Nazi Party Rally Grounds - Nuremberg

The Nazi party rally grounds (Reichsparteitagsgelände) covered about 11 square kilometres in the southeast of Nuremberg, Germany. Between 1933 and 1938 six Nazi Party rallies were held there. Nuremberg was called the "City of the Reichsparteitage (Reich Party Congresses)" by Hitler in 1933.  The Party Congresses (Reichsparteitage) were a self-portrayal of the NS-state and the purpose was to demonstrate the unity of the nation.

The Kongresshalle and Zeppelinfeld have been under monument protection since 1973. The Zeppelinfeld was designed by Hitler's architect Albert Speer, and the Congress Hall was designed by Ludwig and Franz Ruff. Nowadays the whole site is a memorial, and parts are used as the Norisring motor racing track.

The Congress Hall (Kongresshalle) is the biggest preserved national socialist monumental building and is landmarked. It was designed by local architects Ludwig and Franz Ruff. It was intended to serve as a congress centre for the NSDAP with a self-supporting roof and should have provided 50,000 seats. It marked the entrance of the rally grounds.

The building reached a height of 39 m  (a height of 70 m was planned) and a diameter of 250 m. The design is inspired by the Coliseum in Rome. The foundation stone was laid in 1935, but the building remained unfinished and without a roof. The building with an outline of an "U" ends with two head-buildings.  Since 2001, the Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagselande (Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds) has been located in the Northern wing. In the Southern wind is the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra.

We visited after looking around the Documentation Centre Museum. There wasn't an awful lot to see but sheer size of the place and its resemblance to the Coliseum was impressive.

The Zeppelinfeld is located east of the Great Road. This was our next destination. It consists of a large grandstand 360 metres wide and a smaller stand. It was one of Albert Speer's first works for the Nazi party. It was constructed between 1934 and 1938. Up to 200,000 people could attend the site.

The grandstand is famous as being the building that had the swastika blown from the top in 1945, after Germany's fall in World War II. The name "Zeppelinfeld" or "Zeppelinwiese" comes from the event in August 1909 when Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin landed with one of his airships (LZ6) in this location.

From 1947 to 1995 the Nurnberg American High School used the field for high school football and American football practice. In the 1970s, the pillars were removed for safety reasons as years of neglect had damaged the structure. The rest of the stand is intact and used as the centerpiece of the Norisring motor racing track. The German leg of the traveling heavy metal festival Monsters of Rock was held here twice during the 1980s. Another part of the grounds is home to a campground.

Since 1973 the Zeppelinfeld has been listed. They are preserved in their current state as a learning location for future generations. In recent years, certain parts had to be blocked off due to falling masonry and unsafe steps due to rainwater seeping in after a gallery of pillars was blasted in 1967. From 2013, the Zeppelinfeld has been worked on to provide safe access and further renovations are planned for the future.

We visited on a hot and humid August afternoon, after visiting the Congresshalle. There were one or two people around but it was pretty quite and peaceful, in stark contrast to its rally days. I will let the photos tell the rest of the story . . .

I really really liked this place. It's quite unique, full of history and quite 'dark' in nature. I couldn't even begin to imagine how it must have felt to be here in the late 1930s and all the feelings of patriotism, hatred and anti-Semitism that would be heavy in the air. Instead, today, the air was simply heavy with the need for a good thunderstorm but it felt peaceful today.

Munich Olympiastadion Station

München Olympiastadion is a former stop on the Munich S-Bahn. The station was opened in 1972 to cope with extra demands for transportation for the 1972 Munich Olympics. It closed in 1988 after the UEFA Championship and the tracks leading to the station have since been removed.

The station consisted of two island platforms with four tracks in total. Two of them terminated at the station, and the remaining two continued further south. The tracks were disconnected in 2003 to allow easier excavation of the tunnel for the U3 extension of the Munich U-Bahn. The line connecting Munich's central station and the airport was planned to use the former S-Bahn leading to this station. It would have emerged from the tunnel approximately 500 meters south of the station but, the line was abandoned due to increased costs.

We visited on a grey July afternoon when we had visited the Olympic Stadium for a mooch whilst on holiday. It was easy to access and we were not alone. Two photographers left as were arrived, and there was a guy photographing a model as well as a couple of homeless guys who had made a make-shift camp in one corner.

There were no signs of the ticket office but one part of the station was inaccessible.

                      There was plenty of greenery fighting back on the train tracks (not surprising, after all this time left abandoned)

 The greenery and spray paint really made the place, which was just a grey concrete shell.

                                    There was a good choice of graff on display, which, judging by pics I've seen online, changes regularly.

 You can just about make out the photographer and his model on this shot. She was brandishing a baseball bat at one point!

 This is where the homeless guys were hanging out. They seemed used to people mooching around with cameras.

I really enjoyed this place. It wasn't very large but there was plenty to see and photograph. I always get an extra kick out of finding a spot of urbex on holiday for some strange reason.