Abstract (eng)
Otto Strohmayr (1900–1945) was an architect of Salzburg in the era of National Socialism, who was commissioned, together with his office colleague Otto Reitter, to plan the Party`s most important representational buildings in the Gau-capital.
Subsequently this made Strohmayr one of the most successful architects of the country and by collaborating with the political party apparatus he was accepted within the closest group of architects around Albert Speer. His estate describes the enormous scope of Adolf Hitler`s personally determined building projects in Salzburg for the first time.
The collection and comparison of Strohmayr`s estate documents with documents from various archives allows the demonstration of the progression of Salzburg`s official redevelopment as well as Hitler`s personal interest in the plans. An official letter of engagement ensures the separate ways for the planning of the largest redevelopment project, the Imbergverbauung, within the office community, and allows the explanation of a differentiated image of Strohmayr`s and Reitter`s buildings. Strohmayr's work shows that his few early works were influenced by the architectural school of Clemens Holzmeister, his participation in the group of architects headed by Speer immediately led to his unhesitant subordination to the architectural principles of the Nazi-regime. Architect Strohmayr`s individual design approaches atrophied to a random composition of components based on historical elements which were characteristic for the regional architecture. The outbreak of war was no reason to end the architect`s planning euphoria for the time being, only his conscription to the Wehrmacht resulted in a halt and eventually in a standstill of his planning. Due to his early death and due to the fact that coping with the past was based on repression, Strohmayr`s work developed during the NS time was banished from the city´s memory. The present thesis documents an essential part of the Nazi history, at the same time it encoura+ges to raise the awareness of its memory.