Nazi party rally grounds
Encyclopedia
The Nazi party rally grounds (German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Reichsparteitagsgelände; Literally: Reich
Reich
Reich is a German word cognate with the English rich, but also used to designate an empire, realm, or nation. The qualitative connotation from the German is " sovereign state." It is the word traditionally used for a variety of sovereign entities, including Germany in many periods of its history...
Party Congress Grounds) consist of about 11 square kilometres in the southeast of Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Six Nazi party rallies
Nuremberg Rally
The Nuremberg Rally was the annual rally of the NSDAP in Germany, held from 1923 to 1938. Especially after Hitler's rise to power in 1933, they were large Nazi propaganda events...
were held there between 1933 and 1938.
Overview
The vast Nazi party rally grounds included:- The Luitpoldarena, a deployment area
- the Luitpold Hall or "Old Congress Hall" (damaged during World War II, later demolished)
- the Kongresshalle (Congress Hall) or Neue Kongresshalle (New Congress Hall) (unfinished)
- the Zeppelin Feld (Zeppelin Field), another deployment area
- the Märzfeld (March Field) (unfinished, later demolished), a deployment area for the Wehrmacht (armed forces)
- the Deutsche StadionDeutsches StadionThe Deutsches Stadion was a monumental stadium designed by Albert Speer for the Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg, southern Germany. Its construction began in September 1937, and was slated for completion in 1943...
(German stadium) (never exceeded the state of foundation), which was to be the largest sports stadium in the world - the former Stadion der Hitlerjugend ("stadium of the Hitler YouthHitler YouthThe Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
", today FrankenstadionFrankenstadionThe Frankenstadion is a stadium in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany, which was opened in 1928. It is located next to the Zeppelinfeld. It also neighbors the new Nuremberg Arena....
) - the Große Straße ("great road"), a (never used) parade road.
Furthermore a "Haus der Kultur" (House of Culture) and a representative entrance portal towards the "Great Road" were planned at the northwestern end of the "Great Road" near the (new) Congress Hall .
Only Zeppelinfeld, Luitpoldarena and Große Straße were finished. The Kongresshalle, Zeppelinfeld and the Große Straße are under monument protection since 1973 as significant examples for NS architecture.
The party grounds were planned by Hitler's
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
- apart from the Congress hall, which was planned by Ludwig
Ludwig Ruff
Ludwig Ruff was an architect during the National Socialist regime in Germany, the father of Franz Ruff and responsible for beginning the Nuremberg Party Congress Hall before his death in 1934.-External links:*...
and Franz Ruff
Franz Ruff
Franz Ruff was a minor architect during the National Socialist regime in Germany, the son of Ludwig Ruff and responsible for completing the Nuremberg Party Congress Hall after his father's death in 1934.-External links:*...
.
Today, the whole site serves as a memorial
Memorial
A memorial is an object which serves as a focus for memory of something, usually a person or an event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or art objects such as sculptures, statues or fountains, and even entire parks....
. Parts of the area are today used as the Norisring
Norisring
The Norisring is a street circuit in Nuremberg, on the former Nazi party rally grounds site of the NSDAP party conventions. As the city's German name Nürnberg would lead to confusion with the already famous Nürburgring, the old name Noris was chosen for the simple track which is nowadays approx...
motor racing track.
On 30 August 1933 Hitler declared Nuremberg to the "City of the Reichsparteitage (Reich Party Congresses)".
The Party Congresses (Reichsparteitage) were a self-portrayal of the NS-state and had no programmatic task.
The unity of the nation was to be demonstrated. In a propagandistic way a relation was to be drawn between the NS movement and the glory of the medieval emperors and the meetings of the Imperial State
Imperial State
An Imperial State or Imperial Estate was an entity in the Holy Roman Empire with a vote in the Imperial Diet assemblies. Several territories of the Empire were not represented, while some officials were non-voting members; neither qualified as Imperial States.Rulers of Imperial States were...
s which were held in Nuremberg.
