National Socialist Documentation Centre of the City of Cologne
Housed in a former Gestapo building, this documentation centre stands as a testament to systematic harassment and persecution, and to the murder of opponents and victims of National Socialism in Cologne. Compared with some documentation centres, which feel like you are reading a book in a museum, this one tries to present information in a more varied format, using space in an imaginative way.
Why go there?
The ‘EL-DE Haus’, the headquarters of the Gestapo in Cologne between December 1935 and March 1945, is now home to a memorial site and permanent exhibition. The centre is internationally orientated, with audio guides available in eight languages. Some captions are also available in English. The website is especially impressive, with many photos and short essays on aspects of the building, the founding of the centre, and its exhibitions. A 360˚ virtual tour of the entire exhibition is available, meaning that you could ‘visit’ the museum without even being in Germany, but that would mean missing out on the rather eerie atmosphere of the building, especially in the underground cells.
Outside of the documentation centre, Cologne is a bustling city with plenty to do and see. As Germany’s fourth largest city, it’s near impossible to be bored. The Cathedral and boat trips on the Rhine are a safe bet for a day out. There are several museums just a stone’s throw from the EL-DE House, including both a fragrance and chocolate museum, as well as a gallery dedicated to Expressionist artist Käthe Kollwitz.
What’s inside?
The name ‘Dokumentationszentrum’ is perhaps not that clear to a British visitor and it would be easy to assume that our closest equivalent would be an archive. Indeed, this site did originally function purely as a centre of research for academics, but has since undergone a transformation. After a complicated process lasting several decades, the permanent exhibition opened in 1997, offering an intensive exploration of the Nazi regime, with a particular focus on Cologne’s part as a cog in the Nazi machine.
As its name suggests, documents, alongside photographs and film footage, are central to the centre’s methods. However, it doesn’t quite share the same aversion to objects as the documentation centre in Munich, for example, so you will see items like Nazi flags, medals and pins. Even the two-dimensional displays are far from dull. Official documents sit alongside more emotive examples such as the handprints of Gypsies, contrasting the dehumanising aims of the Nazi Party and its bureaucracy with the painfully human stories of persecution. Media stations, added in 2009, contain interviews with contemporary witnesses and other footage, extending the story far beyond the information boards. The documentation centre’s rough-and-ready décor creates a surprisingly evocative atmosphere. The basement prison is unmissable, the walls covered with the authentic etchings and scratches of former prisoners, drawn with screws and various other implements, including finger nails.
http://www.museenkoeln.de/ns-dokumentationszentrum/pages/315.aspx?s=315
German History Museums 