Nazi party rally grounds
The Nazi party rally grounds covered about 11 square kilometres in the southeast of Nuremberg, Germany. Six Nazi party rallies were held there between 1933 and 1938.
Overview
The grounds included:- the Luitpoldarena, a deployment area
- the Luitpold Hall or "Old Congress Hall"
- the Kongresshalle or Neue Kongresshalle
- the Zeppelinfeld, another deployment area
- the Märzfeld , a deployment area for the Wehrmacht
- the Deutsche Stadion , which was to be the largest sports stadium in the world
- the former Stadion der Hitlerjugend
- the Große Straße, a parade road
Only Zeppelinfeld, Luitpoldarena and Große Straße were finished. The Kongresshalle, Zeppelinfeld and the Große Straße have been under monument protection since 1973 as significant examples of NS architecture.
The grounds were designed by Hitler's architect Albert Speer, except for the Congress Hall, which was designed by Ludwig and Franz Ruff.
Today the whole site is a memorial. It hosts the annual Norisring Speedweekend motorsport festival since 1947, and the Rock im Park rock music festival since 2004.
On 30 August 1933 Hitler declared Nuremberg the "City of the Reichsparteitage ". The Party Congresses were a self-portrayal of the NS-state and had no programmatic task, simply demonstrating the unity of the nation. 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 States which were held in Nuremberg.
The Party Congresses
Party Congresses of the NSDAP from 1923 to 1938| date | location | name |
| 27–29 January 1923 | Munich | |
| 3–4 July 1926 | Weimar | |
| 19–21 August 1927 | Nuremberg | |
| 1–4 August 1929 | Nuremberg | |
| 30 August – 3 September 1933 | Nuremberg | Reichsparteitag des Sieges '; Documented in Der Sieg des Glaubens by Leni Riefenstahl |
| 5–10 September 1934 | Nuremberg | Reichsparteitag der Einheit und Stärke '; Documented in Triumph des Willens by Leni Riefenstahl |
| 10–16 September 1935 | Nuremberg | Reichsparteitag der Freiheit ' |
| 8–14 September 1936 | Nuremberg | Reichsparteitag der Ehre ' |
| 6–13 September 1937 | Nuremberg | Reichsparteitag der Arbeit ' |
| 5–12 September 1938 | Nuremberg | Reichsparteitag Großdeutschland ' |
| 2 September 1939 | Nuremberg | Reichsparteitag des Friedens |
Buildings
Luitpoldarena
Since 1906 a park named "Luitpoldhain" existed here. During the Weimar Republic the "Ehrenhalle" was built in the park.In 1933 Hitler replaced the park with a strictly-structured deployment area, the so-called "Luitpoldarena" with an area of 84,000 m².
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", which was allegedly carried by the Beer Hall Putsch rebels and was soaked with the blood of one of them. At the "Blutfahnenweihe", new "Standarten" of SA- and SS-units were "consecrated" by touching their guidons with the "Blutfahne".
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.
Ehrenhalle (Hall of Honour)
The "Ehrenhalle" was built by the City of Nuremberg according to a plan of German architect Fritz Mayer. It was inaugurated in 1930, before the Hitler era during the Weimar Republic. It is an arcaded hall with an adjacent cobbled stone terrace with two rows of pedestals for fire bowls. All fourteen pylons remain virtually intact and have not been ignited since the final Nazi party rally in September 1938. Originally the hall was to be a memorial site for the 9,855 soldiers from Nuremberg who had 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 for 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" 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.
Ehrentribüne (Tribune of Honour)
Opposite the "Ehrenhalle" the crescent-shaped "Ehrentribüne" or main grandstand which measured long with gold eagles on each end was built. This structure, built by architect Albert Speer, 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. The "Ehrentribüne" was blown up in 1959/60.
Luitpoldhalle (Luitpold Hall)
The Luitpold Hall had an outline of 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 laws were adopted 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.Kongresshalle (Congress Hall)
The Congress Hall is the biggest preserved national socialist monumental building and is landmarked. It was planned by the Nuremberg architects Ludwig and Franz Ruff. It was intended to serve as a congress centre for the NSDAP with a self-supporting roof and would 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 and a diameter of.The building is mostly built out of clinker with a facade of granite panels. The design is inspired by the Colosseum 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. Since 2001, the Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelände, with the permanent exhibition Faszination und Gewalt, has been located in the northern wing. In the southern building, the Serenadenhof, the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra have their domicile.
See also: Documentation Center Nazi Party Rallying Grounds
Great Road (Große Straße)
The great road is almost long and wide. It was intended to be the central of the site and a parade road for the Wehrmacht.In its northwestern prolongation the road points towards Nuremberg Castle. This was to create a relation between the role of Nuremberg during the Third Reich and its role during medieval times.
The road reached from the Congress Hall to the Märzfeld, the construction work started in 1935 and was finished in 1939. The pavement was made of granite pavers in black and gray with edges of exactly.
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 was used as a temporary airfield for the US Army.
Nowadays, it is used by the adjacently-located Nuremberg exhibition centre as an occasional parking area for highly-frequented events.
Zeppelinfeld
The Zeppelinfeld is located east of the Great Road. It consists of a large grandstand with a width of and a smaller stand. It was one of Albert Speer's first works for the Nazi party and was based upon the Pergamon Altar. Its square piers are inspired by the work of Franco-American architect Paul Philippe Cret. The grandstand is famous as the building that had the swastika blown from atop it in 1945, after Germany's fall in World War II. The name "Zeppelinfeld" or "Zeppelinwiese" refers to the fact that in August 1909 Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin landed with one of his airships in this location.From 1947 to 1995 the Nurnberg American High School, a DoDDS facility, used the field for high school football and American football practice. In 1967 the city authorities blew up the grandstand's double row of pillars, causing severe damage to the rest of the building. The remainder of the stand is intact and used as the centerpiece of the Norisring motor racing track. The German leg of the traveling heavy metal festival Monsters of Rock was held here twice during the 1980s. The field has also been used by the Nuremberg Rams American Football team. Another part of the grounds is home to a campground. After years of neglect the damage due to erosion and dampness was severe, made worse by the poor quality of the initial construction. In 2019 an 85 million euros plan to conserve what remained of the stadium and make it accessible to visitors was announced, with a target completion date of 2025.
Deutsches Stadion (German Stadium)
Along with his plans for the Welthauptstadt Germania, Albert Speer made the plans for the world's largest stadium which was to be located on the rally grounds. Derived from the Panathenaic Stadium of Athens, 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, the southern half was used to deposit the debris of the destroyed downtown Nuremberg.
Märzfeld
The Märzfeld was to be a representation and parade ground for the Wehrmacht. It was located at the southern end of the "Große Straße". Its dimensions were or bigger than 80 football fields. The name of the huge deployment area was supposed to recall the recovery of military sovereignty of the German Reich in March 1935.The construction, never completed, began in 1938 with plans calling for 24 granite towers each about in height. Only eleven were ever completed and were demolished in 1966. Tribunes for about 160,000 people were planned around the field. On the central grandstand a group of colossal statues was planned: a goddess of victory and warriors.
Today the site is occupied by a residential district, Langwasser, which also extends to the south, into the area previously used for tent cities during the party rallies.