the article < will tr! to exa$ine this attitude to ,esser time. 'here&ore" < have no other choice but to rely on Poland in its historic rangeAB < will also tr! to de$on- auxiliar! sciences when o&&ering hypotheses on the strate how the attitude is re&lected in the discourse o& architecture o& the time" $ost notably on the indigen- architecture and on architecture. ous style o& ,esser Poland. 'hese auxiliar! sciences 'he third issue &ro$ the title is that o& the auxiliar! include ethno%ra#hy and the histor! o& ethno%ra#hy, sciences, which can #la! a rather help&ul role in the as well as literary studies and literary history. exa$ination o& the architecture that was designed and ,et $e $ove on to the &ourth issue &ro$ the title" built in the )eneral )overnment. 6uxiliar! sciences na$ely, 2architecture &or the 'hird (eich.3 'he are in &act vital &or such studies. 7ne reason &or this is conce#t is a co$$on-sensical one" albeit rarely ad- that &ew" if any, urban #lanning sche$es or architec- dressed in the stud! o& the Na/i architecture o& the tural designs or their respective %eneral conce#ts, let 'hird (eich or in the 'hird (eich.11 'he term 6rchitec- alone co$#leted buildings, have survived in the his- ture &or the 'hird (eich dif&ers &ro$ that o& 6rchitec- toric ran%e o& ,esser Poland in the )eneral )overn- ture 0in1 the 'hird (eich or Na/i 6rchitecture in that it $ent. 'he &ive years o& )erman occu#ation and Na/i &urnishes a #articular understanding o& architecture rule in the areaC #roved too short" 8uite &elicitously, &or &ro$ the time o& the )erman occupation in the )ener- the &ull realization o& Na/i %enocide #olicies, which al )overnment 01939–1945). 'he conce#t was &ormu- heavily sha#ed the spatial #lanning and architecture lated to avoid controversy, terminolo%ical inac- o& the time. curacies, or interpretative #roble$s which are caused Essentially, lar%er surviving construction #rojects b! co$$only-used and co$#eting terms such as the were executed in KrakEw 0the ca#ital o& the )eneral 6rchitecture o& the 'hird (eich 0or in the 'hird (eich1 )overnment1 and its closest surroundings, which were and Na/i architecture. 4! contention is that as a term incorporated into the cit! b! its Na/i-)erman authorit- 2architecture &or the 'hird (eich” is $ore relevant and ies.F 'hese #rojects included the conversion o& the use&ul than the other two. @irstly, the )eneral )overn- (oyal 5awel Castle and selected buildings in the cit! $ent was never &ormally annexed to the 'hird (eich, centre &or new #ur#oses,G as well as the #rovision o& as had been the case with other Polish territories such #edestrian arcades and the construction o& a housin% Po$erania" L##er :ilesia" )reater Poland and the estate. Designed b! the )eneral )overnment-s De- area o& MEdN/Lit/$annstadt" as well as stretches o& #art$ent o& Huilding" the estate was to co$#rise ca. 4a/ovia and Duyavia. <nso&ar as 2the architecture o& 100 buildings as part o& a German residential area and the 'hird (eich” is #erfectly a#t &or areas such as was #artially co$#leted near the then (eichstrasse Po/nań/Posen and the vicinit!" it is slightly inaccurate 0toda!-s ulica KrElewska1.9 Hubert (itter-s architecture to use the term &or cities such as KrakEw. :econdly, and urban #lanning designs have also survived. 'his Na/i architecture is not only a$biguous but also e$o- ,eip/ig-based architect envisa%ed the construction o& tionally char%ed to the extre$e. <t was not only the a $onu$ental %overnment 8uarter in the area o& Na/is who designed and develo#ed buildings in the Hłonie Co$$ons and DJbniki. :imilar designs, also )eneral )overnment while $any #eo#le were used as Neoclassical in style" had been o&&ered &or $etro#olit- &orced labour in these #ro=ects.