A Difficult Heritage – National-Socialist Buildings Then and Now
A Cooperation between the Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds and Students of the Faculty of Architecture
In the Winter Semester of 2014/15 a group of 76 architecture students of the Bachelor Program’s 5th semester at the Nuremberg Institute of Technology, in collaboration with the Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds, addressed the topic of buildings of the National-Socialist era and their contemporary uses. The students searched for answers to the question on how we can deal with these built relics that, in a highly visible way, remind us of the darkest era of German history, and what uses they serve today. By dealing with the built heritage of National Socialism the city – as the site of the Nazi party rallies and of the Nuremberg trials – as well as the citizens of Nuremberg meet a very special responsibility. Attempting closure becomes impossible in the case of the buildings of the Third Reich, and every new generation must deal with this fact. Based on research, documentation, and model building students approximated and deliberated on this difficult topic. They received the opportunity to formulate an individual viewpoint on it through critical analysis of related buildings and their past and current use. The resulting architectural models were supplemented by commentary and presented within an exhibition in the Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds.
Duration: 07/2014 – 08/2015
Director: Prof. Dr. Richard Woditsch
Critics: Katinka Strassberger, Niels Beintker, Markus Honka, Dr. Mark Kammerbauer
Contributors: Dr. Martina Christmeier, Dr. Alexander Schmidt
Exhibition curators: Sven Jessl, Jonas Urbasik
