EN:Nazi Party Rally Grounds, Nuremberg
From Historisches Lexikon Bayerns
The Nazi Party Rally Grounds in Nuremberg, designed starting in 1933, are one of the most well-known examples of National Socialist monumental architecture. They served as an architectural setting for the rallies of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). While the Luitpold Arena, the Zeppelin Field with the Zeppelin Grandstand, and the Große Straße were completed by 1939, the majority of the planned construction projects were left unfinished. During the Second World War, the site was used as a forced labour and prisoner of war camp, as well as a collection camp for the deportation of Jews. After 1945, it was used for various purposes by the US Army and later by the City of Nuremberg. Since 2001, the Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds has been dedicated to studying and presenting the history of the site and the Nazi era.
Local recreation area before 1933
The Dutzendteich area, located in the southeast of Nuremberg, was the city's most important recreational space before 1933, featuring several bodies of water, parks, restaurants, and Wilhelminian-style residential buildings. In 1906, on the occasion of Nuremberg's centenary as part of Bavaria, the Bavarian Jubilee State Exhibition was held at the site. From the exhibition grounds, the Luitpold Hall (municipal festival hall), the Luitpoldhain park, and a small lighthouse on the shores of the Dutzendteich remain. In 1912, the Nuremberg Zoo opened adjacent to the Luitpoldhain. The stadium complex, completed in 1928, defined the area south of the Dutzendteich with its modern layout and Bauhaus-inspired architecture. The final structural change to the area before 1933 was the erection of a memorial to Nuremberg's fallen soldiers of the First World War in the Luitpoldhain in 1930.
Construction of the Luitpold Arena from 1933
The plan to create an expansive site for the NSDAP rallies, complete with various parade grounds and halls, did not yet exist in 1933. There were few precedents for such a concept in other political systems, such as the Foro Mussolini in Rome, which was constructed as a sports venue for the Italian Duce Benito Mussolini (1883–1945, Prime Minister of Italy 1922–1943) starting in 1926. On 21 July 1933, Adolf Hitler (NSDAP, 1889-1945, Reich Chancellor 1933-1945) ordered the removal of the Luitpoldhain park to create a parade ground designed according to his vision. The new layout incorporated the memorial to the fallen soldiers of the First World War. Opposite the memorial, a grandstand with a speaker's pulpit and tall masts for three large swastika flags were constructed. The two areas were connected by the Straße des Führers (Führer’s road), paved with granite slabs. Spectator stands were added to frame the area, which was completed by 1935.
The Sturmabteilung (Sturmabteilung (SA, Storm Division) and Schutzstaffel (SS Schutzstaffel (SS, Protection Squadron) had already held a flag-consecration ceremony in the Luitpoldhain during the first party congress in Nuremberg in 1927. From 1933 onwards, this could take place in the expanded Luitpold Arena, accompanied by a memorial service at the war memorial. The site was further developed with the addition of the Luitpold Hall, which had been located directly to the left of the newly built speaker's podium since 1906. Serving as the location for the NSDAP party congress, the hall's interior was redesigned, and provided 16,000 seats. In 1935, the Luitpold Hall was given a new monumental natural stone façade based on designs by Albert Speer (architect, Reich Minister, 1905-1981).
Plans for the NSDAP congress hall from 1934
Likely based on his 1931 proposal for a city hall by the Dutzendteich, the Nuremberg architect Ludwig Ruff (1878-1934) was commissioned to design a new hall for the NSDAP party congress on the same site. Construction began in 1935, aiming to build one of the largest structures of the National Socialist period. It featured two entrance buildings as vestibules and a semi-circular main hall, intended to accommodate 60,000 people. Franz Ruff (1906-1979), who took over the project after the death of his father, was unable to complete the hall before the outbreak of the Second World War, however.
