Ernst May

Who was Ernst May?

Ernst May was a German architect and city planner.

May successfully applied urban design techniques to the city of Frankfurt am Main during Weimar Republic period, and in 1930 less successfully exported those ideas to Soviet Union cities, newly created under Stalinist rule. It is said May's "brigade" of German architects and planners established twenty cities in three years, including Magnitogorsk. May's travels left him stateless when the Nazis seized power in Germany, and he spent many years in African exile before returning to Germany near the end of his life.