Plan of the Main Streets and Inner-City Areas and the Locations of the New Administration Buildings Peter Koller, Berlin, 1939–1940

Brute Plans for the Gau Capital

Barely one year after Austria’s annexation by Nazi Germany, on 17 February 1939, Adolf Hitler declared that Graz was one of those cities whose expansion would enjoy particular support by the Reich. Upon the recommendation of Albert Speer, Peter Koller was entrusted with the planning for Graz. The intervention into the cityscape of Graz would have been massive: Road axes up to 75 meters wide would have been built in the west and south; train stations would have been relocated; and vast squares with monumental buildings were planned. In the vicinity of Jakomini Square alone, 100 houses would have been demolished.