Workers on the façade model of the Congress Hall. Photograph by Heinrich Hoffmann, March 5, 1937. (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, picture archive hoff-15010)
Photograph of the Congress Hall under construction, 21 August 1939. The granite façade of the circular building (scaffolded) was mostly completed, while the two end buildings at the Dutzendteich (above) were only half finished. (unknown photographer, Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds Ph-1181-73)
Albert Speer's overall planning for the Nazi Party Rally Grounds 1934/35
It was only after the deaths of the two architects Paul Ludwig Troost (1878–1934) and Ludwig Ruff in 1934 that Albert Speer became Hitler’s preferred architect. In October 1934, Speer first presented the concept of an entire site for the Nuremberg Rallies. Expanded and significantly enlarged in several stages until November 1935, Speer’s plans integrated the existing parts of the site (Luitpold Arena, Luitpold Hall, Zeppelin Field) with his own projects to create a comprehensive ensemble, which was structured by the Große Straße as the main axis. The Große Straße connected a newly created square in front of the Congress Hall with the Märzfeld, an area framed by spectator stands and defensive towers designed for Wehrmacht display manoeuvres. The Congress Hall, initially planned by Ludwig Ruff, and the Zeppelin Field, which Speer completely redesigned from 1934 onwards, lay to the east of the Große Straße. To the west, each was to be matched by a counterpart: a hall for Hitler's cultural speeches and the German Stadium. The municipal stadium, built in 1928 and used as the Hitler Youth Stadium during the Party Rallies, was not integrated into Speer's new architectural plans. In addition to the monumental event halls and parade grounds, large camps with barracks and tents were constructed in the south-eastern part of the site to accommodate participants in the Nuremberg Rallies.
Since the existing Luitpold Arena, Zeppelin Field, and the planned Congress Hall were positioned at angles to one another, Speer was unable to achieve a fully symmetrical overall complex, even with the Große Straße as the main axis. Additionally, the Große Straße intersected the Luitpold Arena at an angle, which Speer sought to mask with an elongated exhibition hall situated between the Große Straße and the Luitpold Arena.
By 1939, only the Luitpold Arena, the Zeppelin Field with its grandstand, and the Große Straße were completed from the planned construction programme. Key elements of the infrastructure, such as campgrounds and transport routes, were also finished.
The awarding authority and the financing – “Zweckverband Reichsparteitag Nürnberg” (Nuremberg Party Rallies Association)
The construction of the Luitpold Arena was initially conceived as a municipal project. However, it soon became evident that the city of Nuremberg was financially completely overburdened by the ever-growing scale of the construction. On the initiative of Walter Eickemeyer (NSDAP, 1886–1959), the Second Mayor and City Treasurer, the “Zweckverband Reichsparteitag Nürnberg” (Nuremberg Party Rallies Association) was established in 1935. This body brought together the NSDAP, the City of Nuremberg, the State of Bavaria, and the German Reich. It was headed by Reich Church Minister Hanns Kerrl (1887–1941), with Lord Mayor Willy Liebel overseeing its management. The “Zweckverband Reichsparteitag Nürnberg” acted as both the awarding authority and the financial underwriter for the Nazi Party Rally Grounds. In practice, this arrangement placed the burden of financing Speer’s extensive plans primarily on the Reich, while the City of Nuremberg and the State of Bavaria contributed land to the association. The city also supplied a significant number of employees to the Association. However, the Association faced chronic financial shortages throughout its existence, as the Nazi Party Rally Grounds construction project kept expanding. In 1938, the total costs were estimated at 600 million Reichsmarks, though the actual figure was likely considerably higher.
Numerous companies participated in the construction project, including nearly 300 natural stone quarries across Germany, which supplied vast quantities of granite and limestone for the Nazi Party Rally buildings through the "Arbeitsgemeinschaft Naturstein" (Natural Stone Working Group). Leading German construction firms such as Siemens Bauunion, Hochtief, and Holzmann were forced to form joint ventures to undertake projects like the Congress Hall and the German Stadium.
