7 Fascinating Nuremberg Nazi Sites To Explore

Nuremberg was chosen as the venue for NSDAP (Nazi Party) Congresses in 1923, 1927 and 1929, then again each year from 1933 to 1938. The 1939 Congress was cancelled due to the outbreak of World War Two.

Nuremberg was selected because of its central location in Germany and the large area of land available in the south-east of the city. There was also a strong local Nazi presence in the area before the Nazis came to power, with infamous propagandist and anti-Semite Julius Streicher a local leader.

In the Middle Ages Nuremberg was also one of the Imperial Cities of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Kaiserburg (Imperial Castle) was the main symbol of the city.

This added prestige to the city, and in the Nazis’ eyes, was a link between their Third Reich and the Holy Roman Empire, which is sometimes retrospectively referred to as the First Reich.  

The 1929 event was the first large-scale Nazi rally, and after they took power in 1933, and other political parties were banned, the rallies were increasingly choreographed, orchestrated propaganda events, enormous exercises in self-glorification and intended to inspire awe and obedience (not to mention fear) in anyone who witnessed them.

Film maker Leni Riefenstahl made several films glorifying Hitler and the Nazi regime, and the most famous of her works is Triumph of the Will, which was shot during the 1934 Nuremberg Rallies. It’s fascinating to watch, but its ultimate goal is brainwashing anyone who watches it.  

The inextricable links between the Nazis and Nuremberg were forged further when, at the 1935 Nazi Party rally, the Nuremberg Laws were proclaimed.

Provisions of these laws included the forbidding of marriage and sexual relationships between ‘Aryans’ (‘Germans’) and Jews.  ‘Aryan’ women under the age of 45 were also forbidden from working in Jewish households.

Under the Reich Citizenship Law, Jews were also stripped of their German citizenship, reduced to being subjects of the state.

The Nazi Party Rally Grounds (Reichsparteitagsgelande) in Nuremberg are part of a large parkland area in the south-east of the city. The sites are all preserved, but life goes on around them.

Most of the main Nuremberg Nazi sites can be found around or close to the Dutzendteich lake, where you may well be (as I was) greeted by the utterly bizarre sight of a parent and child in a pink pedalo flamingo boat floating past the Kongresshalle, one of the most notorious monuments to totalitarianism in  Europe.

People come to picnic around the lake, and every other weekend fans of 1.FC Nürnberg come to the impressive Max-Morlock-Stadion (formerly the Frankenstadion) to cheer on their side as they strive to win promotion back to the Bundesliga, the top division in the German football league.

The Volksfest – a massive funfair held every spring and autumn – is held close to the Kongresshalle.

The Kongresshalle – Congress Hall – is the largest surviving edifice in Germany from the Nazi era.  It was partly inspired by the Colosseum in Rome, but built by Ludwig and Franz Ruff on a much larger scale.

It was intended as a venue for Nazi congresses, and would have had a roof. It would have accommodated 50,000 people there to hear the words of their apoplectically ranting Führer Hitler.

It was never completed, the project sidelined by the outbreak of World War II.

The Zeppelintribune was the work of Hitler’s favourite architect, Albert Speer, and one of the most recognisable Nuremberg Nazi sites. The grandstand is around 300 metres long, would have held up to 60,000 people and its central part was crowned with a giant golden swastika, blown up in 1945.

The Tribune was where Hitler and his cohorts would gather, and Hitler would deliver his racist rants from the podium from where you can survey the vast site below.

The Golden Hall was built by Speer, a grand setting in which Hitler would appear before ascending to his rostrum outside. However it was seldom used, and nowadays can only be visited as part of a guided tour of the Nuremberg Nazi rally grounds.

The Zeppelinfeld was where the masses would gather in their regimented rows to watch the parades and hear the speeches.

The capacity of the site was 200,000, the crowds assembled in symmetrical blocks, the camera panning across faces of adoring subjects of the Fuhrer, submitting to a state of zombified obedience.

What Leni Riefenstahl didn’t show us was the squalid state of much of the site.  Accommodation and facilities there were poor, and many attendees were drunk.

Those straight-armed, sieg-heiling adoring subjects captured on film were very likely preoccupied with where they could find a reasonably clean toilet or, failing that, a bush to squat behind.

That’s propaganda for you. Only show them what you want them to believe. Reality? We can’t be doing with that.

The Grosser Strasse (Great Road) was one of only three elements of the Rally Grounds to have been completed, although it was never used for its intended purpose as a marching route for the Wehrmacht, the German Army.

The Grosser Strasse is over a mile long (2 km) and 40 metres wide, and made from blocks of granite. It runs along the west side of the rally grounds, finishing outside the Kongresshalle on Bayernstrasse.

