15th September 1937
Kongressbau Nürnberg
Postcard depicting the Kongressbau in Nuremberg (with slight blemish to upper right quarter). The caption to the reverse reads, 'Authorised model photograph of the design approved by the Führer and intended for construction'. A special Reichsparteitag cancellation ties Mi.650 (with overprint and inscription) taken from Block 11. Ref: 15.09.1937 - 22/64
Kongressbau Nürnberg
In 1926, the Nazi regime decided to hold future Nazi Party Rallies in Nuremberg. The Luitpold Arena served as the venue for the party rallies from 1927 to 1933. The course of the party rallies in the Luitpoldhain prefigured the course of later Nazi Party Rallies. In 1934, shortly after Hitler seized power, he demanded new plans for the restructuring and expansion of the Nazi Party Rally Grounds. These included, among other things, the inclusion of a congress hall for large assemblies. However, Hitler's demands contradicted the wishes of the city of Nuremberg, which wanted to see the individual planned construction projects for the Nazi Party Rally Grounds distributed across various locations within the city districts. However, in the fall of 1934, General Building Inspector Albert Speer presented a new overall planning concept for the proposed site, which delighted Hitler and ultimately also met with the approval of the mayor.
General Building Inspector Albert Speer was commissioned with the overall planning of the Nazi Party Rally Grounds. The designs for the large Congress Hall were by the Nuremberg architect Prof. Ludwig Ruff and his son Franz Ruff, who was commissioned to continue the designs after his father's death. The client for the Congress Hall and the entire Nazi Party Rally Grounds was the 'Zweckverband Reichsparteitag Nürnberg,' which was created on March 29, 1935, and to which the Reich, Bavaria, the NSDAP, and the city of Nuremberg belonged. Adolf Hitler laid the foundation stone on 11th September 1935, during the 'Reich Party Rally of Freedom.' The new Congress Hall was to be opened for the 1943 Nazi Party Rally. The interior of the hall was to provide sufficient space for 40,000 seats and 10,000 standing places. Adolf Hitler's stage would have had a capacity of 2,000 people and 1,000 banners. The oversized dimensions of the Nuremberg Congress Hall were intended to impress and intimidate people in equal measure. They aimed to make citizens realize how small and insignificant they were compared to the might of the regime. Due to construction delays and subsequent cessation of construction during the Second World War, the Nuremberg Congress Hall could not be completed. Of the planned four floors, only three were built, and the interior, the tiers of stands, and the roof of the hall were never finished. The total cost of building the new Nazi Party Rally Grounds was estimated at 700 million Reichsmarks. This construction cost is roughly comparable to today's construction volume of 2 billion euros.Without a doubt, the Nuremberg Congress Hall is one of the most impressive buildings of the National Socialist era, which, despite or perhaps because of its historical significance, still stirs emotions and divides opinions today.
Source: holzmann-bildarchiv.de (2025)
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