ThemenGeschichtsPfad

National Socialism in Munich

Contents

Foreword 3

Practical information 5

The audio version of the ThemenGeschichtsPfad 6

National Socialism in Munich 7A Historic Walk from Marienplatz to Königsplatz

Munich – the “Capital of the Movement” 9

The November Revolution, the Räterepublikand the Counter-Revolution 1918–19 13

Anti-Semitism, the Völkisch Nationalist Milieuand Right-Wing Extremism 19

The Beginnings of the NSDAP and the Rise of Hitler 23

Hitler’s Attempted Putsch in November 1923 27

Detour: The Regime’s Public Show of Power in the “Führer City” 33

Munich in the Weimar Republic – the Formation of the Nazi Movement 41

Munich’s Bourgeoisie and the Rise of the NSDAP 45

The Nazis Seize Power: Dictatorship and the Beginnings of Persecution 49

Gleichschaltung: Professional Organisations Are Brought into Line 55

The thematic history trails (ThemenGeschichtspfade)

are part of the cultural history trails series

(KulturGeschichtsPfade) published by the City of Munich

Existing titles in the thematic history trails series:

Volume 1 Der Nationalsozialismus in München

Volume 1 Eng. National Socialism in Munich

Volume 2 Geschichte der Lesben und Schwulen in München

Volume 3 Orte des Erinnerns und Gedenkens

Nationalsozialismus in München

Volume 3 Eng. Places of Remembrance and Commemoration

National Socialism in Munich

For further information please visit: www.muenchen.de/tgp

You will find a list of existing and future publications inthe cultural history trails series (KulturGeschichtsPfade)at the back of this booklet.

The Party Quarter – Society under Party Rule 61

Jewish Citizens of Munich Deprived of Rights and Property, Deported and Murdered 65

Acquiescence and Resistance: The Church in the Nazi State 71

Munich as an Arena for International Policies of Injustice 75

Munich, the Party Headquarters – Berlin, the Centre of Power 79

Königsplatz: Showcase of a Dictatorship 83

Dealing with the Past – the Post-War Nazi Heritage 87

The Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism in Brienner Straße 91

Further information 94The Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism on the Internet 95Selected bibliography 95Photo credits 96

List of places mentioned in the ThemenGeschichtsPfadMap

Foreword

This thematic history trail, ThemenGeschichtsPfad, is partof a series of cultural history trails (KulturGeschichtsPfade),published by the City of Munich. Like the other cultural hi s -tory trails, this route takes the reader on a tour of histori -cally significant locations. Unlike them, however, it focusesnot on a particular district but on the theme of “NationalSocialism in Munich” – a subject of central importance inthe city’s history.

The City of Munich is aware of its special obligation to keepalive the memory of the Nazi era and its crimes and toinform citizens and visitors about it. After all, it was here inMunich that the rise of the National Socialist movementbegan after the First World War. Munich was also the sceneof the attempted putsch of 1923 and of Hitler’s subsequenttrial. Here Hitler found influential patrons who gave him entry

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The route: Marienplatz – Max-Joseph-Platz – Odeonsplatz – Hofgarten– Brienner Straße – Platz der Opfer des Nationalsozialismus– Karolinenplatz – Karlstraße – Katharina-von-Bora-Straße –Königs platz – Platz der Opfer des Nationalsozialismus

# Please see the map at the backfor the individual locations

Start: MarienplatzEnd: Königsplatz / Platz der Opfer

des NationalsozialismusDuration: approx. 1.5 – 2 hours on foot

approx. 45 minutes by bicycle

Public transport along the route:Marienplatz Suburban trains (S-Bahn, all lines);

Underground (U3/6); Bus 52Max-Joseph-Platz Tram 19Odeonsplatz U 3/6, Bus 100 Königsplatz U 2, Bus 100Karolinenplatz Tram 27

For timetable information please visit: www.mvv-muenchen.de

Addresses:Pre-1945 addresses are given in italics in square brackets.

Practical informationto bourgeois circles. And it was here in 1938 that Goebbelscalled for the nation-wide pogrom against the Jewish popu-lation. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, Munich waschosen by Hitler as the place to celebrate the cult of Nazismand given the titles “Capital of German Art” and “Capital ofthe Movement”. This booklet, combined with the walking tour and the audioversion (also available in English), which you can downloadfrom the internet, is intended to provide you with a compre-hensive introduction to this period of the city’s history and toencourage you, whether you are a citizen or a tourist, to findout more about National Socialism – a subject of paramountimportance for our democratic culture. The DocumentationCentre for the History of National Socialism, currently in theplanning stage, will in future also make a key contributionto this endeavour.

Christian UdeMayor of Munich

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National Socialism in Munich

A Historic Walk fromMarienplatz to Königsplatz

The audio version of theThemenGeschichtsPfad(thematic history trail) You can download the thematic history trail “National Socia-lism in Munich” as an extended audio version for your MP3player free of charge from our websites:

www.muenchen.de/tgpwww.ns-dokumentationszentrum-muenchen.de

Wherever you see a headphones symbol on the map justselect the corresponding track on your MP3 player and youwill hear more about the historical significance of this loca-tion. In addition to the information in the booklet you willalso hear personal statements by survivors of the Holocaust,contemporary witnesses, experts and people who havedevoted special attention to the subject of National Socialismin Munich.

Concept/realisation: Horst KonietznySound design: Dr. Klaus Treuheit Text assistance: Dr. Jürgen von StenglinTranslation: Melanie Newton Speakers: Howard Fine, Ruth GeiersbergerOther contributors: Prof. Dr. Christopher Balme, UlrichChaussy, Dr. Axel Drecoll, Ernst Grube, Dr. AlexanderKrause, Dr. Hans-Georg Küppers, Dr. Iris Lauterbach, Albert Lörcher †, Johanna Schmidt-Grohe †, Dr. Uri Siegel, Dr. Elisabeth Tworek, Prof. Dr. Klaus Weber

With the kind assistance of the Medienzentrum München

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1 New Town Hall

Marienplatz 8

2 Old Town Hall

Marienplatz 15

3 Marienplatz

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Marienplatz, Marienplatz 8, Marienplatz 15

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Munich is more closely associated with the early historyand rise of the Nazi Party (the National Socialist GermanWorkers’ Party or NSDAP) than any other German city.The route followed by this thematic history trail takesthe visitor to places that were of major significance inthe origins and history of National Socialism. After theNazi leadership seized power in Berlin, Munich not onlybecame a showcase for the cult of Nazism. From 1933onwards it also became home to a system of persecu-tion and repression of enormous reliability, efficiencyand magnitude that in many ways served as a modelfor the Reich as a whole.

Between 1933 and 1945 the swastikaflag, the symbol of the Nazi regime ofterror, flew above the New Town Hallon Munich’s Marienplatz . TheNazi state changed life in the city fun-damentally. On 2 August 1935 the hon-orary title “Capital of the Movement”

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Munich – the “Capital of the Movement”

established in the neighbouring town ofDachau. This camp served as a proto-type for the Nazi concentration campsystem. On 9 November 1938 it wasthe “Capital of the Movement” thatgave the signal for the brutal and cen-trally directed campaign of aggressionagainst the Jews. What became knownas the “Reichspogromnacht” (“Nightof Pogroms”) began with an inflamma-tory speech by Propaganda MinisterJoseph Goebbels in the Old TownHall . 3

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New Town Hall andMarienplatz duringthe Nazi era

Munich’s mayor Karl Fiehler makesHermann Göring anhonorary citizen ofthe “Capital of theMovement” on 15January 1943.

Munich’s coat ofarms from 1936 to 1945

Königsplatz after itbecame the city’scentral paradingground and venuefor celebrating theNazi cult in 1938

was conferred on Munich by AdolfHitler, who had already designated thecity “Capital of German Art” in 1933.The regime thus emphasised Munich’srole as an ideological reference pointand as a centre of art and culture.

