NS-Dokumentationszentrum

The NS-Dokumentationszentrum der Stadt Köln is located in the EL-DE-Haus at Appellhofplatz 23–25; it is an institution that combines a museum, a memorial, and a research centre on the history of Cologne during the National Socialist period (1933–1945).

At the end of the 1970s the public drew attention to the preserved basement of the former Gestapo prison; the cells and the inscriptions left by prisoners were then conserved and a memorial site opened in 1981. At the same time a research unit was established at the Historisches Archiv. The city council decided in 1987 to found the NS‑Dokumentationszentrum, which began its work in the EL‑DE‑Haus in 1988. In 1997 the research unit was reorganised administratively and placed on an equal footing with the municipal museums. A 2017 resolution also provided for the use of the upper floors of the building for a planned “Haus für Erinnern und Demokratie.”

At the centre is the former Gestapo prison in the basement with its preserved cells and prisoners’ inscriptions; since 2013 the inner courtyard, the former execution site, has also been included among the presentation sites. On two further floors the permanent exhibition “Köln im Nationalsozialismus” presents the local history of those years; this is complemented by annually changing special exhibitions. The research department reconstructs lost file holdings, provides the scholarly basis for exhibitions and publishes its findings; a specialised library as well as work and media rooms are available. The building also houses the Info‑ und Bildungsstelle gegen Rechtsextremismus (ibs), which offers educational programmes for young people, training for multipliers, regional advisory services and, since March 2021, a reporting office for antisemitic incidents as well as counselling services for those affected.

Visitor numbers rose from just under 26,000 in 2002 to over 97,000 in the record year 2019 and fell sharply as a result of the COVID‑19 closures in 2020/2021.