Cologne in the Third Reich: City Tour and NS Documentation Centre

Anyone who keeps their eyes open on Cologne’s streets will repeatedly discover the stumbling blocks created by the artist Gunter Demnig. What do they mean? Who do the names recall? Our walk takes us to the places where the NSDAP seized power in March 1933 and from where the Nazis exercised their power. We will also show you the places which recall their victims. In 1935, the Cologne Gestapo took over the EL-DE-Haus – named after its earlier owner Ludwig Dahmen – and set up a prison in the cellar. Those confined here could hear the cries of those being tortured in other parts of the building. In the cramped cells, there are still numerous inscriptions by the prisoners, most of them forced labourers from Poland and Russia, in many cases their last signs of life. It is estimated that around 1,100 people were executed here. On the upper floors, is the NS Documentation Centre, whose rooms have been reconstructed like the former Gestapo offices. Documents, films, photos, sound cassettes and slides provide an insight into the ideology and mechanisms of the National Socialist rule of terror.