The local Nazi elite made enormousefforts to live up to the expectations ofthe Führer. In 1933 party functionaries,such as the clerk Karl Fiehler and theformer stable boy Christian Weber, roseto occupy leading positions. They owedtheir careers in the local party apparatusprimarily to their status as party veter-ans and to their proximity to Hitler.It was men like these who gave Munichthe dubious distinction of pioneeringthe implementation of Nazi ideology,particularly the persecution of the Jews.Measures conceived and carried out inMunich were used as models for theReich. In March 1933, for instance, oneof the first concentration camps was

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4 Memorial commemorating the murder of Kurt Eisner,

metal plate set in the pavement

Kardinal-Faulhaber-Straße [Promenadestraße 1]

5 Bavarian Parliament

Prannerstraße 8 [16 –23]

6 Max-Joseph-Platz

Munich was a central scene of the revolutionary eventsof November 1918. Even before the republic was pro-claimed in the capital Berlin, Kurt Eisner declared theend of the monarchy in Munich with his proclamationof the “Free State of Bavaria”. Following Eisner’s mur-der a Räterepublik (a Soviet-style republic of workers’and soldiers’ councils) was proclaimed in April 1919. Itwas soon replaced by a second, more radical republicand a short time later brutally defeated by anti-republi-can forces.

Revolutionary governments wereformed all over Germany in the courseof the November Revolution. Their aimswere rapidly to conclude a peace treatyand to bring about a thoroughgoing de -mocratic and socialist renewal of thestate and society in a country shatteredby war. The end of the monarchy was

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The November Revolution, the Räte repu blik and the Counter-Revolution1918 –19

From Marienplatz via Kardinal-Faulhaber-Straße

[Promenadestraße 1] and Prannerstraße 8 [16 – 23]

to Max-Joseph-Platz

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declared on 7 November 1918 in Ba -varia and on 9 November in Berlin.

The post-war period of upheaval wasparticularly tension-laden in Munich.The new prime minister, Kurt Eisner,did not succeed in allaying the bour-geois-conservative camp’s fears of acommunist revolution. On 21 Feb rua -ry 1919 Eisner was murdered in thestreet by the right-wing reserve lieu -tenant Anton Graf von Arco auf Valleywhile on his way to submit his resigna-tion to the Bavarian parliament afterlosing the election. This triggered anescalation of the political crisis. On 7 April 1919 members of the Central

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Council formed by the Munich workers’and soldiers’ councils proclaimed aRäterepublik, whose leadership andpolitical orientation were to changetwice in the following weeks.

Less than a month later, on 1 May 1919,the short chapter of the Räterepublikwas brought to an end by governmenttroops summoned up by the SocialDemocratic Hoffmann government.Under the leadership of Franz Rittervon Epp, regular soldiers, Free Corpsparamilitaries and anti-republican militiasused the shooting of ten right-wingprisoners as a pretext for brutal action.Prominent leaders of the councils (Räte)were murdered or sentenced to long

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The NovemberRevolution 1918:republican soldiers infront of the BavarianParliament, Pranner -straße

Kurt Eisner (1867–1919). After the mo -narchy was abolishedEisner became thefirst prime minister ofthe new “Free Stateof Bavaria”.

Eisner was assassi-nated on 21 February1919: the scene ofthe crime in Prome -na destraße shortlyafter his murder.

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The end of the Räte -republik: capturedrevolutionary soldiersbeing led away infront of the Residenz

, May 19196

The Free CorpsWerdenfels marchingalong Maximilian -straße, May 1919

terms of imprisonment by right-wingjudges. Probably some 650 people losttheir lives in this counter-revolution. Inorder to restore “law and order” andto preclude any renewed flaring up ofcom munist activities, local militiaswere created. These subsequently be -came the largest political “self-defenceorganisation” of right-wing parties andorganisations in the Reich. After theBavarian association of self-defenceorganisations was dissolved in mid-1921 its members reassembled in otheranti-republican or paramilitary groups.

Anti-Semitism, the Völkisch NationalistMilieu and Right-Wing Extremism

At the turn of the century Munich already offered anespecially fertile breeding ground for National Socia -lism. Following defeat in the First World War, revolu-tion and counter-revolution weakened the republicanforces and strengthened anti-democratic, extremeright-wing tendencies. Bavaria became an anti-liberaland authoritarian “cell of order” (Ordnungszelle), thusfavouring the emergence in Munich of an atmosphereof intolerance and anti-Semitism. This was exploitedby early Nazi propaganda.

After the bloody end of the Räte republikMunich became a centre of oppositionto the young democratic state. An im -portant figure for the extreme Right wasGustav von Kahr, who was electedBavarian prime minister as the candidateof the Bavarian People’s Party in 1920.His aim was to make Bavaria an author-itarian “cell of order” and an antithesis

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7 Headquarters of the Thule Society

Maximilianstraße 4 [17]

Maximilianstraße 4 [17]

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to Berlin. This provided an ideal operat-ing environment for a broad spectrumof nationalist, anti-democratic and reac-tionary forces. Erich von Ludendorff,the former first quartermaster generalof the armed forces, also exploited thepolitical climate in Munich to gathertogether members of the radical natio -nalist or völkisch milieu, and he becamea figurehead for the enemies of therepublic.

Among the network of those seekingto undermine the republic, an importantrole was played by the nationalist andracist Thule Society (founded in 1918),which had its headquarters at the HotelVier Jahreszeiten in Maximilian straße .Many of its members, who includedMunich’s chief of police Ernst Pöhner,held prominent public offices. Amongthe Thule Society’s other memberswere Karl Fiehler, who later becamemayor of Munich, the influential “racialtheorist” Alfred Rosenberg and Hitler’slater deputy Rudolf Heß. Using Munichas their base, this secret organisationfought to overthrow the Räterepublikand later supported the rise of the NaziParty.

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The reactionary climate in Munich hadits origins in the period around 1900. At that time the district of Schwabingwas not only the centre of a bohemianartistic community but also home toadherents of an eccentric assortmentof esoteric, irrational and nihilistic theo-ries. Aggressive agitation by Nazi ideol-ogists against an allegedly “un-German”culture caused liberal and progressiveintellectuals like Bertolt Brecht, LionFeuchtwanger and Ödön von Horváthto leave Munich during the 1920s forthe more cosmopolitan capital Berlin.

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The Hotel Vier Jah -reszeiten in Maximi -lianstraße. This waswhere the ThuleSociety was foundedin the early 1920sand also had itsheadquarters. Photofrom the early 1930s.

Letterhead of theThule Society, 1919

Political poster, c. 1919. The sloganreads “Get out, noanarchists here”.

Under Gustav vonKahr (1862–1934)Bavaria became acentre of oppositionto the republic. Kahrcreated a “cell oforder” in antithesisto Berlin.

Erich Ludendorff(1865 –1937) becameone of the leadingfigureheads of theright-wing camp.

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Platzl

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8 Hofbräuhaus

Platzl

The Beginnings of the NSDAP and the Rise of Hitler

After the First World War numerous völkisch nationalistand extremist organisations came into being amid thereactionary atmosphere in Munich. One of these right-wing splinter groups was the German Workers’ Party,founded in 1919, out of which the Nazi Party (NSDAP)emerged in 1920. The founding of the NSDAP markedthe beginning of Hitler’s rise to political power.

Adolf Hitler had originally come toMunich from Vienna – where he hadabsorbed the influences of the city’santi-Semitic milieu – in 1913 and ekedout a living as a postcard painter. Hisplans for a career as an artist failed,how ever. After serving with the Bava -rian troops in the First World War, hereturned to Munich amid the revolutio -nary confusion of 1918–19 looking for a new field of activity. He found it inthe city’s growing right-wing extremist

Within a few months Hitler had distin-guished himself as the most importantpopulist agitator of the right-wing scenein Munich. At mass gatherings he railedagainst the Ber lin “fulfilment politicians”(whom he accused of bowing to thedemands of the allied victorious pow-ers), conjured up the spectre of thedemon of Bolshevism and stirred uphatred against the Jews. As the per-sonification of the anti-democratic, na -tionalist and racist thinking of theseyears, Hitler became a symbol of hopefor those united in their contempt forparliamentarianism and democracy, intheir invocation of the “spirit of 1914”and in their belief in the superiority of aGerman “master race”.

