Specialists are currently examining the dilapidated Zeppelin Grandstand on the former Nazi Party Rally Grounds in Nuremberg. Stone by stone, the experts from a specialist company in Bamberg examine the 370 meter long and 20 meter high grandstand and note the individual damage. The work will be finished in June next year, says restorer Heike Wolter. Then the experts want to make a recommendation on how the buildings could be repaired.
From 1933 to 1938, the Nazis staged their propaganda party rallies on the extensive grounds in the south-east of the city, to which hundreds of thousands of party members and spectators came to Nuremberg for a week. The Zeppelin Grandstand and the Zeppelin Field are the only buildings that the National Socialists completed and used on the eleven square kilometer site.
However, large parts of it are dilapidated and cordoned off with fences, because falling parts of the wall could injure people. According to the city, around 300,000 visitors from all over the world come to the former Nazi Party Rally Grounds every year to find out more about the Nazi past. For around 85 million euros, the city now wants to have the buildings repaired in such a way that they remain in their current condition and can be entered safely.
A major challenge is how to deal with the difficult legacy, explains Hans-Joachim Wagner, head of the responsible city department. The buildings should be secured, but not fundamentally renovated. Which materials and processes are suitable is also still open. “We are in the middle of the process.” Construction work is expected to begin in 2024. These should last several years.