The Arno Breker State Atelier

The Kunsthaus Dahlem is based in the former state studio of the sculptor Arno Breker. Besides Josef Thorak, Breker (1900–1991) was the most famous sculptor during the “Third Reich” and visualised the National Socialist ideology in his works. After 1937, he provided sculptures for the monumental structures of Albert Speer and the planned Reich capital of Germania, meant to originate from an expanded Berlin.

The studio building was constructed between 1939 and 1942 according to designs of the architect Hans Freese. The building site was a property at the edge of the Grunewald, which the City of Berlin had made available “at the request of the Führer”. Planned were facilities for working with plaster and stone, a large working space and showroom, in which several employees worked, and a private studio for Breker. The structure was equipped with modern technical facilities like a crane, a hydraulic lift and a cargo lift connecting with the basement.

The state studio primarily served representation purposes. Breker received illustrious guests, but reports about the sculptor and his work were also filmed for the Wochenschau here. Breker himself only used the studio for a brief time. Bombing damage already made usage of the spaces difficult to impossible in 1943. Breker was in any case able to work in his studio in the Oderbruch. Adolf Hitler had given him the Jäckelsbruch manor there as a gift on the occasion of Breker’s 40th birthday. The Arno Breker Sculpture Workshops, which were equipped with large halls, a rail connection and a canal harbour, were located in neighbouring Wriezen.