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Nazi party rally grounds
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nazi party rally grounds (in German Reichsparteitagsgelände) is the name of a site in the southeast of Nuremberg (UGN: ), where the Nazi party rallies were held from 1933 until 1938. It includes the Congress Hall, the Zeppelin Field, the Märzfeld (March Field), the Deutsche Stadion (German stadium), the former Stadion der Hitlerjugend ("stadium of the Hitler Youth", today Frankenstadion) and the Große Straße ("great road"). The party grounds were planned by Hitler's first architect Albert Speer (except of the Congress hall, which was planned by Ludwig and Franz Ruff).
Today, the whole site serves as a memorial. Parts of the area are today used as the Norisring motor racing track.
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The Kongresshalle (congress hall) was started in the early 1930s and, once finished, should have provided 50,000 seats. It was located on the shore of and in the Dutzendteich and marked the entrance of the rally grounds. The building reached a height of 39 meters (43 yards) and a diameter of 250 meters (278 yards).
Today, the north wing of the Congress Hall houses the documentation center "Faszination und Gewalt" (fascination and terror).
see also: Congress Hall (Nuremberg), de:Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelände
The great road is almost 2 km (1.25 miles) long and 40 meters (44 yards) wide. It was intented to be the central axis of the site and a parade road for the Wehrmacht. It reached from the Congress Hall to the Märzfeld, the construction work was finished in 1939 (it has never been used as a parade road, because due to the beginning of World War II, the last rally was held in 1938). The pavement was made of granite in black and gray with edges of exactly 1.2 meters (1.3 yards). After the war, the road has been used as a temporary airfield for the US Army.
The Zeppelin Field (in german: Zeppelinfeld) is located east of the Great Road. It consists of a large grandstand (Zeppelinhaupttribüne) with a width of 360 meters (400 yards) and a smaller stand. It was one of Albert Speer's first works for the Nazi party and was based upon the Pergamon Altar. A very popular movie clip is of the swastika on the grandstand being blasted after the war.
In the 1970s, the pillars were removed. The rest of the stand is intact and used as the centerpiece of the Norisring motor racing track.
Along his plans for the Welthauptstadt Germania (world capital Germania), Albert Speer made the plans for the world's largest stadium which was to be located on the rally grounds. It would have offered 400,000 seats, derived from the Circus Maximus in Rome.
In 1938, the construction began with the excavation. It was stopped in 1939, but during the whole war, the casting pit had to be kept dry from entering ground water. After the war, the northern half of the pit filled up with the water and is today called Silbersee (silver lake), the southern half was used to deposit the debris of the destroyed downtown Nuremberg.
see also: Deutsches Stadion
The Märzfeld (March Field) was a representation and parade ground for the Wehrmacht. Its dimensions were 955 x 610 meters (1,061 x 677 yards). The construction began in 1938 and had never been finished, after the war, the accomplished constructions were demolished. Today, on this part of the site are apartment houses.
