Bruno Ammon
Maxima Walthes
Single User-VR-Application
<aside> <img src="/icons/location_gray.svg" alt="/icons/location_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Due to Hitler's extreme ambitions aimed at creating a "Greater Germanic Empire," he planned to transform Berlin into the capital of the world.
As the General Building Inspector, Albert Speer designed monumental structures within this vision, intended to be distributed along two axes spanning 40 to 50 km in the heart of Berlin. These imposing structures were meant to serve as an expression of Hitler's power.
We aim to capture the myth surrounding those plans with our VR experience and shed light on the lesser known horrific effects which would have scarred the city and its population for eternity.
The actions at that time led to numerous seizures of property, particularly from Jewish property owners. Concentration camps were built to obtain construction materials, forcing thousands into forced labor, with many being directly or indirectly killed due to the inhumane living and working conditions in the camps.
Due to scarce resources and the impact of World War II, most of these construction projects were never realized. Alternatively, these projects would have significantly altered the urban landscape of Berlin as we know it today.
In the VR experience, visitors have the opportunity to virtually explore the central element of these plans – the Great Hall.
In the final version it becomes evident how large parts of present-day Berlin would have been affected by the planned construction projects, through the integration of linear narrative elements. Here we will emphasize on the consequences of the cruelties associated with the Nazi building plans for the predominantly Jewish population.
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<aside> <img src="/icons/location_gray.svg" alt="/icons/location_gray.svg" width="40px" /> In order for the current VR prototype to achieve the intended impact, a prior critical engagement with the topic and the question we have raised regarding the handling of National Socialist monumental buildings is necessary. At this point in time, the experience represents a nearly neutral replica of the planned changes to the cityscape and also includes a scene of Hitler delivering a speech to an audience within the Great Hall. To understand the sheer scale of the architecture and potentially draw conclusions on how such events affected people at that time, we believe it is essential to make such experiences tangible in the VR experience. While the ultimate goal is to exhibit in a museum space and grant the public access to the experience, since the prototype is not yet clearly aligned with our objectives and it cannot be ensured that every visitor approaches the staging with the same background knowledge and attitudes, the aforementioned critical engagement with the topic and a presentation on a smaller scale are necessary.
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