Zeppelin Grandstand and Zeppelin Field
Apart from the Luitpold Arena, the Zeppelin Field with the Zeppelin Grandstand was the only site that was completed before the final Nuremberg Rally in 1938 and consistently used during the rallies. In 1933 and 1934, the Zeppelin Field festival grounds, part of the 1928 stadium area, wereutilised, with only a wooden grandstand featuring a large Reich eagle constructed there. From 1935, the main grandstand of the Zeppelin Field was relocated to the opposite side as part of Speer’s new plans, and the field was significantly expanded. Constructed in several phases, with work pausing each September for the Rallies, the 360-metre-long Zeppelin Grandstand was clad in travertine. It included a raised guest of honour area featuring a central speaker’s pulpit, topped by a gilded swastika sculpture over two metres tall. Divided by a wide parade route running along the Zeppelin Grandstand (Rasenstraße 2), the Zeppelin Field was bordered by spectator embankments punctuated by 34 small towers with flagpoles. The main access to the Zeppelin Field was a broad parade route (Rasenstraße 1), which extended directly from the Große Straße to the centre of the Zeppelin Grandstand.
The “Apell des Reichsarbeitsdienstes” (Muster of the Reich Labour Service), the “Tag der Wehrmacht” (Day of the Wehrmacht), a “Tag der Gemeinschaft” (Day of Community) with sporting and dance performances in 1938, and the “Appell der Politischen Leiter” (Muster of the Political Leaders) took place on the Zeppelin Field—the latter featuring the Lichtdom (Light Dome) formed from anti-aircraft searchlights, one of the most famous productions of National Socialist propaganda, from 1936 onwards. Also, at the “Reichsparteitag des Friedens” (Reich Party Congress of Peace) in 1939, which did not take place, the hall in the Zeppelin Grandstand, a monumental foyer for guests of honour, was to be opened for the first time.
Colour photograph of the Zeppelin Grandstand with spectators at the start of an event during the Party Rally of 1938. In the centre, at the front, the speaker's pulpit decorated with a swastika flag, with the golden swastika sculpture by the Munich artist Kurt Schmid-Ehmen above. (Unknown photographer, Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds D-0314-01)
Postcard with an aerial view of the Zeppelin Field, 1937. In the centre of the image is the Zeppelin Grandstand, with the pillar galleries on either side and the side pylons featuring large flame bowls. At the bottom, opposite the Zeppelin Grandstand, lies the Zeppelin Field, surrounded by spectator stands with 34 flag towers. At the very top of the image is the transformer station providing power to the Nuremberg Rally Grounds. (Verlag Ludwig Riffelmacher, Fürth, Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds Ph-1050-11)
Große Straße and Märzfeld
The main axis of the site, the Große Straße, was largely completed by 1938, but its endpoint, the Märzfeld, was not. Therefore, the Wehrmacht never used the Große Straße and Märzfeld as a parade route or a site for demonstrative manoeuvres.
Aerial photo of the Große Straße, 1938. The Große Straße, largely completed by 1939, formed the central axis of the Nazi Party Rally Grounds and led southeast (upper part of the picture) to the Märzfeld. (unknown photographer, Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds Ph-0755-09)
Photo of a construction site visit to the Märzfeld area, 1937: Lord Mayor Willy Liebel (left group, on the left), Adolf Hitler, and Albert Speer inspect a 1:1 model of the Märzfeld grandstands. A large number of models were created for each area of the Nuremberg Rally Grounds, including several on site at a 1:1 scale. (unknown photographer, Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds Ph-0007-01)
German Stadium and granite from concentration camps
Construction of the German Stadium, began in 1937. Over 800 metres long and around 100 metres high, it was Speer's largest construction project in Nuremberg. More than 400,000 people were supposed to watch "National Socialist Games" here. With the largest stadium in the world, Speer was, for the first time, attempting to create a monumental structure that surpassed all previous standards. This construction project also provided the impetus for considerations regarding how to procure the very large quantities of natural stone. Speer relied on close cooperation with the SS and financed the founding of the SS-affiliated company “Deutsche Erd- und Steinwerke (DESt),” which operated quarries in the Flossenbürg, Mauthausen, Natzweiler, and Groß-Rosen concentration camps. Thousands of concentration camp prisoners lost their lives there. As the concentration camps with granite production were only established from 1938 onwards, the DESt delivered only a small amount of stones to Nuremberg. These stones were likely used for some model buildings that stood on what is now the Nuremberg exhibition grounds. There is no granite from concentration camp quarries at either the Congress Hall or the Große Straße.