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circles. Out of a diffuse mixture of anti-Jewish prejudices, anti-Marxist conspi -racy theories and a völkisch nationalistmentality his ideological concepts be -gan to take shape.

Hitler acquired his initial political skills inthe anti-Jewish and anti-Marxist Ger -man Workers’ Party (Deutsche Arbei-terpartei or DAP), where, owing to histalents as a public speaker, he soonassumed a leading role. In order to dif-ferentiate itself from left-wing organi-sations the DAP was renamed theNational Socialist German Workers’Party (Nationalsozialistische Deut -sche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP) at ameeting in the Hofbräuhaus in Feb -ruary 1920. The membership of theNSDAP grew enormously in the subse-quent period. One of its most importantinstruments of power was the StormTroopers (Sturmabteilung or SA), astrong-arm group created to protectparty meetings. This party militia wasresponsible for attacks on Jews and onpeople considered to be opponents ofthe Nazi movement. By July 1921 Hitlerhad succeeded in ousting the otherleaders of the NSDAP. He was electedparty chairman and granted extensivepowers.

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Anton Drexler(1884 –1942) foundedthe German Workers’Party in January 1919together with KarlHarrer, a member ofthe Thule Society.

In September 1919Adolf Hitler(1889 –1945) joinedthe German Workers’Party, where hemade his mark as apublic speaker.

Propaganda tour ofthe NSDAP 1923:Hitler (2nd from l.),Christian Weber (1st r.)

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9 Residenzstraße

10 Viscardigasse (“Dodgers’ Alley”)

11 Memorial on the east side of the Feldherrnhalle

12 Feldherrnhalle

Odeonsplatz

Hitler’s Attempted Putsch in November 1923

A key event in the history of the NSDAP was the failedputsch of November 1923. The restraint shown by thepolice, the courts and the state towards the anti-demo-cratic enemies of the state favoured the rise of AdolfHitler and his stylisation as the great hope for a“national renewal”.

The conflict between the reactionarystate of Bavaria and the Reich came toa head in 1923, when Hitler, judging thetense atmosphere to be favourable foran attempt to overthrow the republicand believing he had consolidated hispolitical position, seized the initiative.On 8 November he disrupted a meet-ing being held by State CommissionerGeneral Gustav von Kahr (the formerBavarian prime minister) in the Bürger -bräu keller beer hall at Gasteig. Kahrwas also believed to be planning a coup,

From Max-Joseph-Platz to Odeonsplatz

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so in order to pre-empt him, Hitlercalled for a putsch and a “national rev-olution”. He declared the overthrow ofthe Bavarian government and forcedKahr and his associates, the command-er of the Bavarian Army, Otto vonLossow, and the chief of the Bavarianpolice, Hans von Seißer, to join a provi-sional government.

A short time later, however, havingrecognised the putsch as an amateur-ish attempt, Kahr, Lossow and Seißerceased to feel personally threatenedand revoked the concessions they hadmade. In spite of this, on 9 NovemberHitler tried to go through with his plansby staging a demonstration. After mar ch-ing from the Bürgerbräukeller across theLudwigsbrücke and along Resi denz -straße , the putschists were stoppedby Bavarian police units at the Feld -herrn halle . In the following ex -change of fire fifteen putschists, fourpolicemen and one innocent bystanderwere killed. Hitler managed to escape,but was arrested two days later.

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The failed putsch ofNovember 1923, glo-rified by the Nazis as the “March on theFeldherrnhalle”:Heinrich Himmler(centre, wearingglasses) at a road-block in front of theMinistry of War,intersection ofLudwigstraße andSchönfeldstraße.

The accused withtheir defence lawyersat Hitler’s trial inspring 1924 (in thecentre Erich Luden -dorff, on his rightHitler)

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In February 1924 Hitler went on trialfor high treason in proceedings lastingtwo months. But the biased attitude ofthe Bavarian justice authorities, in par-ticular the judge Georg Neidhardt, whohad already handed down a mild sen-tence to Graf Arco, turned the trial intoa farce. The NSDAP was banned, andHitler was sentenced to serve a mini-mum prison sentence of five years. Theeffect of Hitler’s trial and imprisonmentwas to make him much better known,and he succeeded in making politicalcapital out of his detention in theLands berg Fortress. It was in Lands -berg that he wrote Mein Kampf (MyStruggle), which later sold millions ofcopies. By the end of 1924 Hitler hadbeen pardoned.

Nazi propaganda later reinterpreted theattempted putsch as a “March on theFeldherrnhalle”, analogous with Mus -solini’s “March on Rome”. An “eternalvigil” was posted in front of the Feld -herrnhalle round the clock, and passers-by were expected to give the Hitlersalute. To avoid passing the Feld herrn -halle many Munich citizens took a de -tour through the Viscardigasse, whichfor this reason became popularly knownas the “Drückebergergassl” (Dod gers’Alley) .10

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During his imprison-ment in LandsbergFortress Hitler wroteMein Kampf, inwhich he outlined hisideological beliefsand his political pro-gramme.

Memorial to the deadputschists of 1923(here: in the 1930s).

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12 Feldherrnhalle

Odeonsplatz

13 Day of German Art

Odeonsplatz

14 “Degenerate Art” exhibition 1937

Galeriestraße 4

15 Haus der Deutschen Kunst

Prinzregentenstraße 1

16 Widening of Von-der-Tann-Straße

to lead up to the Haus der

Deutschen Kunst

Von-der-Tann-Straße

Memorial to the

resistance toNationalSocialism Detour: The Regime’s Public Show

of Power in the “Führer City”

After 1933 Munich served as a showcase for theregime’s public demonstrations of power and propa-ganda. The Nazis wanted to compensate Munich forthe loss of influence it had suffered when the regime’scentre of power shifted to Berlin by giving the city the“cultural leadership”. Gigantic urban redevelopmentprojects were planned. While modern artists weredefamed as “degenerate”, the new rulers celebratedtheir philistine and backward-looking tastes in the“Capital of German Art”.

From 1933 Munich celebrated its roleas the birthplace of the NSDAP withbombastic pageants. Especially on 9November, which had been declared a public holiday to mark the putschattempt in November 1923, the citycentre became the stage for a luridspectacle. Commemoration ceremonieswere held on the evening of 8 Novem-

Odeonsplatz – Ludwigstraße – Galeriestraße 4 –

Hofgarten

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ber in the Bürgerbräukeller, at the Feld-herrnhalle and as of 1935 also atthe Temples of Honour on Königs platz.The temples served as the central sitesof the pseudo-religious party cult, for itwas here in 1935 that the coffins of the“martyrs” of November 1923 were re -buried. The annual re-enactment of the“March on the Feldherrnhalle” culmi-nated in a ritual-laden rally where the“racial community” was reminded ofNational Socialism’s origins in the “Capi -tal of the Movement” and exhorted to keep the faith of the “martyrs” of 9 November 1923.

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The Nazis demonstrated an acutesense of how to manipulate the mass-es. Rousing parades, night-time spec-tacles of light and pathos-laden appealswere all designed to convey to the pub-lic the regime’s special right to rule.Here the propagandists drew on therepository of ancient mythology, theNordic sagas, the Middle Ages and theoperatic world of Richard Wagner. Allthese elements could be seen at theannual Day of German Art. The massparades of 1937–1939, which wentthrough the city centre, passing a trib-une of honour at Odeonsplatz , werestaged under the motto “2000 Years ofGerman Culture” and used a mixture ofNazi ideology and nebulous ideas aboutTeutonic virtues and chivalry to portrayin a theatrical way the claim of Germancultural and intellectual superiority.

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A procession alongLudwigstraße/Odeons platz duringthe Day of GermanArt, 18 July 1937

Poster for theExhibition of GreatGerman Art, 1937

The propaganda exhibition of “Degene-rate Art” , designed specifically todefame the artists of modernism, washeld in the Hofgarten arcades in 1937.Their works were presented as evi-dence of the “cultural decay” that hadtaken place before 1933 and contrast-ed with supposedly “true German art”.Altogether 650 exhibits were displayedas “proof of degeneracy”, includingworks by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, FranzMarc, Max Beckmann, Emil Nolde,George Grosz, Kurt Schwitters andWassily Kandinsky.

