Paul Clemen and the different approaches to reconstruction in Germany in the immediate post-World War II period

Paul Clemen is the only one among the German “fathers of Denkmalpflege” to have lived through World War II and to have pronounced on strategies to be adopted for reconstruction through short writings or speeches, which have never been translated. The aim of this contribution is to make known and critically analyze Clemen’s last production – contextualizing his texts within a broader vision of monument protection – highlighting the extent to which his ideas have influenced different approaches to reconstruction with some well-known outcomes.