Photo of the foundation stone laying of the German Stadium, 9 September 1937. On the left, several workers stand on the stage around the foundation stone; on the right, a large model of the never-built German Stadium. (unknown photographer, Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds Ph-1233-05)
Model of the German Stadium. Photograph by Stojaverlag/Photo-Werkstätten from 1937. (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, picture archive hoff-67977)
Storage areas, infrastructure and landscape planning
The large camp areas in the southeast of the site designated for the Hitler Youth (HJ), SA, Reich Labour Service, and SS were progressively developed until 1938. Franz Ruff constructed a barracks for the SS to the west of the Luitpold Arena, a feature not originally included in Speer's overall plan. Completed only in 1939, it was used for the training of Waffen-SS radio operators.
The infrastructure of the Nazi Party Rally Grounds included the Dutzendteich train station, the partially completed Märzfeld camp station, the “KdF” (Strength Through Joy) City (relocated to Nuremberg as an entertainment area after the Olympic Games in Berlin), and the newly constructed Regensburger Straße motorway slip road. A transformer station supplying electricity to the grounds, newly built mass accommodation for foreign workers, and a water tower serving the camp area were located along this slip road. Speer also provided the designs for these smaller structures.
The landscape plan for the entire site, developed by Berlin landscape planner Gerhard Hinz (1904–1989), was never implemented. His vision included, among other features, the absence of residential development around the Dutzendteich and the straightening of the pond’s shoreline, with the removal of the restaurants along the banks. The aim was to create a form of “forced-into-line" landscape solely dedicated to serving the purposes of the Reich Party Congress.
The Nazi Party Rally Grounds during the war - prisoners of war, forced labour and the deportation of Jews
The construction work was largely halted during the Second World War, with only a brief interruption when forced labourers were used. A work detail of Soviet prisoners of war was tasked with shifting soil on the Märzfeld. In the winter of 1941/42, 900 people died as a result of forced labour, and a further 1,000 perished from hunger and the cold.
The camp infrastructure of the Nazi Party Rally Grounds, one of the largest camp areas in the German Reich, was largely used as a prisoner-of-war and forced labour camp during the Second World War. The white tents of the Nuremberg Party Rallies Association were found in many prisoner-of-war camps established by the Wehrmacht during its advance in the East. Märzfeld station was used as a camp railway station for the transportation of prisoners to and from the camp. Initially, the Prisoner-of-War Camp A of Military District XIII (Stalag 13 A) for up to 30,000 inmates was established in Langwasser itself. It was later re-established as Stalag 13 D. Between 1939 and 1945, around 150,000 prisoners of war from the Soviet Union, Poland, France, the USA, and other nations passed through the Langwasser camp area. Later, officer camps were added, along with a large forced labour camp of the Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG (MAN) in the SS camp area. Conditions were particularly dire in the so-called "Russian camp,” where around 3,000 Soviet prisoners of war perished.
The small Waldlager II camp, located on the western edge of the camp area, served as a collection camp for two deportations of Jews from northern Bavaria in 1941/42. From there, over 2,000 people were deported to Riga-Jungfernhof (Latvia) and Izbica (Poland), with only 17 of the Nuremberg Jews surviving. In 1942/43, the Gestapo established a Labour Education Camp (AEL) on the Russenwiese (Russian meadow), part of the Reich Party Rally Grounds camp zone, where a number of prisoners died as well. Forced labour, the imprisonment of prisoners of war, and the deportation of Jews transformed the Reich Party Rally Grounds, which had been a stage for National Socialist propaganda from 1933 to 1938, into a site of National Socialist terror, with over 5,000 deaths.