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The exhibition of“Degenerate Art” wasopened in Galerie -straße in 1937 tocoincide with theopening of the Hausder Deutschen Kunst.It displayed works ofart that were to bediscredited as “dege -nerate”.

The Haus derDeutschen Kunst inPrinzregentenstraße,designed by PaulLudwig Troost, wasinaugurated in1937.This was the venuefor the annualExhibition of GreatGerman Art until1944.

The Haus der Deutschen Kunst(House of German Art) in Prinz re gen -tenstraße was intended to confirmthat Munich really was the “Capital ofGerman Art” – the honorary title Hitlerbestowed on the city on the occasionof the foundation stone ceremony inOctober 1933. The exhibition buildingwas opened ceremonially in July 1937,and the art that was subsequentlyexhibited here conformed to the Nazis’ideas of Nordic-Aryan superiority andtheir pastoral and militaristic ideals.

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Munich was one of the five “FührerCities” in the planned Greater GermanReich, whose urban fabric was to beradically transformed. The monumen-tal plans, which were drawn up inclose consultation with Hitler himself,involved the construction of a grandavenue, the Great Axis, which was tobe 2.5 kilometres long and 120 metreswide and lined with overdimensionedcultural and prestige buildings, as wellas a six-kilometre east-west axis. Thecity was to be visually dominated by ahuge dome structure for the new mainrailway station and a 200-metre-high“Monument to the Movement”. The

planned completion date for the build-ing work was 1950, but in fact only afew of these projects were ever actu-ally built. Those that were include theredevelopment of Königsplatz with thenearby Nazi Party buildings and thewidening of Von-der-Tann-Straße tocreate a connection between the Hausder Kunst and the party headquarterson Königsplatz.

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Architectural plansfor Munich: the east-ern portion of theeast-west axis, viewfrom the “Monumentto the Movement” tothe new main railwaystation (model, 1940)

Recruits being swornin at the Feldherrn -halle, November1935

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17 War memorial (1924)

18 Hofgarten

19 Café Luitpold

Brienner Straße 11

Munich in the Weimar Republic – theFormation of the Nazi Movement

In the years following 1918 the aggressive struggle be -tween revolution and counter-revolution affected Munichmore deeply than almost any other German city, butthe economic stabilisation of the mid-1920s calmed thepolitical mood for a time. When the NSDAP was re-foun ded in 1925, it initiallypursued a strategy of electioneering in a bid to attainparliamentary legitimacy, albeit without ever renounc-ing the street violence of its storm-trooper mobs. Theworld economic crisis that followed the Wall StreetCrash of 1929 plunged large sections of Munich’s popu-lation into poverty and accelerated Hitler’s rise to power.

The pre-war militarism of the Kaiser’sGermany survived largely undentedafter 1918. Political culture and every-day life in the 1920s were marked byan increasing public presence of para-military groups. Armed street fightingand killings became customary channels

From the Hofgarten to Brienner Straße

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After the horrors of war, revolution andinflation, bourgeois Munich entered anew phase of calm and stability in themid-1920s. Art and culture flourishedin Germany, and the products of a newmass culture became accessible tobroader sections of society. The press,radio and cinema became part of every -day life. For many people, modest pro s-perity returned, so that restaurantssuch as the elegant Café Luitpoldwere well patronised by affluent cus-tomers.

After the ban on the NSDAP was liftedin 1925, Hitler set about systematicallymaking it a party of the masses withthe support of wealthy patrons. Hitler’scontacts in business circles and highsociety enhanced his own personalstan ding and hence that of the party aswell. In the wake of the Great Depres -sion, the party’s share of the vote roseto more than 18 percent in the Reichs -tag elections of September 1930, andin July 1932 the NSDAP became thestrongest party in parliament for thefirst time.

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of political struggle. Continued adherence to authoritarianmilitarism and glorification of the events of the war weredecisive factors undermining the Weimar Republic, whilethe social and political crises widened the chasm betweenthe state and citizens. The Memorial to the fallen of theFirst World War in the Hofgarten , which was inauguratedin 1924, was, for example, used repeatedly by right-wingcircles as the backdrop for nationalistic commemorations.

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Café Luitpold inBrienner Straße, here in the 1930s

The NSDAP’s partynewspaper from 1920onwards was theVölkische Beob achter,published in Munichby the Franz-Eherpublishing house.

Poster for the electionof the Reich Presidentin 1932

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Munich’s Bourgeoisie and the Rise of the NSDAP

Under the patronage of influential supporters andadmirers, Hitler’s rise led directly from the lumpenmilieu of the beer halls to the salons of high society.Indeed, it was only with the financial support andsocial protection of these circles that the rise of theNSDAP in the Weimar Republic became possible.

The Munich upper and middle classesof the 1920s embraced a number ofdifferent cultural and intellectual milieus:a conservative Catholic urban bour-geoisie nostalgic for the monarchy andholding Bavarian separatist ambitions; aprogressive liberal business elite thatwas able to identify more closely withthe democratic reforms; but also othersocial groups that found commonground in their resistance to moderni-sation and in their nationalistic mindset.Many people had been shaken by the

Karolinenplatz 5, Brienner Straße [45]

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20 Hugo Bruckmann’s house

Karolinenplatz 5

21 The “Brown House”

Brienner Straße [45]

that Hitler met his later personal pho-tographer Heinrich Hoffmann, whowas to heavily influence Hitler’s publicpropaganda image.

At the end of the 1920s donations fromindustrialists allowed the party to pur-chase Palais Barlow in the fashionableBrienner Straße. After being convertedaccording to Hitler’s personal wishes,the “Brown House” served as theparty’s prestigious headquarters from1930 on.

21

47

devastation of the lost world war, the revolutionary up hea valsand ensuing violent clashes and by economic instability.Consequently, even in bourgeois circles support grew for aNazi movement that promised leadership by giving simplis-tic explanations of world affairs, pointing to scapegoats andpropagating messianic visions of a future society.

Hitler began to establish contacts with influential supportersand gain access to exclusive homes and salons early on. Hiscontacts with influential and wealthy members of Munich’selite, such as the publishers Hugo Bruckmann and ErnstHanfstaengl or the piano manufacturer Edwin Bechstein,paved the way for Hitler’s political advancement. Further -more, it was the ladies of high society who opened the doorsof their salons to Hitler and offered him their patronage.With benefactresses such as Elsa Bruckmann and HeleneBechstein vying for his favour, Hitler was able to gain intro-ductions to numerous public figures, including Richard Wag -ner’s daughter-in-law Winifred, who later became an enthu-siastic supporter of the NSDAP. It was also in these circles

20

46

Karolinenplatz, c. 1930

Palais Barlow wasbought by the NSDAPin 1930 and convertedinto the party head -quarters, known asthe “Brown House”.It housed the officesof various party orga -nisations and high-ranking Nazi person-nel, including Hitler’sdeputy Rudolf Heßand the head of theparty’s legal office,Hans Frank.

Anti-Semitic defama-tion – election posterof the Völkische Blockappealing for thevotes of workers,1924.

22

22 Gestapo headquarters in the Wittelsbacher Palais

Brienner Straße 20 [50]

49

The Nazis Seize Power: Dictatorship and the Beginnings of Persecution

On 30 January 1933 Adolf Hitler was appointed ReichChancellor at the head of a coalition government.Although the ministers from the NSDAP formed aminority in this government, Hitler was now able toextend his power without any notable resistance.

