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Nürnberg Part 3
The Nazi Party Rally Grounds,
cont.
Kongreßhalle, Deutsche Stadion,
Großestraße, Märzfeld, Langwasser Camp, Misc. Buildings
Click
here for a MapQuest map showing the Reichsparteitagsgelände area.
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The
Kongreßhalle, or Kongreßbau,
under construction. Designed by architects Franz and Ludwig Ruff to have seating for
50,000, and influenced by the Coliseum in Rome, the building beside the
Dutzendteich lake was never fully completed.
(Albert Speer, "Neue Deutsche Baukunst," Berlin, 1943) Above
right - the Kongreßhalle today. It has
been used for concerts in the past, but is mainly used for storage now, save for some offices and
a fire station. However, a new Dokumentationszentrum
museum was opened in
the Kongreßhalle in November 2001 (this replaces the display that used to
be inside the Zeppelintribüne). Below,
a view of the initial construction of the Kongreßhalle in 1937. The
structure at the left of the site was a full-scale wooden model of a
portion of the building, to give the public an idea of what the completed
hall would look like. (original photo in author's collection) |
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The Kongreßhalle during construction in
the summer of 1938. The full-scale model can be seen at the far left.
(from "Wie die Ostmark ihre
Befreiung erlebte - Adolf Hitler und sein Weg zu Großdeutschland,"
Heinrich Hoffmann, 1938)
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| Models of the
Kongreßhalle, showing its planned completed state, with the roof that was never
installed. (left and below - period postcards; on the right from
"Adolf Hitler, Bilder aus dem Leben des Führers" (Altona, 1936) |
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Hitler views a model of the
completed structure. (period postcard) |
Recent aerial view - the new
museum is in the upper corner (the structure jutting out toward the
top). (Bayerische Vermessungsverwaltung) |
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| Exterior views of the
Kongreßhalle today. The Kongreßhalle is the second largest remaining building of the
Third Reich (the largest being the Kraft durch Freude
(KdF) vacation hotel
complex at Prora, on the Baltic Sea island of Rügen). |
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These views show the
monumental Romanesque style of architecture in the Kongreßhalle. |
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Interior of the
Kongreßhalle under construction. On top is a partial model of what the
finished upper area would have looked like. The modern photo shows the
interior of the main entrance side. (National
Archives RG 242) |
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Interior of the
Kongreßhalle under construction, and as it appears today. (Albert Speer, "Neue
Deutsche Baukunst," Berlin, 1943) |
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The interior and seating areas
were never completed. These views show the brick base that underlies the exterior marble
blocks. |
This exterior wall shows damage
from the impact of a high explosive round, presumably fired in 1945
(see also similar damage to the Zeppelintribüne). |
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| A worker
places blocks on one of the exterior archways, seen finished on the
right. (Münchner Illustrierte Presse, 8 September 1938) |
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| Two
unfinished areas inside the
Kongreßhalle - the Pfeilerhalle (colonnade) on the left, and a
smaller columned hall on the right (the large hanging black object in
the center is part of the museum display). A model of the Deutsche
Stadion can be seen on the floor of the Pfeilerhalle. |
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| Two
views of the
Kongreßhalle taken in July 1945 by American soldiers, showing the
construction scaffolding still in place. (author's collection) |
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Deutsche
Stadion
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By far the largest structure on
the Party Rally Grounds would have been the Deutsche Stadion. Albert Speer designed this
to be the largest sports stadium in the world, with a seating capacity of 405,000.
These
photos show Adolf Hitler dedicating the foundation stone on 9 September 1937. (Stadtarchiv Nürnberg) Except for some excavations, work
on the Deutsche Stadion did not proceed beyond this foundation stone, which
could be found
in the woods just off the Großestraße. In 2001 this stone was removed for
the construction of a parking garage. The planned Stadion site is occupied
today by the Silbersee, a lake formed by the excavations, and the
Silberbuck, a hill made of rubble from the bombed city. Note:
The Deutsche Stadion foundation stone was returned to the planned stadium
site, near its original location beside the Großestraße, in the summer
of 2007. It now has an interpretive marker next to it. |
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| A scale
model of the stadium was on display at the foundation stone dedication.
On the right above, Hitler views the model with architect Albert Speer
and others. (left - from "Wie die Ostmark ihre Befreiung erlebte -
Adolf Hitler und sein Weg zu Großdeutschland," Heinrich Hoffmann, 1938; on right
from Fr. Prof. Gerdy Troost, "Das Bauen in neuen Reich," Bayreuth, 1938) |
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| Further views of the
Deutsche Stadion model. To test the proposed view from the upper levels, a
partial full-scale model of the seating area was built of wood on a
hillside east of Nürnberg. Click here
to see the remains of this site today. (views on left from "Bauten
der Bewegung," Vol. 1, 1938; on the right from Albert Speer, "Neue Deutsche Baukunst," Berlin, 1943) |
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| Several
views of models of the Deutsche Stadion from different perspectives. At
the bottom are copies of architectural drawings (from Der Baumeister,
Vol. 35, November 1937). (from period postcards, "Kunst im
Dritten Reich;" "Bauten der Bewegung," Vol. 1,
1938; "Die Stadt der Reichsparteitage Nürnberg und die MAN" |
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This model of the Deutsche Stadion, a
faithful replica, was built for the filming of the German TV
series "Speer und Er" (2005), and is on display in the Kongreßhalle
museum today.
