This is a photo tour of the Nazi Documentation Center in Nuremberg / Nuernberg, Germany.
After the war, the Allies ordered the construction of this permanent exhibition in order to provide a lasting reminder of the origin of the Nazis, how they seized power, and the outcome of their policies right down to photos of concentration camps, the extensive damage to German cities, and the trial and punishment of the war criminals in Nuernberg.
The location for the exhibition is one of the buildings in the colossal Reichsparteigelaende (Imperial Party Grounds), where the infamous Nazi rallies were held. If you've seen Leni Reifenstahl's Triumph of the Will you've seen the Reichsparteigelaende, which was meant to be some sort of neo-classical right-wing Disneyland. Speer's designs were never fully realized, though some of the monumental architecture remains, particularly the Zeppelin field. The stands of the field are instantly recognizable for WWII armchair historians as where Hitler stood reviewing the saluting Waffen SS, RAD divisions, Hitler Youth, etc. And above and behind his podium was where the Allied soldiers dynamited the huge swastika; but otherwise the stands look more or less like they did in 1939.
The week I visited, the Zeppelin field was hosting mini-car races instead of ranks of thousands of brown-shirted Sturmabteilung members, which I think is funny as hell. Note to future megalomaniacs: the most solemn site in your self-made mythos will likely end up being trampled on, mocked, and finally (and most humiliatingly) simply ignored by future generations.
This slideshow is arranged in the order of my tour through the museum and then the surrounding parkland. There is basically only one path through the museum, and I photographed virtually every room, so by following it you will get a good idea of how it actually unfolds and certainly how it looks, which is really pretty interesting. I assume it's intentional; the raw concrete and brick surfaces of the building, together with the low ceilings, really brings to mind an air-raid bunker. All in all, the exhibition gives an excellent primer on the NSDAP (aka the 'Nazis' if you're new to this sort of thing) and German history from 1919-1946.
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