The Reichstag fire of 27 February1933, the cause of which has neverbeen satisfactorily explained, allowedHitler to su s pend basic rights. TheReichstag Fire Decree of 28 February1933 mar ked the beginning of a waveof persecution of previously unknownproportions, to which numerous oppo-nents of the Nazis in Munich fell victim.The passing of the Malicious PracticesAct on 21 March 1933 and the Enabl ingAct on 23 March 1933 reinforced thefoundations for Nazi policies of injustice,which soon revealed the regime’s true

Brienner Straße 20 [50]

� 8

town of Dachau Heinrich Himmler, theReich leader of the SS and comman-dant of the Bavarian Political Police, hadone of the first concentration campsbuilt in March 1933. Its commandant,Theodor Eicke, made the camp into aprototype and model for the Nazi con-centration camp system. Here prisonersfrom more than thirty countries – theregime’s political enemies, Jews, cler-gymen, homosexuals, Jehovah’s wit-nesses and Sinti and Roma – were de -tained under inhuman conditions, oftenfor years. Following the principle of“extermination through labour” the Naziprogramme of slave labour claimedcountless human lives.

character as a totalitarian dictatorship. Violent repression of dissenters be camethe order of the day. The police andcourts abandoned the principles of astate based on law and instead becameloyal servants of the Nazi leadership.The practice of arbitrary arrest and de -ten tion, known as “protective cus-tody” (Schutzhaft), became a centralinstrument for combating oppositionand resistance. In the neighbouring

50

Muzzling the SocialDemocratic press:occupation of theMünchener Post, 9 March 1933

Concentration campnear Dachau, punish-ment roll-call, 1938

53

Hans and SophieScholl and ChristophProbst, members ofthe “White Rose”student resistancegroup. The threewere executed inMunich’s Stadelheimprison in February1943.

The WittelsbacherPalais: the notoriousGestapo headquarters(photo from 1940)

From 1933 onwards the Wittels ba chPalais in Brienner Straße was theheadquarters of the Bavarian PoliticalPolice, which later became part of theGestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei orsecret state police). This regional head-quarters of terror spread fear and dreadamong the population. Anyone resistingthe regime in Munich fell into the clut -ches of the Gestapo. The carpenterGeorg Elser, for example, who attemp -ted to assassinate Hitler on 8 No vem -ber 1939 by planting a bomb in theBürger bräukeller, was interned in theSachsenhausen concentration campafter weeks of interrogations in Munich

22

and Berlin. He was later taken toDachau, where he was shot by the SSshortly before the end of the war. TheGestapo officials in the WittelsbacherPalais were also responsible for issu-ing orders to compile death lists andfor dispatching the deportation ordersthat led to the annihilation of Munich’sJewish community.

55

2324

25

27

28

26

23 Local Branch of the German

Labour Front of Munich and

Upper Bavaria

Brienner Straße 26–28 [46–47]

24 Antiquarian bookseller Rosenthal

Brienner Straße 26 [47]

25 House of German Physicians

Brienner Straße 23 [11]

26 Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Max-Joseph-Straße 2

[Maximiliansplatz 8]

27 Reich leadership of the National

Socialist Association of German

Lecturers

Max-Joseph-Straße 4 [6]

28 Association of National Socialist

German Physicians

Karlstraße 21

Gleichschaltung: ProfessionalOrganisations Are Brought into Line

The police, the courts, the civil service and local gov-ernment, private corporations, the press and professio -nal associations were brought firmly into line under theNazi dictatorship. Judges and state officials could beappointed and dismissed at will, and a large number ofNSDAP members rose to occupy leading positions.

The Law for the Restoration of the Pro -fessional Civil Service (7 April 1933) con-tained a so-called “Aryan paragraph”,which allowed “non-Aryan” and politi-cally undesirable officials to be dis -mis sed from the civil service. Non-stateorganisations also adopted the Naziguide lines in their personnel policy.

After the free trade unions were dis-banded in May 1933, their assets wereconfiscated and many trade-union func-tionaries were arrested. They were

Brienner Straße 26 [47], 26 – 28 [46 – 47]

and 23 [11], Max-Joseph-Straße 2 [Maximiliansplatz 8],

Max-Joseph-Straße 4 [6], Karlstraße 21

� 9

In 1933 Jewish doctors were deprivedof their licences to practise under healthinsurance plans. From 1938 onwardsthey were only allowed to practise as“providers of treatment” for Jewishpatients and not permitted to use thetitle “doctor”. The Association ofHealth-Fund Physicians of Germany,which had its Munich headquarters inthe House of German Physicians ,inaugurated in 1935, and the Asso cia -tion of National Socialist GermanPhysicians at Karlstraße 21 playeda key role in these measures. Themembers of these organisations inclu -ded not only the ideologues of raciallybased medicine but also the advocatesof medical experiments on humans,forced sterilisation and “eutha nasia”.

28

25

replaced by the German Labour Front (DAF), whose goalwas to bring together in a single organisation all “workingGermans”, regardless of their training, social status or actu-al profession, and indoctrinate them with Nazi ideology. TheDAF was made particularly attractive by the leisure activitiesand holidays offered by its “Strength through Joy” organi-sation (“Kraft durch Freude” – KdF). The headquarters ofthe Upper Bavarian branch of the DAF were located atBrienner Straße 26–28 , and in 1935 the KdF took overthe business premises and house of the Jewish antiquarianbookseller Jacques Rosenthal at Brienner Straße 26 .Rosenthal was forced to sell the building to the Reich Lea -dership of the NSDAP for well below its value.

24

23

56 57

Rosenstraße in thecity centre with flagsfor the Reichstagelections. End ofMarch 1936.

The House of Ger manPhysicians: head quar-ters of the Associa -tion of Health-FundPhysicians of Ger -many in BriennerStraße, 1938

One of the responsibilities of the Na tio-nal Socialist Association of GermanLecturers, founded in 1935 and locatedat what is today Max-Joseph-Straße 4

, was to push for the dismissal ofpolitically undesirable university lectur-ers, to run the universities according todictatorial principles and to make thecurriculum conform with Nazi ideology.The conditions for bringing the univer-sities into line were favourable in Mu -nich, for even before 1933 the NationalSocialist German Students’ Associationat the Technical University had heldalmost half the seats on the Students’Committee.

27

5958

The regional Chamber of Commerceand Industry located on Maximi lians -platz was “brought into line” imme-diately after the Nazis came to power,and in March 1933 it expelled its Je w -ish members. The chief executive ofthe Chamber of Commerce and Industrywas also the regional economic adviserto the NSDAP. From 1938 onwards theChamber was involved in the “Aryani -sation” campaign and in expropriatingthe owners of Jewish firms.

26

After seizing power,the Nazis brought allprofessional organi-sations into line anddisbanded the tradeunions. Occupationof the trade-unionheadquarters inPestalozzistraße on9 –10 March 1933

29

30

31

32

35

33

34

29 National Socialist Women’s

Organisation/Reich Treasury

Department (1938–1945)

Karolinenplatz 2

30 Supreme SA Leadership,

branch office (1934–1945)

Barer Straße 7–11

31 Reich Central Propaganda Office

of the NSDAP/branch office

(1936–1945)

Karlstraße 6–8

32 Reich Leadership of the SS/

administrative office, SS court

(1936–1945)

Karlstraße 10

33 Reich Youth Leadership of the

NSDAP (1936–1940)

Karlstraße 14

34 Reich Leadership of the National

Socialist German Students’

Association (1936–1945)

Karlstraße 16

35 Reich Press Office of the NSDAP/

branch office (1938 –1945)

Karlstraße 18

61

The Party Quarter – Society under Party Rule

The distinctive classical architecture of Königsplatz fittedperfectly the Nazi leadership’s need for a grand settingfor its activities. The NSDAP had already bought thePalais Barlow building near Königsplatz in 1930 andsubsequently had it refurbished as the party headquar-ters (the “Brown House”). After 1933 a number of otherkey offices of the Nazi bureaucracy were housed in thearea around Königsplatz.

Making society conform with Nazi idealsand achieving the bureaucratic centrali-sation, documentation and control of allareas of life by means of a powerful andall-pervasive state and party apparatus– these were the goals of the Nazi lea -dership’s domestic policy. Although after1933 the Nazi centre of power wasmo ved to Berlin, key offices of theNSDAP and its associated organisationsre main ed in Munich. The area around

Karolinenplatz 2, Barer Straße 7 –11,

Karlstraße 6 – 8, 10, 14, 16, 18

� 10

6362

The National Socia -list Students’ Asso -ciation celebrates itstenth anniversary inJanuary 1936 with aconsecration of thecolours in the Odeon,in the centre RudolfHeß.