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| This
U.S. Air Force reconnaissance photo was taken on 10 September 1944. At
top can be seen the Kongreßhalle, with the Franken Stadion at lower
right, and the Große Straße running through the center (camouflaged to
try to disguise it as a road). The construction site of the Deutsche
Stadion is the U-shape at the left. The site is occupied today by the
Silberbuck (below left), a hill formed by dumping rubble from the bombed
city on the site after the war, and the Silbersee lake (below right),
where water has filled up one side of the excavation. The Silbersee is
off-limits to swimmers due to the chemicals leaching into it from the
rubble in the Silberbuck hill. |
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Großestraße
To link the major buildings of the Party Rally
Grounds, a Großestraße (Great Road)
was built from the Märzfeld to the Kongreßhalle. This Great Road was 2000 meters long
and 80 meters wide, and contained 60,000 granite slabs . It points directly to the
famous castle on the hill in downtown Nürnberg.
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| The sides
of the Großestraße were lined with
grandstands; the steps still remain today. In the right distance in the
1938 photo can be seen the partial model of the Kongreßhalle.
(Stadtarchiv Nürnberg) |
Märzfeld
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largest open field structure of the Party Rally Grounds was to be the
Märzfeld (Mars Field), designed for the display of military maneuvers
and war games (to replace the much smaller Zeppelinfeld for this
purpose). The field was to be surrounded by 24 fortress-like towers
connected by grandstands, with seating for 150,000, and decorated with
sculptures by Josef Thorak. (Albert
Speer, "Neue Deutsche Baukunst," Berlin, 1941)
On the left, the Märzfeld under construction.
Work was mostly halted after the beginning of World War II, and only
about half of the towers were built. The towers were demolished in
1966-67 to make way for construction of today's Langwasser subdivision.
Only a few remains of the tower foundations can be found today, at the
north end of Hermann Thiele Weg. |
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| Above,
models of the completed Märzfeld. Below, an architectural drawing, and
a photo of Hitler visiting the partially-completed site, along with
architect Albert Speer and Nuremberg mayor Willy Liebel. (Hubert Schrade, "Bauten
des Dritten Reiches," Leipzig, 1937; (Exhibition Catalog of the 1.
Deutsche Architektur-und-Kunsthandwerkausstellung, Munich, 1938;
Stadtarchiv Nürnberg) |
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| Albert
Speer on another visit to the site (left), and a photo of a
partially-completed tower taken in August 1945 by a U.S. soldier. (left
- Stadtarchiv Nürnberg; right -
author's collection) |
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| The
Märzfeld in July 1945, as seen through the lens of a GI's camera.
(author's collection) |
Langwasser
Camp and Misc. Buildings
Permanent camps for the SS, SA,
HJ, and RAD were built near the Rally Grounds.
The Langwasser camp, with space for
200,000, was the largest of these.
These camps had their own water supply, from a tower
built on an overlooking hill
(the tower can be seen on the ridgeline in the right
distance). (Stoja-Verlag, Nürnberg)
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The water tower still serves its
original purpose (although no longer for a Nazi camp), from a hill overlooking
Oelserstraße and Breslauerstraße. The eagle and swastika have been
removed from above the doorway. (Stadtarchiv Nürnberg) |
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Langwasser camp complex was served by a specially-built train station
between the camps and the Märzfeld. The ruins of this station exist
today beside the Langwasser rail line. (Stadtarchiv Nürnberg;
Exhibition Catalog of the 1. Deutsche
Architektur-und-Kunsthandwerkausstellung, Munich, 1938; Stadtarchiv
Nürnberg) |
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train station designed to serve the Party Rally Grounds was the Bahnhof
Dutzendteich. This existing station, adjacent to the Zeppelinfeld, was remodeled
and enlarged in 1934. Today it houses a popular restaurant serving Gut
Bürgerliche Küche, or down-home style cooking. (period
postcards) |
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| Yet
another train station built to serve the crowds visiting Nuremberg
during the Party Rallies was in the town of Fischbach, southeast of the
city center and Party Rally Grounds. This original Bahnhof building
still serves as the town station. |
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| A large Lager,
or housing complex, was built for the Deutsche Arbeits Front (DAF -
German workers organization) visitors to the Party Rallies. This complex
still exists on Regensburgerstraße, southeast of the Zeppelinfeld area,
and is now used as a home for the elderly. |
More info on the Dokumentationszentrum Museum
- http://www.museen.nuernberg.de/english/english/reichsparteitag_e/index_reichsparteitag_e.html
http://www.kubiss.de/kultur/info/kpz/Schule/29_1_10.htm
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