The Party Congresses
Party Congresses (Reichsparteitage) of the NSDAP from 1923 to 1938| date | location | name |
|---|---|---|
| 27–29 January 1923 | Munich Munich Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat... |
|
| 3–4 July 1926 | Weimar Weimar Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899... |
|
| 19–21 August 1927 | Nuremberg Nuremberg Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664... |
|
| 1–4 August 1929 | Nuremberg | |
| 30 August - 3 September 1933 | Nuremberg | Reichsparteitag des Sieges (Reich Party Congress of Victory) |
| 5–10 September 1934 | Nuremberg | Reichsparteitag der Einheit und Stärke (Reich Party Congress of Unity and Strength); the documentary of this event "Triumph des Willens Triumph of the Will Triumph of the Will is a propaganda film made by Leni Riefenstahl. It chronicles the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, which was attended by more than 700,000 Nazi supporters. The film contains excerpts from speeches given by various Nazi leaders at the Congress, including portions of... " was created by Leni Riefenstahl Leni Riefenstahl Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph des Willens , a propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party... |
| 10–16 September 1935 | Nuremberg | Reichsparteitag der Freiheit (Reich Party Congress of Freedom) |
| 8–14 September 1936 | Nuremberg | Reichsparteitag der Ehre (Reich Party Congress of Honour) |
| 6–13 September 1937 | Nuremberg | Reichsparteitag der Arbeit (Reich Party Congress of Work) |
| 5–12 September 1938 | Nuremberg | Reichsparteitag Großdeutschland (Reich Party Congress of Greater Germany) |
| 2 September 1939 (canceled because of the outbreak of war) | Nuremberg | Reichsparteitag des Friedens (Reich Party Congress of Peace) |
Luitpoldarena
Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria
Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria , was the de facto ruler of Bavaria from 1886 to 1912, due to the incapacity of his nephews, King Ludwig II and King Otto.-Early life:...
) existed here. During the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
(1919–1933) the "Ehrenhalle" (Hall of Honour) was built in the parkway.
In 1933 Hitler replaced the parkway by a strictly-structured deployment area, the so called "Luitpoldarena" with an area of 84,000 m². Opposite the "Ehrenhalle" the crescent-shaped "Ehrentribüne" (literally: tribune of honour) or main grandstand which measured 150 m (500 ft) long with 6 m (20 ft) gold eagles on each end was built. This structure, built by architect Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
, could seat 500 dignitaries and represented the first permanent structure built by the Nazis in Nuremberg.
The "Ehrenhalle" and the "Ehrentribüne" were connected by a wide granite path.
Ehrenhalle (Hall of Honour) - existed already before the Hitler era
Originally the hall was to be a memorial site for the 9,855 soldiers from Nuremberg who were fallen in World War I.
During the Party Congress of 1929 the then unfinished "Hall of Honour" was used for the enactment of a cult of the dead by the National Socialists the first time.
During the Third Reich the Nazis used the site primarily as a commemoration for the fallen soldiers of World War I and commemoration of the 16 dead of the "Hitlerputsch" (the so called "Martyrs of the NS Movement") (Beer Hall Putsch
Beer Hall Putsch
The Beer Hall Putsch was a failed attempt at revolution that occurred between the evening of 8 November and the early afternoon of 9 November 1923, when Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, Generalquartiermeister Erich Ludendorff, and other heads of the Kampfbund unsuccessfully tried to seize power...
) on 9 November 1923 in Munich. Hitler, accompanied by SS-leader Heinrich Himmler and SA-leader Viktor Lutze, strode through the arena over the 240 meters long granite path from the main grandstand to the terrace of the Ehrenhalle and showed the Nazi salute there. The ritual was the climax of the celebration.
During the party rallies, deployments of the SA and the SS with up to 150,000 people took place in this area. The central "relic" here was the "Blutfahne
Blutfahne
The Blutfahne was a Nazi Swastika flag which was used in the attempted Nazi Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, Germany on 9 November 1923 and one of the most revered objects of the German Nazi Party...