Day of German Youth– Hitler Youth rally atthe Feldherrenhalle,1933

Königs platz became the central partyquarter, where many party offices andNazi organisations were housed in morethan fifty buildings – from nationaloffices responsible for the whole Reichdown to regional branches. At times asmany as six thousand people were em -ployed here. Alongside the party admin-is tra tion itself – such as, for exam ple,the Reich Leadership of the NSDAPin Brienner Straße [45] (the “BrownHouse”) – the head offices of manyNazi organisations were located here,including the Reich Youth Lea der ship

, the Reich Trea sury Depart ment ofthe National So cialist Women’s Orga -nisation , the Reich Leadership of theNational So cialist German Students’Association , the Reich Leadershipof the SS (administrative offices and theSS court) , the Supreme SA Leader -32

34

29

33

ship and central party institutions,such as the Reich Central Propa gandaOffice or the Reich Press Office .

These institutions and authorities weretightly organised and centrally con -trol led. They were generally structuredalong the same lines as the regionaland district organisations of the NSDAP.The party used them to penetrate soci-ety and as highly effective instrumentsfor bringing people into line ideological-ly and for keeping them under surveil-lance and controlling their private lives.

30

31 35

The Reich PressOffice of the NSDAPat Karlstraße 18,1938 –1945

65

Jewish Citizens of Munich Deprived of Rights and Property, Deported andMurderedFor Jewish Germans, 30 January 1933 – the day Hitlerbecame Reich Chancellor – marked the transition froma campaign of verbal intimidation to one of state-organised persecution. Munich had led the way withrespect to so-called Jewish policy from an early stageand had shown particular zeal in conceiving and carry-ing out measures to ostracise Jews and deprive themof their rights, long before these practices came intoeffect in the rest of the Reich.

From 1933 onwards Jews were sys-tematically excluded from all areas ofpublic life. By 1 April 1933 – just twomonths after the Nazis came to power– centrally controlled violence was beingperpetrated against Jewish individuals,businesses and institutions, and exces -ses were committed in Munich as wellas elsewhere. In the period that followed

From Sophienstraße 6 to Brienner Straße 12 [52]37

36

36

Reg

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al

Fin

an

ce A

dm

inis

trati

on

So

ph

ien

str

aß

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37

Main

Off

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or

Lo

cal

Go

vern

men

t o

f th

e N

SD

AP

Gab

els

berg

ers

traß

e 4

1

38

“M

od

ellh

au

s A

do

lf R

oth

sch

ild

”

Bri

en

ner

Str

aß

e 1

2 [

52]

38

�11

at private property, art collections andlibraries, houses, flats and land, but alsoat commercial enterprises. A prominentexample was the “Modellhaus AdolfRothschild”, a dressmaker’s and furri-er’s shop located at Brienner Straße 12

. Owing to a dramatic fall in sales,Adolf Rothschild was forced to stage aclearance sale in September 1938 andthus sell the business for well below itsvalue. Although Rothschild himselfmanaged to emigrate to London, mostof his assets were confiscated.

From 1939 onwards many Jewish ten-ants were evicted from their flats tospecially established “Jewish houses”.

38

Nazi propaganda, especially, made sure that orders to Je w -ish businesses declined. Citizens who patronised Jewishshops were abused in the street by uniformed officials orpublicly denounced.

The “Aryanisation” carried out between 1933 and 1945took the form of a looting campaign of enormous propor-tions. The chief instigator of this campaign from 1938 on -wards, as well as its main beneficiary, was the state. Along -side the most important organ of regional authority, the Gau -leitung of Munich and Upper Bavaria, the Munich RegionalFinance Administration at Sophienstraße 6 and theNSDAP’s Main Office for Local Government in Gabels ber ger -straße also played key roles in the unrestrained plunder-ing of the Jews. The greed of the “Aryanisers” was directed

37

36

66

Nameplates ofJewish lawyers’ offices plastered withanti-Semitic propa-ganda, Karlsplatz, 1 April 1933

The boycott of Jewishbusinesses on 1 April1933 – Bambergerand Hertz, Kaufinger -str. 22

Most of these were properties ownedby Jews that had been taken over forthis purpose. On the outskirts of thecity, in Berg am Laim and Milberts -hofen, two transit camps came intobeing, which served from the end of1941 as clearing points for deporta-tions to the death camps.

The pogrom of November 1938, knownas the “Kristallnacht” (Night of Bro -ken Glass), or “Reichspogromnacht”,marked the beginning of the final mur-derous phase of the persecution of theJews. Following the terrible events of9/10 November 1938, which are today

recalled by a commemorative plaque in the Old Town Hall,the Jews finally lost all their remaining rights. They wereforbidden to visit theatres, cinemas, restaurants, museumsor parks. Their driving licences were withdrawn, their tele-phones were cut off and they were forbidden to keep petsor use public transport. This persecution redoubled Jewishefforts to emigrate, and by 1942 almost eight thousand ofMunich’s Jews had fled. However, starting in November1941, close to three thousand citizens of Munich were de -ported to Kaunas (Lithuania), Piaski (Poland), Auschwitzand Theresienstadt, where they were murdered. Theirmemory is preserved by a commemorative plaque in theNew Town Hall intended to express the sorrow and shameof the people of Munich and their horror at the silence thatsurrounded the persecution and deportations at the time.

68 69

Transit camp inMilbertshofen: from here Munich’sJews were deportedto the exterminationcamps in the east, 20 November 1941.

The burnt-out syna-gogue in Herzog-Rudolf-Straße,November 1938

71

Acquiescence and Resistance: The Church in the Nazi State

The role of the Churches and the clergy during the Naziera was contradictory. Although some groups of Chris -tians showed courageous resistance to the Nazis, high-ranking members of the clergy, in particular, remainedsilent in the face of the monstrous injustices being per-petrated. The Church leaders’ reticence saved the Churchfrom becoming involved in a conflict with the Nazi lea -dership that would have threatened its very existence,but at the same time it helped to shore up the regime.

The behaviour of Munich’s CardinalMichael von Faulhaber exemplifiedthis ambivalence. In his sermons hedistanced himself from Nazi ideology,and in 1937 he drafted the Papal ency -clical Mit brennender Sorge (With Burn-ing Concern), a text that places him inthe ranks of the general resistance toNational Socialism. On the other hand,he avoided taking up any clear public

Katharina-von-Bora-Straße 13 [Arcisstraße 13],

Brienner Straße [15]

40

39 Bavarian Protestant Church

Katharina-von-Bora-Straße 13 [Arcisstraße 13]

40 Papal nunciature (until 1934)

Brienner Straße [15]

39�12

to his “most loyal opposition”. More -over, there was no official protest bythe Protestant Church against the in -justices of the Nazi regime.

Nevertheless, Church resistance inMunich was not merely a marginal phe -nomenon. As a rule, though, resistancecame not from leading or prominentChurch functionaries but almost exclu-sively from the grass roots. Some cou -rageous members of the clergy and laypeople – such as Rupert Mayer, FritzGerlich and Alfred Delp – paid for theircommitment with their health or theirlives.

73

position on the Nazi campaigns of violence and murder.Faulhaber’s commentary welcomed the new government,which, in his opinion, had “taken possession of power in alegal way unlike any revolutionary party”. His appraisal of theNazis was certainly in tune with that of the Vatican, which inJuly 1933 concluded a Concordat with the German Reich,thus enhancing its international status. The chief author ofthe Concordat was Eugenio Pacelli (elected Pope Pius XIIin 1939), the Vatican’s emissary to Munich until 1925. More -over, from 1887 until 1934 the Papal nunciature (the “BlackHouse”) was located opposite the “Brown House” inBrienner Straße [15].

In the Protestant Church Hans Meiser, the Bishop ofBavaria, who came to office in May 1933, was initially closeto the regime. Not only did the Protestant Church “bringitself into line” and agree to follow the Führer, Meiser alsoshowed sympathy for the “German Christians” (DeutscheChristen), a group with ties to the regime. Although Meiserdistanced himself from this position in 1933–34 and wentover to supporting the “Confessing Church”, which wascritical of the Nazis, he professed to Hitler that he belonged

39

40

72

Until 1934 the Papalnunciature (the“Black House”) waslocated directlyopposite the “BrownHouse” in BriennerStraße.

