Since October 18, 2024, the exhibition Allmachtsphantasien. Architecture and Everyday Life under German Occupation at the Zamek Cultural Center in Poznań. It offers a differentiated examination of the planning and building activities during the National Socialist occupation as well as the living environment of various population groups. Based on the Reichsgau Wartheland, the different perspectives of the German occupiers and the occupied local society are shown in the former residential palace in Poznań. In this way, the contrasting experiences and realities of life on both sides become impressively visible. The exhibition is based on an understanding of architectural and planning history that not only considers designs, plans and buildings, but also asks what consequences all this had for those affected. After all, the planning and building activities of the National Socialists were a central element of occupation policy and had a direct impact on the living conditions and survival opportunities of the entire occupying society. The exhibition thus conveys current research findings from history and art history to a wider public. An installation specially developed for the occasion by artist Iza Tarasewicz complements the historical exhibition and invites visitors to reflect on the present.
The exhibition is the culmination of years of intensive collaboration between the DHI Warsaw and the curator Aleksandra Paradowska. One of the earlier results of this cooperation was the translation of the seminal work Ordnungswahn. Architekten planen im “eingedeutschten Osten” 1939-1945 by Niels Gutschow (Polish version: Obsesja porządku. Niemieccy architekci planują w okupowanej Polsce 1939-1945, Warszawa 2021). Annika Wienert and Christhardt Henschel made important contributions to the content and conceptual design of the exhibition. Together with CK Zamek, they also managed to secure financial support for the project from the Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation. Without these funds, the exhibition would not have been possible.
The exhibition will be accompanied by an extensive program of events. These include, for example, a panel discussion on the topic of Testimony - Burden - Fetish? Exhibiting Nazi architecture | Źródło wiedzy - Obciążenie - Fetysz? Nazistowska architektura na wystawie on December 7, 2024, with the participation of Michał Duda (Wrocław), Hanna Grzeszczuk-Brendel (Poznan), Rafał Wnuk (Gdansk) and Alexa Stiller (Zurich/Jena). A catalog is also in the works, which will include academic contributions by Aleksandra Paradowska, Annika Wienert, Marcin Przegiętka and Christhardt Henschel. The publication is made possible by the generous support of the foundation Stiftung Kritische Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften.