" (Blood flag), which was allegedly carried by the Beer Hall Putsch rebels and was soaked with the blood of one of them. At the "Blutfahnenweihe" (Blood flag consecration), new "Standarten" (flags) of SA- and SS-units were "consecrated" by touching their guidons with the "Blutfahne".
Today the memorial
Memorial
A memorial is an object which serves as a focus for memory of something, usually a person or an event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or art objects such as sculptures, statues or fountains, and even entire parks....
honors the fallen German soldiers of the 1st and 2nd world wars.
After 1945 the city of Nuremberg redesigned the area into a park again.
All buildings from the NS era were demolished. Only the half-round of the terraces of the main grandstand is recognizable.
Near the Luitpoldarena the Luitpold-Hall remains.
Luitpold Hall
The Luitpold Hall (Luitpoldhalle) (built 1906) had an outline of 180 m x 50 m (540 ft x 150 ft) featured 76 loudspeakers, 42 spotlights, the largest pipe organ in Germany and could seat 16,000 people. Dating back to the Bavarian Exposition, the former machine hall was renovated and first used by the Nazis for the party convention party congress of 1934. Its monumental neo classic facade featured a shell limestone facing with three enormous entrance portals. It was in this building during the party congress of 1935, that the Nuremberg lawsNuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 were antisemitic laws in Nazi Germany introduced at the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. After the takeover of power in 1933 by Hitler, Nazism became an official ideology incorporating scientific racism and antisemitism...
were adapted which deprived German Jews and other minorities of their citizenship. The structure was severely damaged by allied bombs in early 1945 and a few years later replaced by a parking lot. The granite staircase leading to the building remains intact today.
Congress Hall
The Congress Hall (Kongresshalle) is the biggest preserved national socialist monumental building and is landmarked. It was planned by the Nuremberg architects Ludwig and Franz Ruff. It was planned as a congress centre for the NSDAP with a self-supporting roof and should have provided 50,000 seats. It was located on the shore of and in the pond Dutzendteich and marked the entrance of the rally grounds. The building reached a height of 39 m (129 ft) (a height of 70 m was planned) and a diameter of 250 m (843 ft).The building is mostly built out of clinker with a facade of granite panels. The design (especially the outer facade, among other features) is inspired by the Colosseum
Colosseum
The Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre , is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire...
in Rome. The foundation stone was laid in 1935, but the building remained unfinished and without a roof.
The building with an outline of an "U" ends with two head-buildings (aerial photo). Since 2000, the Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelände (Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds), with the permanent exhibition Faszination und Gewalt (Fascination and Terror), has been located in the northern wing. In the southern building, the Serenadenhof, the Nürnberger Symphoniker have their domicile.
see also: Documentation Center Nazi Party Rallying Grounds
Great Road (Große Straße)
Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind...
road for the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
.
In its northwestern prolongation the road points towards Nuremberg Castle
Nuremberg Castle
Nuremberg Castle is a historical building on a sandstone rock in the north of the historical city of Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. It comprises three sections: the imperial castle , some buildings of the Burgraves of Nuremberg , and the municipal buildings of the Imperial City at the eastern site...
. This was to create a relation between the role of Nuremberg during the Third Reich and its role during in medieval times.
The road reached from the Congress Hall to the Märzfeld, the construction work started in 1935 and was finished in 1939 (it has never been used as a parade road, as due to the beginning of 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 last rally was held in 1938). The pavement
Pavement (material)
Road surface or pavement is the durable surface material laid down on an area intended to sustain vehicular or foot traffic, such as a road or walkway. In the past cobblestones and granite setts were extensively used, but these surfaces have mostly been replaced by asphalt or concrete. Such...
was made of granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
pavers in black and gray with edges of exactly 1.2 m (4 ft).
A representative entrance portal and two pylons were planned at the northwestern end of the Great Road.
Near the entrance area of the German Stadion a grandstand with a hall of pillars was planned for the government leaders and generals which were to take the salute on Wehrmacht formations which were to march in direction of the parade ground Märzfeld.