Hans Meiser, Bishopof Bavaria from 1933to 1955, at the head-quarters of theBavarian ProtestantChurch, 1934

Pater Rupert Mayer(1876 –1945) was aleading figure inCatholic resistance tothe Nazis in Munich.

75

Munich as an Arena for International Policies of Injustice

A central concern of the Nazi leadership was to over-come Germany’s international isolation. The aggressiveforeign policy it pursued to this end was designed tomake the German Reich not only a dominant powerwithin Europe but also a world power. Although foreignpolicy decisions were, of course, taken mainly in thecapital Berlin, Munich also played an important role inthe country’s international ambitions.

Meetings with high-ranking guests fromforeign states were held in the “Füh rer-bau” (Hitler’s office building) in Arcis -straße . Here the ground was pre-pared for important foreign policy moves– for example, in talks between Hitlerand the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.Fascist Italy was Hitler’s most importantally in his striving to make Germany aworld power. The “Berlin-Rome Axis”,which came into being in 1936, provided

41

Arcisstraße 12, Katharina-von-Bora-Straße 10

42

41 “Führerbau”

Arcisstraße 12

42 Party Administration Building and Reich Treasury of the NSDAP

Katharina-von-Bora-Straße 10 [Arcisstraße 10]

41�13

Munich Agreement, which was to have grave consequen -ces: in a bid to achieve “peace in our time” Daladier andChamberlain allowed themselves to be pressured into con-ceding the Sudetenland to Germany. This policy of appease-ment represented a major foreign policy victory for Hitler.

The “Führerbau” and the Party Administration Buildinglocated on the south side of Brienner Straße , where thefiles on NSDAP members were kept, were built accordingto plans by the architect Paul Ludwig Troost (1878–1934).After 1957 the former “Führerbau” became the Universityof Music and Performing Arts. The former AdministrationBuilding has housed the Central Institute for History of Artsince 1947.

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both states with a vital basis for pursuing their expansionistinterests. This was one of the reasons why Mussolini madeseveral state visits to Munich. In September 1937 the Naziregime used a visit by “Il Duce” for a display of nationalconsciousness and military strength. This demonstration ofcombat-readiness went hand in hand with an aggressiveGerman foreign policy, which included military interventionin the Spanish Civil War of 1936–37 and the annexationof Austria in March 1938.

At the height of the Sudeten crisis in Czechoslovakia a meet-ing was held in September 1938 attended by Hitler, Musso -lini, the French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier and theBritish Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. This meeting,held in the “Führerbau”, resulted in the conclusion of the

76

Mussolini’s state visitto Munich – Hitlerand the Italian dicta-tor in front of theTemples of Honour(in the backgroundthe “Führerbau”), 25 September 1937

The “Führerbau” of the NSDAP (left), completedin 1937, was the venue for the Munich Agreement.

The “four powers conference” (from l. Cham ber -lain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini) on 29 September1938 sealed the fate of the Sudetenland, handingit over to the German Reich. Great Britain andFrance hoped thus to avert war.

79

Munich, the Party Headquarters – Berlin, the Centre of Power

As the capital of the German Reich, Berlin was thepolitical centre of the Nazi state. Munich, as the “Capitalof the Movement”, served above all for the glorificationof the NSDAP. It was also the home of the Reich leader -ship of the NSDAP. Other Nazi organisations and asso-ciations had either their headquarters or branch officesin the area around Königsplatz.

After 1933 Munich increasingly playeda subordinate role to Berlin in the Nazipower system. Nevertheless, the“Capital of the Movement” remainedthe centre of the party’s bureaucraticapparatus. A number of influential partyfigures, like Rudolf Heß, the Führer’sdeputy from 1936 to 1941, had theiroffices here. Martin Bormann, the headof the Party Chancellery from 1941 to1945, occupied the former Papal nun-ciature , while the headquarters of 40

Brienner Straße, Karolinenplatz (Barer Straße,

Karlstraße, Katharina-von-Bora-Straße)

45

40

44

information board

43

40 Staff of Hitler’s deputy,

Rudolf Heß (1936–1941);

Party Chancellery

Martin Bormann (from 1941);

Brienner Straße [15]

43 Central information board on the

former party quarter; intersection

Arcisstraße/Brienner Straße

43

44 NSDAP Supreme Court/

administrative office (1935–1945)

Karolinenplatz 4

45 Main archives, Reich organisation-

al leadership, main personnel

and organisational office of the

NSDAP (1934–1945)

Barer Straße 15

the Reich Treasurer of the NSDAP werein the Party Administration Building .

The Führer’s deputy (from 1941 on -wards the Party Chancellery) was incharge of control and leadership func-tions vis-à-vis the party and the state –for instance, in racial and personnelpolicy. The huge bureaucracy headedby the Reich Treasurer (which at timesemployed more than 3,200 people)was not only responsible for managingand increasing the NSDAP’s enormousassets, but also supervised the party’smembership, which at the end of thewar numbered around eight million.

42

The Party Supreme Court at Karoli nen-platz 4 was responsible for settlinginternal party conflicts and discipliningindividual members whose behaviourmight be damaging to the party. TheMain Archives of the NSDAP, headedby Robert Ley , were housed at BarerStraße 15. These archives played animportant role in portraying the historyof the party in pseudo-religious, mytho-logical terms.

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45

80

Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Heß(1894 –1987)

In the Temples ofHonour the coffins of the “martyrs” ofthe failed putsch of1923 were publiclydisplayed.

Between 1933 and1938 the nineteenth-century ensemble onKönigsplatz wasmodified to make thesquare a centralparading ground andvenue for celebratingthe Nazi cult.

83

Königsplatz: Showcase of a Dictatorship

No other place in Munich is so closely connected withthe Nazi movement and its public shows of power asKönigsplatz . Its grand classicist ambience made thesquare the ideal backdrop for staging Nazi spectacles.In 1935 the square’s appearance was modified consid-erably: it was turned into a parade ground and twoTemples of Honour were built, along with other newbuildings, on its eastern perimeter.

By virtue of its size and central location,Königsplatz had already become a gath-ering point for political meetings duringthe 1920s, and even before 1933 theNSDAP showed an interest in this pub-lic space so close to its “Brown House”.As its membership and political signifi-cance grew, so did the party’s need forostentatious parades. In 1933 Königs -platz was the venue for one of the first

46

Königsplatz, Arcis-/Katharina-von-Bora-Straße

Ecke Brienner Straße

47

46 Königsplatz

47 Temples of Honour

Arcis-/Katharina-von-Bora-Straße/Brienner Straße

4746�14

85

The newly built Temples of Honour and the two centralparty buildings in Arcisstraße fundamentally alteredthe original architectural balance of the square. The coffinsof the “martyrs” of the failed putsch of November 1923were put on public show in the Temples of Honour, whichserved as the quasi-religious focus of the square. An “eter-nal vigil” was posted here round the clock. The Glyptothek(1830), the Propylaea (1862) and the Antikensammlung (builtin 1845 and now a museum housing a collection of classi-cal art) served from then on merely as a classicist backdrop.

47

41 42

major public demonstrations of power. During the nationallyorganised book-burning on 10 May 1933, works by ErichKästner, Heinrich Mann, Karl Marx, Erich Maria Remarque,Kurt Tucholsky, Theodor Wolff and many others were burnedhere.

In 1935 twenty thousand granite paving slabs were laid onthe square and it was equipped with a modern electricalsystem capable of providing theatrical lighting for publicevents. In Arcisstraße two Temples of Honour and twomonumental party buildings flanked the whole ensemble.The square was thus turned into the central parade groundfor mass rallies in Munich.

