Tribuene Zeppelinfeld / Reichsparteitagsgelaende Nuernberg

[Reichsadler]

Can't rememeber when the great stand (Tribuene) at the Zeppelinfeld in Nuernberg was demolished (ca. 75%). I mean the parts right and left to the middle part where Hitler stood to give speeches... the parts with the columns.

Was it 1969??? Does anyone know?

[Don C]

Hello -

I believe it was the late '60s. The columns had become so decriepit that the Army took them down as a safety precaution. My wife and I were there in March - still incredibly impressive!

Don

[Geoff Walden]

The columns at the sides of the Zeppelintribüne were removed ca. 1967. That is the date given in the museum display there.

For a series of then-and-now photos of the site, see:

http://www.reichinruins.simonides.org/nuernberg2.htm

Geoff Walden

[JLEES]

I was also there in February. It's worth while visiting the Zeppelin Stadium and the Reich Congress Hall. The first time I saw the Zeppelin Stadium in the early eighties when it was falling apart and there was obvious signs of vandalism to the structure. Since then they've made some efforts to protect the stadium from destruction. Both have museums in them are dedicated to the Nazi period and the displays in the Congress Hall are some of the best. Meanwhile, you can also stay at the Deutscher Hoff Hotel and maybe even get to stay in one of the rooms Hitler used during the rallies. I believe they're numbers #4, #5 and #6. The Deutscher Hoff is about three block from the train station and across the street from the Nuremberg Opera Theater. I stayed in one of them and there was a lot of noise from the street below due to all the trafic, but it was a treat nevertheless. Whenever in Europe plan on visiting Nuremberg for a few days.
James

[White Leopard]

From "INSIDE THE THIRD REICH" by Albert Speer, pg. 66

[ "....The building on the Zeppelin field was begun at once, in order to have at least the platform ready for the coming Party Rally. To clear the ground for it, the Nuremburg steetcar depot had to be removed. I passed by its remains after it had been blown up. The iron reinforcements protruded from concrete debris and had already begun to rust. One could easily visualize their further decay. This deary sight led me to some thoughts which I later propounded to Hitler under the pretentious heading of 'A Theory of Ruin Value'. The idea was that buildings of modern construction were poorly suited to form that 'bridge of tradition' to future generations which Hitler was calling for. It was hard to imagine that rusting heaps of rubble could communicate these heroic inspirations which Hitler admired in the momuments of the past. By using special materials and by applying certain principles of statics, we should be able to build structures which even in a state of decay, after hundreds or (such were our reckonings) thousands of years would more or less resemble Roman models.

To illustrate my ideas I had a romantic drawing prepared. It showed what the reviewing stand on the Zeppelin Field would look like after generations of neglect, overgrown with ivy, its columns fallen, the walls crumbling here and there, but the outlines still clearly recognizable. In Hitler's entourage this drawing was regarded as blasphemous. That I could even conceive of a period of decline for the newly founded Reich destined to last a thousand years seemed outragous to many of Hitler's closest followers. But he himself accepted my ideas as logical and illuminating. He gave orders that in the future the important buildings of his Reich were to be be erected in keeping with the principles of this 'law of ruins'...]"

I wonder what Speer and Hitler would think of the present state of their Tribune building? They were probably too optomistic in their sketches.

[Reichsadler]

1967 may be right....

Personally, I don't think these columns had to be removed due to lack of stability. I think they had to be removed because the whole monument was too impressive. This architecture was so persuasive compared to the 'democratic' post-war buildings that the politicians felt they had to react.... and because they couldn't build a better architecture, their only choice was to destroy the Albert Speer-masterpiece!