After the war, the road has been used as a temporary airfield for the US Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. Nowadays it is used by the nearby Nuremberg fair and exhibition company as an occasionally parking area for highly frequented fairs.
Zeppelin Field
The Zeppelin Field (in German: Zeppelinfeld) is located east of the Great Road. It consists of a large grandstandGrandstand
A grandstand is a large and normally permanent structure for seating spectators, most often at a racetrack. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap all or most of the way...
(Zeppelinhaupttribüne) with a width of 360 meters (400 yards) and a smaller stand. It was one of Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
's first works for the Nazi party and was based upon the Pergamon Altar
Pergamon Altar
The Pergamon Altar is a monumental construction built during the reign of King Eumenes II in the first half of the 2nd century BC on one of the terraces of the acropolis of the ancient city of Pergamon in Asia Minor....
. The grandstand is famous as the building that had the swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
blown from atop it in 1945, after Germany's fall in 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...
.
From 1947 to 1995 the Nurnberg American High School, a DoDDS
Dodds
Dodds may refer to:*Dodds, Ohio, a US unincorporated place*Dodds Township, Jefferson County, Illinois, US*DoDDS *Dodds , people with the surname Dodds...
facility, used the field (called 'Soldiers Field') for high school football and soccer. In the 1970s, the pillars were removed for safety reasons. Years of neglect had taken their toll. The rest of the stand is intact and used as the centerpiece of the Norisring
Norisring
The Norisring is a street circuit in Nuremberg, on the former Nazi party rally grounds site of the NSDAP party conventions. As the city's German name Nürnberg would lead to confusion with the already famous Nürburgring, the old name Noris was chosen for the simple track which is nowadays approx...
motor racing track. The German leg of the traveling heavy metal festival Monsters of Rock was held here twice during the 1980s. Another part of the grounds is home to a campground.
German Stadium
Along with his plans for the Welthauptstadt GermaniaWelthauptstadt Germania
Welthauptstadt Germania refers to the projected renewal of the German capital Berlin during the Nazi period, part of Adolf Hitler's vision for the future of Germany after the planned victory in World War II...
("world capital Germania"), Albert Speer made the plans for the world's largest stadium which was to be located on the rally grounds. Derived from the Circus Maximus
Circus Maximus
The Circus Maximus is an ancient Roman chariot racing stadium and mass entertainment venue located in Rome, Italy. Situated in the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills, it was the first and largest stadium in ancient Rome and its later Empire...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, it would have offered 400,000 seats. It was to get the shape of a horseshoe; planned dimensions: length: 800 m, width: 450 m, height: 100 m, building area 350,000 m².
The laying of the foundation stone was on 9 July 1937. It was to be finished for the party congress in 1945 . In 1938, the construction began with the excavation. It was stopped in 1939, but during the whole war, the casting pit had to be kept dry from entering ground water. After the war, the northern half of the pit filled up with the water and is today called Silbersee (silver lake), the southern half was used to deposit the debris of the destroyed downtown Nuremberg.
Märzfeld
The Märzfeld (March Field) was to be a representation and parade ground for the WehrmachtWehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
. It was located at the southern end of the "Große Straße" (Great road). Its dimensions were 955 x 610 meters (1,061 x 677 yards) (bigger than 80 football fields). The name of the huge deployment area intended to remember the recovery of the military sovereignty of the German Reich in March 1935.
("März" is the German name for the month "March" and has nothing to do with the verb "to march", the German name of the month "März" derives from the Roman Warrior God Mars
Mars (mythology)
Mars was the Roman god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome. He was second in importance only to Jupiter, and he was the most prominent of the military gods worshipped by the Roman legions...
.)
The construction, never completed, began in 1938 with plans calling for 24 granite towers each at 125 feet in height. Only eleven were ever completed and demolished in 1966. Tribunes for about 160,000 people were planned around the field. On the central grandstand a group of colossal statures was planned: a goddess of victory and warriors.
Today the site is occupied by an apartment
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
complex.