Autobahn

Pavement in American motorways are typically made with low initial construction cost, but with ongoing and pricy maintenance. This differs severely from the European and namely German building philosophy. The plans for the Autobahn originated in the 1920'ies under the Weimar Republic. An increasing number of vehicles began to appear all around the country, as the wounds and damages after the devastating world war began to heal. The economy was beginning to flourish again, and despite a recent hyperinflation the country was entering what would later be known as the "golden years" of the republic.

Ideas for express carriageways only for motor vehicles were already present at the time, as in Italy where the first part of the "autostrada" was completed in 1924. In Weimar the vision for the first part of what would later become the Autobahn was the stretch from Hamburg over Frankfurt to Basel. On November 6, 1926 a association called HaFraBa (short name for the involved cities) was founded. A huge project at the time (with a span of over 800 kilometers), it would require intensive engineering and labour power. However, due to the loss of the 1st world war, Germany was unable to lend money anywhere, and secondly the railway industry lobbied against such a proposal. The solution was to collect road tolls, just like Italy did for their projects.

When the Third Reich swept away the slowly collapsing republic, the plans for the HaFraBa was initially rejected, but with the rise of Adolf Hitler things changed. He formed a vision; a plan for the Reichsautobahn. Just as the railways had played an important part in modernizing infrastructure, the time was ready for the motorways to do the same. Thus, in 1933 a law was passed, and the association Gesellschaft Reichsautobahnen created to surpass the construction of this immense project, and the first dig was done by Adolf Hitler himself on September 23 that same year.

This was the beginning of one of the world most well respected and sturdy road networks in the world: Autobahn.

Map of the the first Autobahn stretch, Hamburg over Frankfurt to Basel

War

In late 1918 the German empire lied in ruins following the devastating "Great War" leaving behind a tragic scenery for the remains of the European peoples whose young generations had fought and died on the battlefields of Somme, Tannenberg, and Ypres. A gaping hole of emptiness was created due to the meaningless of mankind and its endless brutality who had killed a whole generation of painters and poets, young and old.

The German people demanded an explanation for why millions of German husbands, brothers, and fathers had fallen in battle - a battle that never crossed the german borders. Riots broke out in the cities, and all over Germany workers attempted a revolution very much like the one in Russia. The people never really experienced the horrors of war and therefore, couldn't understand why Germany had lost and wished for someone to pay the prize of surrendering - this came, amongst others, to be the old German Empire and its emperor; now it was time for a new and free Germany, now it was time for the Weimar Constitution.

The Weimar Constitution was founded in the city of Weimar in the Land of Thüringen. This constitution was forged by the new ideas of liberalism and created a radical clash between the old German empire and a new democratic Germany. Shaped by the spirit of the two German thinkers Goethe and Schiller, the constitution attempts to protect the freedom of speech and other essential rights thus trying to create a country where individualism and pluralism thrived.

The newly gained freedom of the German people with its liberal ideas and the cruel memories of First World War provided a postwar atmosphere that had both elements of absurdity, meaninglessness, creativity, and a revolutionary spirit.

This "Zeitgeist" of believes and historical background was to create an artscene more critical of society and politicly involved than before. The golden twenties of art and film had begun.