NS Documentation Centre of the City of Cologne

About

Cologne’s National Socialism Documentation Center was founded by a resolution passed by the Cologne city council 1979 and has become the largest regional memorial site in all of Germany for the victims of the Nazis. Since 1988, it has been housed in “EL-DE Haus," the EL-DE building, named for the initials of its owner, Catholic businessman Leopold Dahmen. This building was the headquarters of the Cologne Gestapo (secret police) between December 1935 and March 1945. In the final months of the war, several hundred people, most of them foreign forced laborers, were murdered in the courtyard of the building. In a bit of historical irony, the EL-DE building remained largely untouched by the ravages of the war. The NS Documentation Center (NS-DOC) is dedicated to memorializing the victims of the Nazi regime, as well as research and teaching about Cologne's history during the Nazi era. The former Gestapo prison was inaugurated as a memorial site on December 4, 1981.

Highlights

• Gestapo Prison Cells
• EL-DE House
• Permanent Exhibition
• Interactive Learning

Must-See Areas

Tickets & pricing