Reichssportfeld Berlin

One of Europe’s most monumental sporting venues is located at the edge of Berlin’s Westend District: the former Reichssportfeld, which is now known as Olympiapark Berlin. Planned by Werner March, the complex built for the 1936 Summer Olympics was the first major large-scale construction project undertaken by the Third Reich. Along with the Olympic Stadium and other sports facilities, the 130-hectare area also featured a parade ground and an open-air theater.
The complex began life as a racing course that opened in the Westend District in 1909. Four years later, the Deutsches Stadion planned by Otto March was built in its inner field. Otto’s sons Werner and Walter March then built the Deutsches Sportforum here in 1927–28. Adolf Hitler commissioned Werner March rebuild the stadium in 1931 in conjunction with the construction of a Reichssportfeld that March realized in only four years.