Footsteps of WWII · Western & southern Germany
Nazi Party Rally Grounds & Documentation Centre
Museum · 1933–1938
The story
Six Nazi Party rallies were held at Nuremberg between 1933 and 1938, mass rituals of marching columns, floodlights and speeches designed to show a nation united behind Hitler. Albert Speer designed most of the grounds, including the Zeppelin Field grandstand; the Congress Hall was designed by Ludwig and Franz Ruff. At the 1935 rally the Reichstag, summoned to Nuremberg, passed the Nuremberg Laws that stripped German Jews of citizenship. The Congress Hall was never finished: work stopped in 1943 at about 39 m of a planned 68.5 m, and its interior was never roofed. In April 1945 the US Army blew the giant swastika off the Zeppelin grandstand. The Documentation Centre opened in the north wing of the Congress Hall in 2001.
What to look for
Inside the Congress Hall the new permanent exhibition explains the rallies, their staging and their victims. Then walk the grounds: the unfinished horseshoe of the Congress Hall, the Great Road, the lake and the crumbling Zeppelin grandstand where Hitler spoke.
Plan your visit
Mon–Fri 9:00–18:00, Sat–Sun 10:00–18:00; adults €7.50. The new permanent exhibition has run on trial since 22 May 2026, with an official opening on 4 November 2026 (closed 3–4 Nov). Grounds partly closed during the DTM race and Rock im Park. Check the website before you go.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
Nearby sites
All 160 sites in Footsteps of WWII →
Footsteps of WWII: Europe 1939–1945
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The whole Second World War in Europe, from the first shots at Westerplatte on 1 September 1939 to the German surrender in May 1945: Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Normandy, Arnhem, Bastogne, Stalingrad, Berlin and the camps, in 15 areas from Britain to Russia.
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