Potsdam between shifting ideologies

Abstract

The history of Germany in the 20th century was marked by the destruction of war, separation and reunification. This eventful past also ensured that this history was repeatedly revised by the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) - true to the motto "History is written by victors". This revision can be an expression of rediscovered histories and newfound knowledge, but also has the potential to marginalise and ignore the unwelcome. Particularly in the initial phase of their existence, both states were highly selective in their respective historiographies, and symbolically significant buildings of the system's rival were partially erased. Other peculiarities result from the planning mechanisms that both forms of state applied, which can be discussed on the basis of the respective ideological standpoint. During the cold war, architecture became an important way to shape and express collective and national identities. As a result, the politics of the GDR, especially in the form of the Unity Party, Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED), intervened in many cases to express socialism also in architecture and urban planning, which resulted in an urbicide of identity-forming buildings of the political and ideological competitors were systematically removed from the cityscape. Similar actions, but with reversed prefixes, were taken by the Federal Republic of Germany, which reunited the formerly separated parts of east and west Germany in 1990. Since this reunification, measures taken by the GDR are being reversed, a process that is driven by private supporters who fund the revival of a lost homogeneity in the cityscape. Thus, on one hand, GDR architecture is gradually disappearing, while on the other hand, buildings from the pre-war period are often reconstructed in their place. A process that continues to this day, and gradually documents the rapid change of ideologies and the perception of history in successive political frameworks. The paper therefore examines the development of Potsdam in both successive German states and case studies of the Stadtschloss and Garnisonkirche on the basis of a literature study, as both buildings are reflecting the eventful history of Germany and the changing ideologies in the built environment as they have been razed during the period of the GDR and were reconstructed after the reunification.