The Tullio Cianetti Hall/KdF Hall
The Tullio Cianetti Hall formed the social and cultural center of the "City of the KdF Wagon near Fallersleben". Celebrated as the "Cathedral of the National Community", the building, which was erected at a central location in the communal camp and offered space for around 5,000 visitors, dominated the surrounding urban area through its sheer size alone.-__-0000-__-
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It corresponded to the construction principle of the KdF halls, which the construction department of the German Labor Front (DAF) under its head Julius Schulte-Frohlinde (1894-1968) had designed for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. It was a self-supporting wooden structure with a ridge height of 29 meters, a span of 64 meters and a length of 120 meters. The gable was adorned with the symbol of the DAF, a swastika surrounded by a cogwheel. Beneath it were three wooden figures joined together like a mosaic, symbolizing the construction period: An earthworker laying the foundations, a bricklayer erecting the supports for the foundation walls and a carpenter erecting the hall.-__-0000-__-
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On June 27, 1938, work began on laying the wooden foundations for the building, which was still known as the "Hall of 5,000" at the time. Just a quarter of a year later, on September 30, 1938, the hall was used for the first time for a concert by the Wesendorf Aviation Music Corps.
However, it was not officially inaugurated until October 15, 1938 in the presence of Robert Ley, the leader of the German Labour Front, and Tullio Cianetti, the chairman of the fascist industrial workers' association Confederazione fascista dei lavoratori dell'industria .
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Both organizations had agreed to use Italian workers on the site of the "City of the KdF Car". Ley therefore christened the building the Tullio Cianetti Hall.-__-0000-__- After the fall of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) and the associated declaration of war on the German Reich by the new government under Marshal Pietro Badoglio, the situation of Italians in Germany deteriorated significantly. From then on, the assembly building was only referred to as the "KdF-Halle". On May 7, 1945, it was completely destroyed by fire.
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-__-0001-__- "The community hall filled up for the first time", in: Aller-Zeitung of October 5, 1938. On the architecture of the "Cianetti Hall", see Helmut Weihsmann, Bauen unterm Hakenkreuz. Architecture of the downfall. Vienna 1998, p. 177.
-__-0002-__- "Cianetti Hall christened by Dr. Ley. A great day for our homeland", in: Aller-Zeitung of October 17, 1938.