When we think of architecture and the Holocaust, we are most often drawn to the horrific monuments of the remaining buildings at camps like Auschwitz. But what role did the design and construction of buildings in Nazi Germany serve in the Holocaust more broadly? This lecture seeks to answer this question by looking at the many different ways that architecture played a part in promoting, planning, and enacting the genocide. From propaganda to antisemitic housing policy and into the occupation of Eastern Europe during the war, architects and their buildings influenced specific changes to Nazi policies and were surprisingly prominent in the administrative process. The presentation will survey important elements of this history from 1933 to 1945 as well as introduce new research on the relationship of architecture and the Nazi genocide.

Paul B. Jaskot is professor of art history and German studies in the Department of Art, Art History, and Visual Studies at Duke University. Jaskot’s scholarship has focused on the political history of modern architecture, with a specific focus on Nazi architecture and its postwar impact. In addition, he was a founding member of the Holocaust Geography Collaborative, which has promoted debates around the use of digital methods for the spatial analysis of the Holocaust since 2007. Among other fellowships, Jaskot was the Andrew W. Mellon Professor at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (National Gallery of Art) as well as the Ina Levine Invitational Scholar at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

For more information, contact Jenn Berube at jberube@bowdoin.edu or 207-725-3928.

Sponsored by the Gabry Family Fund. Open to the public free of charge.

A livestream of this lecture is available on the Bowdoin Talks website.