Olympiapark Berlin
[2] Plans to build an Olympic sports complex in the area of the Racetrack can be traced as far back as 1906 prior to Germany's athletic participation in the 1906 Intercalated Games.
[1] Prior to the onslaught of the Great Depression, Werner March had made a design for the renovation of the Deutsches Stadion into a venue with a 65,000-person capacity as a part of revived plans to hopefully host the Olympic Games in Berlin.
The Ministry of Agriculture then agreed to lease the entire grounds to the Racing Association with the condition that the sub-lease of the stadium by the DRA should be continued.
The City's Municipal Construction Councilor Wagnar made the suggestion that a temporary wooden stadium instead should be built on the fair grounds for the Olympics.
Additional aspects of the project would include the expansion of the Sportforum, finishing the half-completed gymnasium, the construction of a large sporting hall and of a new student dormitory.
[1] It was also decided that there would be a gymnastic and assembly hall with connected living quarters and a restaurant added to the complex, as well as two small buildings to serve as dressing rooms on the track field.
With this in mind, Hitler made plans for the construction of a great sports complex in Grunewald named the "Reichssportfeld", with a brand-new Olympiastadion as its centerpiece.
— Adolf Hitler, October 5, 1933[1]Thus, four days after construction on the earlier proposed expansion to the Sportforum had previously been set to commence, those plans were killed.
Moving east would align it on a direct axis with the Schwarzburg Bridge along the main east-west street approaching the complex.
Nonetheless, Hitler voiced a number of concerns surrounding the architectural appearance of the buildings, and his wishes for stone to be used in the construction of the complex as frequently as possible, rather than concrete.
March had Professor Wiepking-Jürgensman assist in transplanting 40,000 trees to the northern portion of the park, to unite it with the surrounding natural landscape.
The Underground and Municipal railway stations serving the site were expanded, with new exits built allowing visitors to leave in close proximity to the Olympic Stadium.
[1] The main focal point of the entire complex's composition was to be the Olympic Stadium, which was located at the middle of the Reich Sport Field.
[8][10] March's stadium was modern in its aesthetics, which did not match the Nazi's goal to use the Olympics to display themselves as an imperial power in the mold of the Roman Empire.
[8] Aware of the political significance of architecture as a mode to promote Nazi ideology, Hitler demanded that the Olympic Stadium be constructed entirely using German materials.
As it passes below the fields, this tunnel expansion also functioned as the corridor of subterranean dressing rooms for the training grounds located directly above.
The Reichsportfeld's reflected the chauvinistic ideology of the Nazi regime not only in its architectural composition, but also through statues and engravings celebrating Aryan athletic youth.
Carl Diem, who himself was not a Nazi, had thought of the idea, which was approved greatly by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, as he believed that it was a spectacular way in which to publicize the Olympics.
At the beginning of the games the "International Congress of Physical Education Students" met in the 1,200 spectator Cupola Hall of the Sportforum, which also hosted the foils and saber fencing competitions.
For Polo two temporary stands were built on the sides of the Maifeld, perpendicular to the main grandstand, accommodating an additional 75,000 spectators.
When allied bombing of the complex intensified in late 1944, the stadium's underground facilities were prepared for use as a makeshift HQ for Nazi Germany's national radio network, "Großdeutscher Rundfunk".
[2] After Germany's unconditional surrender in May 1945, the Reichssportfeld had been scarred with bomb craters, emptied ammunition boxes, burnt equipment, barricades, and corpses.
Carl Diem, the Secretary General of the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games, made himself the director of the ‘Reichssportfeld’ administration, and along with other former employees of the complex, helped to begin the clean-up process.
[2] Former heavyweight world champion Max Schmeling held a boxing match, in the amphitheatre, which had been renamed the "Waldbühne", on 31 October 1948, in front of an audience of 24,000.
This renovation most notably included the addition of a partial roof over the stadium's main tribunes in the northern and southern stands, covering 26,000 seats.
The Olympic Stadium's Hertha BCS has continued to improve since rejoining the first division, gaining international prestige by qualifying for the UEFA Champions League.
[16] British Prime Minister John Major and Governing Mayor of Berlin Eberhard Diepgen revealed a commemorative plaque on the Adlerplatz in front of the "Haus des Deutschen Sports" in a ceremony marking the date.
[2][10][17] The renovation began on 3 July 2000, with a groundbreaking ceremony officiated by Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schröder, Mayor of Berlin Eberhard Diepgen, Franz Beckenbauer and Dr. Ignaz Walter.
The stadium continued to host events during the renovation, including the annual DFB-Pokal final, Hertha BSC, and Berlin Thunder games.
9 January 2002, in the midst of the Olympic Stadium's renovation, construction crews found an unexploded World War II bomb buried beneath a seating section.
