German Village (Dugway proving ground)
Encyclopedia
German Village was the nickname for a range of residential houses constructed in 1943 by the U.S. Army in the Dugway Proving Ground
in Utah
, roughly a hundred kilometers southwest of Salt Lake City.
Dugway was a high-security testing facility for chemical and biological weapons. The purpose of the replicas of German homes, which were repeatedly rebuilt after being intentionally burned down, was to perfect bombing tactics ie fire bombing of German residential areas during World War II
.
The US Army employed German emigré architects such as Erich Mendelsohn
to create copies as accurate as possible of the dwellings of densely populated poorer population quarters in Berlin. The main goal was to find a tactic to achieve a fire storm in the city center. Ironically these copied working class areas, such as Wedding
and Pankow
, that had been communist
strongholds before Nazi repression suppressed dissent.
The architects that worked on the German village and on the Japanese equivalent also included names such as Konrad Wachsmann
and Antonin Raymond
.
Dugway Proving Ground
Dugway Proving Ground is a US Army facility located approximately 85 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah in southern Tooele County and just north of Juab County...
in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, roughly a hundred kilometers southwest of Salt Lake City.
Dugway was a high-security testing facility for chemical and biological weapons. The purpose of the replicas of German homes, which were repeatedly rebuilt after being intentionally burned down, was to perfect bombing tactics ie fire bombing of German residential areas during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
The US Army employed German emigré architects such as Erich Mendelsohn
Erich Mendelsohn
Erich Mendelsohn was a Jewish German architect, known for his expressionist architecture in the 1920s, as well as for developing a dynamic functionalism in his projects for department stores and cinemas.-Early life:...
to create copies as accurate as possible of the dwellings of densely populated poorer population quarters in Berlin. The main goal was to find a tactic to achieve a fire storm in the city center. Ironically these copied working class areas, such as Wedding
Wedding (Berlin)
Wedding is a locality in the borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany and was a separate borough in the north-western inner city until it was fused with Tiergarten and Mitte in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform...
and Pankow
Pankow
Pankow is the third borough of Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weißensee; the resulting borough retained the name Pankow.- Overview :...
, that had been communist
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...
strongholds before Nazi repression suppressed dissent.
The architects that worked on the German village and on the Japanese equivalent also included names such as Konrad Wachsmann
Konrad Wachsmann
Konrad Wachsmann was a German modernist architect...
and Antonin Raymond
Antonin Raymond
Antonin Raymond, or , born: was a Czech architect, who lived and worked in the USA and Japan...
.
Further reading
- Mike Davis, "Berlin's Skeleton in Utah's Closet," in Dead Cities: And Other Tales (New York: The New Press, 2002; paperback 2003), 64-83; ISBN 978-1565847651 or ISBN 1-56584-844-6.
External links
- Aerial view of German and Japanese villages, May 27 1943
- Assault on German village (Translation of article below)
- Angriff auf "German Village" Der Spiegel 11.10.1999
- German Village' may soon crumble
- Historic Evaluation of German Village at U.S. Army Dugway Proving Grounds
- US Army Bases
- Dugway MIL site on the village (With images of the village)
- Goodbye to Berlin
