Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelände

Description

In the historical context of the former Reichsparteitagsgelände, the Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelände (Dokuzentrum) in Nuremberg conveys the local and supraregional dimensions of National Socialist rule of violence. The museum is part of the Museen der Stadt Nürnberg and occupies part of the north wing of the congress hall planned by the National Socialists but left unfinished.

The facility was approved in 1994. In an international competition in 1998 a design prevailed that envisaged the northern head building being pierced diagonally by a walkable glass-and-steel pylon. The opening took place on 4 November 2001.

For a long time the permanent exhibition Faszination und Gewalt was the central venue for engaging with the causes, connections and consequences of National Socialism; it ran in various forms from 1985 to 2020 and until 2001 was housed in the Goldenen Saal of the Zeppelintribüne. Since the start of the comprehensive redesign in 2021, the institution has presented an interim exhibition entitled Nürnberg – Ort der Reichsparteitage. Inszenierung, Erlebnis und Gewalt, which for the first time in German and English sets out the local development of the site from 1918 to 2020. A large-scale media installation divides the presentation into four periods; numerous objects, private photographs and biographies open up new perspectives. The entrance was returned to its original location in mid‑February 2025, the renovated foyer was opened to the public and shortly thereafter officially inaugurated.

In addition to the exhibition programme, since May 2006 a bilingual information system with 23 steles has been in place in the historic ensemble, allowing individual tours; moreover, local initiatives offer guided tours of the former Reichsparteitagsgelände. Since 2020 the Dokuzentrum has also been represented on Google Arts & Culture with two exhibitions.

The attached Studienforum is housed in a modern glass structure on the roof of the head building. Under the leadership of the Museen der Stadt Nürnberg seven local educational institutions cooperate and develop programmes for school classes, youth and adult groups – from 90‑minute projects and guided tours to study days. The content ranges from topics on the history of the site and the Reichsparteitage through camp history during the war to current issues such as racism and right‑wing extremism; during the renovation phase the offerings have been aligned with the interim exhibition. Partners are Geschichte Für Alle e. V. – Institut für Regionalgeschichte, Jugendakademie im Caritas‑Pirckheimer‑Haus, the youth centre for cultural and political education of the City of Nuremberg, the Kreisjugendring Nürnberg‑Stadt, the Kunst‑ und Kulturpädagogische Zentrum der Museen in Nürnberg, the Menschenrechtsbüro der Stadt Nürnberg and the Nürnberger Menschenrechtszentrum e. V.

A curatorium accompanies the work of the institution; it is composed of representatives from politics, the judiciary, the church and civil society institutions.

In the city there are further places of remembrance and forms of commemoration: to date there is no central, dignified place of remembrance for the more than 1,500 Jewish residents persecuted in Nuremberg nor for the deportation trains from the former Bahnhof Nürnberg‑Langwasser/Bf N‑Märzfeld. The Stolpersteine mark in many places the last residential addresses of the persecuted. The general memorial at the Nürnberger Südfriedhof commemorates war victims, war crimes, the Shoah and also the Soviet prisoners of war. The Platz der Opfer des Faschismus near the university was redesigned in 2021 (expanded paved area, stone bench); behind the memorial stone white roses are intended to commemorate the resistance group of the same name. The forced labour memorial “Transit” is located at the Verkehrszentrum Plärrer.