When Laughter Gets Stuck in your Throat. The Drawings by Hans Stephan on the Reshaping of Berlin from 1937 to 1943

In 1937, Albert Speer was appointed Generalbauinspektor für die Reichshauptstadt (GBI). With this office, which was set up especially for him and endowed with far-reaching powers, Speer was tasked with remodelling Prussian Berlin into the future Reich capital of Germania in line with Adolf Hitler’s vision. Speer and his staff designed monumental new buildings that would have completely transformed the cityscape of Berlin. Of all these plans, only the New Reich Chancellery was completed. The architect and urban planner Hans Stephan, one of Speer’s closest staff members, commented on the GBI’s plans in a series of drawings that humorously and sometimes ironically mocked their megalomania, but consistently ignored the sometimes drastic consequences for the population of Berlin. The following essay presents a selection of Stephan’s drawings and critically discusses their background.