Nazi Party Rally Grounds after 1945
On 20 April 1945, the US Army captured Nuremberg, liberated 14,000 prisoners of war in Langwasser, and celebrated the symbolic conquest of the city on Hitler's birthday at the Nuremberg Rally Grounds. After a parade on Zeppelin Field on 22 April 1945, the US Army demolished the large swastika sculpture above the Zeppelin Grandstand and renamed the field "Soldiers Field". US Army parades were held there until the 1960s. The Zeppelin Field was used as a sports field by American soldiers until the 1990s.
The majority of the Nuremberg Rally Grounds, along with the completed or partially constructed buildings, was transferred back to the City of Nuremberg from the Nuremberg Party Rallies Association. After 1945, no other German city was confronted with such a large area of monumental state buildings from the National Socialist era. Efforts were made to rid the city of its negatively charged image as the former "City of the Nazi Party Rallies" by removing buildings from the Rally Grounds. The city ordered the demolition of the Luitpold Arena in the 1950s, dismantled the towers of the Märzfeld during the construction of the Langwasser district, and had the pillar colonnades of the Zeppelin Grandstand demolished in 1967—a move that remains one of the most controversial measures in dealing with the buildings of the Nuremberg Rally Grounds.
At the same time, the city administration repurposed buildings on the former Nazi Party Rally Grounds: the camp area was temporarily used as a camp for displaced persons and expellees, which later became the foundation for today’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, now located in the former SS barracks. The unfinished shell of the Congress Hall initially hosted major exhibitions, such as the German Building Exhibition in 1949 and the 900th Anniversary Exhibition of Nuremberg in 1950. After larger plans, such as converting the former Congress Hall into a football stadium (during the 1950s and 1960s), failed due to a lack of funding, the building was used as a warehouse and rented out to the mail-order company Quelle. Since the end of this usage in 2007, a large portion of the Congress Hall has remained vacant.
The expansive area at the Dutzendteich has been the site of numerous smaller and larger events. Major events held at the site include the Nuremberg Festival on the square in front of the Congress Hall, the Norisring Race, which has been held at the Zeppelin Grandstand since 1947, a world congress of Jehovah's Witnesses, the Sudeten German Day in 1955, and the major music festival "Rock im Park".
Photo from the magazine for Sudeten German Day, 1955. During the Sudeten German Day in 1955, the territorial association also used the Zeppelin Field for a large rally and decorated the Zeppelin Grandstand with their own flags and coats of arms. They demanded the right to return to their homeland. (Unmarked magazine clipping, Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds D-0307-01)
Poster for Bob Dylan's concert, 1978. At the open-air festival on 1 June 1978 on the Zeppelin Field, Bob Dylan announced his song "Masters of War" with the words "What a pleasure to sing it in this place". (Poster, Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds D-0325-01)
The pragmatic repurposing of buildings from the National Socialist era also faced criticism: in his 1961 film “Brutality in Stone,” filmmaker Alexander Kluge (born 1932) called for a more mindful approach to the buildings on the Nazi Party Rally Grounds. Meanwhile, a group of young architects, under the slogan "A More Beautiful Nuremberg,” sought to demolish the Congress Hall in the 1960s to make way for a green hill.
Calls for information about the site's history had been made since the 1970s at the latest. These calls eventually led to the first historical exhibition in the Zeppelin Tribune, "Fascination and Violence,” organised by the Educational Institute of the City of Nuremberg from 1984, to educational programmes by groups such as the Geschichte Für Alle (History for All) association since the 1980s, and to the opening of the Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds in 2001. With its modern architecture by Austrian architect Günther Domenig (1934–2012), the centre sent a strong message in contrast to the architecture of the former Congress Hall. In 2004, the Nuremberg City Council adopted guidelines that provide for the preservation of the remaining buildings on the Nazi Party Rally Grounds.