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Military parade on Königsplatz, 19 November 1938

Parade to mark 9 November, in the back-ground the Propylaea from the era of KingLudwig I, 9 November 1935

The book-burning onKönigsplatz on 10 May1933

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Dealing with the Past – the Post-War Nazi Heritage

By the time the U.S. Army entered Munich on 30 April1945 the city had been largely reduced to rubble. Laterreconstruction efforts aimed to restore the city to howit had been prior to the Third Reich. Nazi-era buildingsthat had remained intact were assigned new functionsand no attempt was made to draw attention to theirformer use. The question of how Munich shouldaddress its past therefore became a controversial issuethat sparked many debates.

Air raids had a huge impact on the cityand the lives of its citizens, with bombsdestroying a large part of the city centre.American forces liberated Dachau con-centration camp on 29 April 1945 andreached Munich a day later. The capitu-lation of the German armed forces on 8 May 1945 sealed the fate of the Naziregime, and an American military gov-ernment took control of Munich.

[Herzog-Max-Straße 3–7], [Herzog-Rudolf-Straße 3 – 5]

48

49

48

Lib

era

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ue (

dem

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1938)

Herz

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-Max-S

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–7

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Ort

ho

do

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destr

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1938)

Herz

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–5

After the war, former concentrationcamp inmates, forced labourers, POWsand refugees from the east gathered inMunich. Very few of Munich’s Jewishcitizens survived the concentrationcamps to return to the city. The JewishCommunity , which had twelvethousand members before the Nazistook power, had only three hundred atthe end of 1945.

48 49

Today there is little visual evidence of the era of Nazi rule orthe damage caused by the war. When the city was rebuilt,advocates of reconstruction of the pre-1933 architecturewon the day. The Temples of Honour on Königsplatz weredemolished by the American military government in 1947,although the pedestals were later declared historic monu-ments. The granite slabs that had been laid on Königsplatzin the mid-1930s were replaced with grass in 1988, restor-ing the square to its original appearance.

88 89

The New Town Hallon Marienplatzserved as the head-quarters of theAmerican militarygovernment.

The city centre in1945 with theFrauenkirche in the background

Commemoration at the Feldherrnhalle, 1947

A small plaque mounted in 1984 on the building now occupied by the Bayerische Landesbank (Bank of Bavaria), at the intersection ofBrienner Straße and Türkenstraße, states that this was the site of theGestapo headquarters.

91

21 Former ”Brown House“

Brienner Straße;

site of the future documentation centre

21 The Documentation Centre for theHistory of National Socialism in Brienner Straße

Addressing the history of National Socialism in a mannerdesigned to combat ignorance has in recent decadesbecome a central aspect of the political and cultural iden-tity of the Federal Republic of Germany. Today, morethan ever before, the debate about the Holocaust and theNazi regime are part of the German culture of remem-brance, which is increasingly focusing on places associat-ed with those responsible for Nazi crimes in addition toplaces connected with their victims.

The first efforts to document the city’sNazi past in the form of a public educa-tion centre date back to 1945. In 1989the city council suggested establishinga “House of Contemporary History” onthe site of the former “Brown House”.This project was not pursued, however.

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Not least as a result of efforts by indi-vidual citizens and citizens’ initiatives, the idea was revived in 2001. The Cityof Munich and the Free State of Bava riaresolved to create a place in Munich tocommemorate the history of NationalSocialism and to address the city’s roleduring the Nazi era. Follow ing somediscussion, a decision was eventuallytaken to build a documentation centreas a place where citizens and other visitors could learn about political history. The location chosen for thenew centre was the site of the former“Brown House” (destroyed duringthe war) in Brienner Straße at the heartof the former party quarter.

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In 1947 the remainsof the Temples ofHonour were demol-ished in line with adirective issued bythe Allied ControlCouncil on 13 May1946, ordering allNazi monuments tobe removed.

The winning designfor the new buildingwas submitted by theBerlin firm of archi-tects Georg • Scheel •Wetzel. In addition tofour floors of exhibi-tion space it will alsoinclude educationalfacilities, a libraryand a hall for holdingpublic events.

Between 2006 and 2008 the City ofMunich, the State of Bavaria and theGerman federal government reachedan agreement to split the cost of build-ing the centre three ways. The win -n ing design in the international architec-tural competition for the new centrewas a plain, white cube-shaped build-ing conceived to contrast with the sur-rounding Nazi-era architecture. Aninterdisciplinary academic team at thecity’s Department of Culture is current-ly working on a concept for the futureexhibition and educational facilities atthe new centre.

The centre will be built as a cooperationproject by the City of Munich, the FreeState of Bavaria and the German feder-al government. Following its inaugur -ation, planned for the end of 2013, theDocumentation Centre will be run bythe City of Munich.

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The Documentation Centre for the Historyof National Socialism on the internetFor more detailed information please visit our website:

www.ns-dokumentationszentrum-muenchen.de

ThemenGeschichtsPfad (Thematic HistoryTrail) “National Socialism in Munich“The thematic history trail as a brochure, an enlarged audioversion and a web presentation is available both in Germanand English.

www.muenchen.de/tgp

Selected bibliographyRichard J. Evans, The Coming of the Third Reich, London 2003

Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich in Power, 1933–1939,London 2005

Ian Kershaw, Hitler, 2 vols., London 1998/2000

David Clay Large, Where Ghosts Walked. Munich’s Road tothe Third Reich, New York 1997

Gavriel D. Rosenfeld, Munich and Memory. Architecture,Monuments and the Legacy of the Third Reich, Berkeley,Los Angeles, London 2000

München – »Hauptstadt der Be we gung«, exhibition catalogue, Münchner Stadtmuseum, Munich 2005

Further information

Photo creditsAll photographs courtesy ofStadtarchiv München

except pages:16; 17; 24, bottom; 25; 28, 76; 77, r. (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek)

51 (Bundesarchiv Koblenz)

73, top (Landeskirchliches Archiv Nürnberg)

15, l.; 21, bottom; 30; 35 (Stadtmuseum München)

89, r. (Landeshauptstadt München)

93 (Georg Scheel Wetzel, Berlin)

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Existing and planned titles in the cultural history trails

series (KulturGeschichtsPfade) (available in German only):

Stadtbezirk 01 Altstadt-Lehel

Stadtbezirk 02 Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt

Stadtbezirk 03 Maxvorstadt

Stadtbezirk 04 Schwabing-West

Stadtbezirk 05 Au-Haidhausen

Stadtbezirk 06 Sendling

Stadtbezirk 07 Sendling-Westpark

Stadtbezirk 08 Schwanthalerhöhe

Stadtbezirk 09 Neuhausen-Nymphenburg

Stadtbezirk 10 Moosach

Stadtbezirk 11 Milbertshofen-Am Hart

Stadtbezirk 12 Schwabing-Freimann

Stadtbezirk 13 Bogenhausen

Stadtbezirk 14 Berg am Laim

Stadtbezirk 15 Trudering-Riem

Stadtbezirk 16 Ramersdorf-Perlach

Stadtbezirk 17 Obergiesing

Stadtbezirk 18 Untergiesing-Harlaching

Stadtbezirk 19 Thalkirchen-Obersendling-

Forstenried-Fürstenried-Solln

Stadtbezirk 20 Hadern

Stadtbezirk 21 Pasing-Obermenzing

Stadtbezirk 22 Aubing-Lochhausen-Langwied

Stadtbezirk 23 Allach-Untermenzing

Stadtbezirk 24 Feldmoching-Hasenbergl

Stadtbezirk 25 Laim

For further information please visit: www.muenchen.de/kgp

Imprint:

Landeshauptstadt München

Kulturreferat, Burgstr. 4, 80331 München

Stadtarchiv, Winzererstr. 68, 80797 München

© 4th impression 2010

Concept

Ursula Saekel M.A., Dr. Andreas Heusler,

Dr. Angelika Baumann

Responsible for content

Kulturreferat: Dr. Angelika Baumann, Ursula Saekel M.A.

Stadtarchiv: Dr. Andreas Heusler

Translation

Melanie Newton

Editor

Dr. Kathrin Kollmeier

Concept and realisation of the audio version

Horst Konietzny, xinober

Graphic design

Heidi Sorg & Christof Leistl, München

Printed and bound by

Diet GbR

2010