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Former Nazi Party Rally
Grounds
The
'Reichsparteitagsgelände' is an area some 11 sq. kilometres in
size to the south-east of Nuremberg on which the Nazi party rallies were held
from 1993 to 1938.
Albert Speer
The entire
area was designed by Albert Speer and although never completed, some of the
colossal structures built there remain as |
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mute witnesses to the Nazi era. The
most familiar site to many is the parade ground known as the Zeppelin Field,
passed by football fans walking into the adjacent
Frankenstadion.
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Zeppelin
Field
The Zeppelin Field, so-called since Count Zeppelin landed his
Zeppelin III airship there in the early 1900s, could accommodate over 300,000
people for the Nazi rallies. The massive stone stand, 360 metres long and
20 metres high, was built to Speer's design, taking the Greek Pergamon altar as
his example, in 1935/37.
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The additionally elevated
central area was reserved for the Nazi elite, with the speaker's pulpit in the
middle, from which Hitler spoke to the masses, giving the whole structure its
altar-like appearance.
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Kongresshalle
About 100 yards away from the Zeppelin
Field is the Kongresshalle. This is the largest Nazi structure still
standing in Germany and is now a listed building.
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It is was planned as a congress centre for
the party with a capacity of 50,000 people, covering an area equal to around
five football pitches.
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Doku-Zentrum
The outer facade is based closely on the
Colosseum in Rome, but while building began in 1935 the hall was never finished,
nor roofed.
Today, the north wing has become the Documentation
Centre, a permanent exhibition on the causes and consequences of Nazi
tyranny. |
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