The former "City of the Nazi Party Rallies,” Nuremberg, has become a reflection of Germany's politics of memory through its approach to the architectural legacy of the National Socialist era. The ongoing debate over whether to preserve or allow the decay of Zeppelin Field and the Zeppelin Grandstand—where plans for a newly designed educational and meeting space are underway—illustrates this. As part of Nuremberg's bid for the title of European Capital of Culture 2025, the former Nuremberg Rally Grounds are set to take on a prominent role as a centre for learning and artistic engagement. The site at the Dutzendteich is now one of the most visited places in Nuremberg, serving as both a local recreational area and a historical site linked to its National Socialist past, as well as attracting many international visitors. This "democratic appropriation" has also ensured that the former Nazi Party Rally Grounds have not become a pilgrimage site for right-wing extremist groups.
References
- Charlotte Bühl-Gramer, Perspektivenwechsel. Das ehemalige Reichsparteitagsgelände aus Sicht von Besucherinnen und Besuchern (Schriften des Kulturreferats Nürnberg 4), Nürnberg 2019.
- Centrum Industriekultur Nürnberg (Hg.), Kulissen der Gewalt. Das Reichsparteitagsgelände in Nürnberg, München 1992.
- Eckart Dietzfelbinger, Bauen für die Ewigkeit: das Reichsparteitagsgelände in Nürnberg, in: Siegfried Zelnhefer (Hg.), Die Reichsparteitage der NSDAP in Nürnberg (Schriftenreihe des Dokumentationszentrums Reichsparteitagsgelände 2), Nürnberg 2002, 261-269.
- Yasmin Doosry, "Wohlauf, laßt uns eine Stadt und einen Turm bauen ...". Studien zum Reichsparteitagsgelände in Nürnberg, Tübingen 2002.
- Kunsthalle Nürnberg (Hg.), Das Gelände, Nürnberg 2008.
- Julia Lehner (Hg.), Erhalten! Wozu? Perspektiven für Zeppelintribüne, Zeppelinfeld und das ehemalige Reichsparteitagsgelände (Schriften des Kulturreferats Nürnberg 2), Nürnberg 2017.
- Alexander Schmidt (Hg.), Das Gelände. Dokumentation. Perspektiven. Diskussion 1945-2015, Nürnberg 2015.
- Alexander Schmidt, Gleichgeschaltete Landschaft. Zum Umgang mit Natur und Landschaft beim Bau des Reichsparteitagsgeländes in Nürnberg, in: Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Hochschule Geisenheim (Hg.), Naturschutz am ehemaligen Westwall. NS-Großanlagen im Diskurs, Geisenheim 2016, 68-85.
- Alexander Schmidt, Das Reichsparteitagsgelände in Nürnberg, Nürnberg 5. Auflage 2017.
Sources
- Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv München, (Speer-Pläne).
- Bundesarchiv Berlin, NS 22 (Reichsorganisationleiter der NSDAP).
- Stadtarchiv Nürnberg, C 32 (Zweckverband Reichsparteitag Nürnberg).
External Links
- Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelände (Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds)
- Information on the future handling of the Nazi Party Rally Grounds
Related Articles
Reichsparteitagsgelände
Further Resarch
- Bayerische Bibliographie (Bavarian Bibliography)
- Keyword search in the online catalogue of the Bibliotheksverbund Bayern (Library Network Bavaria)
Cite
Alexander Schmidt, Nazi Party Rally Grounds, Nuremberg, published on 30 September 2020, English version published 25 February 2025; in: Historisches Lexikon Bayerns, URL: <https://www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/Lexikon/EN:Nazi_Party_Rally_Grounds,_Nuremberg> (17.03.2025)