NS-Dokumentationszentrum München

Beschreibung

In the Kunstareal on Brienner Straße stands the NS Documentation Center Munich — Learning and Remembrance Site on the History of National Socialism, an institution supported by the City of Munich together with the Free State of Bavaria and the Federal Republic of Germany. The centre was built on the historic site of the former "Brown House" and, since its opening on 30 April 2015, has carried the address Max‑Mannheimer‑Platz 1, named after the Holocaust survivor who had advocated for its establishment.

Munich as the "Capital of the Movement" provides the geographical and historical starting point for the institution. Initial ideas for a memorial and educational site emerged as early as after 1945 but only gained political support in the late 1980s and, in particular, after the 2001 resolution. Subsequently, preparatory work, citizen participation and scientific committees were established; in 2009 the Federal Government, the Free State and the City agreed on joint implementation, construction began in 2011 and the cornerstone was laid in 2012.

The centre links topographical references around Königsplatz with a permanent exhibition that raises questions about Munich's role in the rise of the NSDAP and the contemporary significance of that history. The exhibition is divided into numerous main themes, is explicitly aimed at school groups and a broad public, and combines historical presentation with local and biographical references as well as reflection on continuities into the present. In the basement there is a learning forum with a reference library of almost 3,000 volumes, media tables and around 24 research stations; there are, among other resources, an encyclopedia with over 1,000 entries and a record of the places of residence of several tens of thousands of victims.

The architecture and exhibition operations were developed following a competition process: the building is conceived as an above-ground cube with six storeys above two double‑height basement levels, characterised by white exposed concrete and louver‑like façade openings. In the basement levels are an events hall for around 200 people as well as additional event and seminar rooms. As an external project, the memorial of the former Neuaubing forced labour camp belongs to the centre; it was designed as a learning site for school classes and documents the history of forced labourers, including Ukrainians, in the period from 1943 to April 1945.