Bavarian places of remembrance of the horrors of the Nazi era are to receive more than 51 million euros from the federal government. The federal government is funding the preservation and conversion of the congress hall on the former Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg into a cultural center with almost 29.5 million euros. The Bundestag Budget Committee decided this on Thursday in Berlin. According to the Bavarian Ministry of Culture, the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial will receive another 17.5 million euros and the one in Flossenbürg will receive 4.3 million euros.
“This is another strong commitment from the federal government to support Nuremberg in dealing with its historical heritage,” said Nuremberg’s mayor Marcus König (CSU), referring to the budget committee’s decision. The Congress Hall, which was never completed, is one of the greatest architectural legacies of the National Socialists.
During the renovation of the listed opera house in downtown Nuremberg, a replacement venue for opera and ballet is to be built in its inner courtyard. In addition to rehearsal rooms and workshops for the State Theater, the shell of the building will be used as spaces for the independent art and cultural scene. The latter can be used, for example, for exhibitions, events or as studios. The federal government had already promised to support this with 20 million euros last year.
According to the city, the almost 29.5 million euros from federal funds now approved will be used, among other things, to repair the roof, renovate the facade, replace windows and create escape and rescue routes. The city announced that all measures served to preserve the listed building and were a prerequisite for using the building as a cultural and art venue. The state and the city will each cover half of the remaining costs, which are estimated at almost 30 million euros.
According to the Bavarian Memorials Foundation, the two reconstructed prisoner barracks at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial are to be redesigned thanks to federal funding of 17.5 million euros and state funds of the same amount. In the future, these will house an exhibition and seminar rooms. 4.3 million each from the federal and state governments will go to the concentration camp memorial in order to open up a former SS administrative building and use it for remembrance work.
“The federal government and the Free State will together live up to their historical responsibility to continue commemorating and remembering the crimes of the Nazi regime even after the end of the era of contemporary witnessing,” said Bavaria’s Minister of Culture Michael Piazolo (Free Voters).