The Documentation Centre was built in the late 1990s, using a corner of the vast Kongresshalle with a modern glass and steel spear-like structure seemingly thrust through it. When I visited in 2022, a temporary exhibition was in place, with a re-design due to be completed in 2024.

Don’t be put off – the temporary exhibition is excellent, whether the whole Nazi era is fairly new to you or as in my case, I had studied aspects of it at university. It puts the whole National Socialist / Nazi movement into context, showing its early rise and growth after the world economy tanked in 1929, and is essential to visit if you’re exploring the Nuremberg Nazi sites.

It also shows how, once in power, they used propaganda to convince people to submit to them, and Riefenstahl’s films were a major part of this. 

I hadn’t made the connection until visiting the exhibition, but the infamous ‘cathedral of light’ sequence in Triumph of the Will influenced the scene at the end of the first Star Wars movie when Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Lando Calrissian walk through a hall with shafts of light shining through.

See Also: One Day In Nuremberg – See The Best Of The Imperial City In A Single Day

The Nuremberg Nazi Rally Grounds – where most of the Nuremberg Nazi sites are concentrated – are a short tram, train or bus ride from Nuremberg city centre.

You can travel on the S2 or S3 trains from outside Nuremberg main train station (Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof). You can alight at Dutzendteich (at the northern end of the lake of the same name) which is close to the Documentation Centre or at the next stop, Frankenstadion, if you plan to start at the south-east end of the Rally grounds instead.

Alternatively, trams 6 and 8 stop outside the Documentation Centre (Doku-Zentrum). Tram 6 starts at Westfriedhof and calls at Plärrer on the edge of the Altstadt (old town) and takes 20 minutes. Tram 8 calls at the Hauptbahnhof before heading to the same stop.

If you’re visiting the Memorium Nuremberg Trials, it’s close to the U1 Barenschanze stop.

For S-Bahn (local trains), U-Bahn (underground) and bus times, go to the Nuremberg transport website.

For Nuremberg trams check the local VAG network website.

Day tickets are valid on both networks.

See Also: Prague to Nuremberg – How To Get From The Czech Capital To The Imperial City 

Dictatorships ruled much of Europe through large parts of the 20^th century, and the self-glorifying monuments they left behind are a large part of their legacy.

The common thread running through fascist and totalitarian architecture is the influence of Classical architecture, particularly from the Roman Imperial period. These new statements in stone – or concrete – were often much bigger than the buildings that inspired them,

Most Nazi architectural projects, led by Albert Speer, were never realised. The one building in Berlin that they did complete was the Olympiastadion (Olympic Stadium, one of the most famous Berlin landmarks) in the western suburbs of the city.

It hosted the infamous 1936 Olympics and was remodelled after 2000 in readiness for hosting the 2006 World Cup Final. I attended the last football match there before remodelling began, a forgettable Bundesliga game between Hertha Berlin and Borussia Dortmund. I watched the game from one of the ends, and a silent inner voice did say,’’Crikey!’’ when I saw the vast bowl of the stadium for the first time.  

Another famous example of fascist architecture is the EUR district of Rome, best known for the ‘Square Colosseum’ (Palazzo della Civilta del Lavoro) that is currently serving as offices for the Fendi fashion brand.

In Spain, Generalisimo Francisco Franco built a vast mausoleum for himself at the Valle de los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen), a grotesque tunnel church hacked into a mountain by forced labourers. The old dictator has recently been disinterred and moved to a family vault.

My article on Fascist Architecture in Europe has more information on all of these sites and several more.

While Hitler and Mussolini were indulging their vanity projects, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin was busy leaving his own monumental imprint on Moscow and the USSR. These included the famous Socialist Realist Seven Sisters skyscrapers around Moscow and the extravagant Red Army Theatre in the same city. My article on Communist architecture in Europe explores 13 sites around the continent where the Communists left their sometimes dubious built legacy.

If you have an interest in the history of 20th century Europe, I recommend visiting the Nuremberg Nazi sites. It’s some of the ugliest architecture you’ll ever see, but it’s important that people bear witness to what happened there. And check out my companion article on Berlin World War 2 Sites for a guide to more Nazi-associated sites around Germany’s capital.

You may also find my other articles on World War II and 20^th Century History helpful

• Visiting Auschwitz – Birkenau – Helpful Tips And What To Expect
• Prague World War 2 Sites – discover Prague’s Second World War locations
• Heydrich Assassination Site Prague – the location of one of the most audacious assassinations of World War Two
• Visiting Terezin Concentration Camp – complete guide to the infamous Theresienstadt Ghetto near Prague
• Communist Prague – 18 fascinating places to explore
• Stasi Museum Dresden – a shocking insight into the dreaded East German secret police