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The NS Documentation Center of the City of Cologne (NS-Dokumentationszentrum der Stadt Köln) in the EL-DE-House, the former headquarters of the Cologne Gestapo, is one of the local memorials that have come into being in North-Rhine-Westphalia during the last two decades.

The EL-DE-House owes its name to the initials of its builder. Leopold Dahmen, a wholesaler of gold articles and clocks. Since December 1935 it had been the seat of the Gestapo, the Secret Police, for the Cologne area. Due to an irony of fate it remained mostly undamaged by the bombing raids on the city.

The NS-Documentation Centre is an institution that belongs to the City of Cologne. It has a number of different functions: Firstly, it is a memorial with the Gestapo prison in the basement of the building; on the other hand, it is an academic institution for documentation and research; moreover, it contains an area for exhibitions, very much like a museum, and, ultimately, it is a place for learning and education.

The material basis of the work of the NS-Documentation Centre is documentation. The NS-Documentation Centre tries to reconstruct the records that have been mostly destroyed during World War II by the use of replacement documentation. Another approach are the interviews with eye-witnesses. In addition to that there are materials on a number of subjects. All the material is generally accessible and reconstructed with the help of a database.

The Memorial Gestapo Prison
The former house prison of the Gestapo with the remaining prison cells and the inscriptions of the prisoners remind us intensely of the connection of the EL-DE-House to the terrors of the period of Nazism in Germany. The memorial is the centre point of the NS-Documentation Centre.

As the Gestapo moved into the EL-DE-House in 1935, they already built a house prison here. It was only slightly changed in 1943. It is one of the best preserved prisons from the time of Nazi rule. The house prison consisted of 10 cells, washing rooms and sanitary facilities, and rooms for the guards of the Gestapo. After the war, only the dividing walls between cells 2 and 3 as well as between cells 5 and 6 were torn out. In the early eighties, 1800 independent inscriptions and drawings written with pencil, chalk, lipstick, or carved with iron nails, screws or fingernails could be uncovered after costly restorations. They document the sorrow and mourning, but also the self-assertion and rebellion of the prisoners.

The Permanent Exhibition
The permanent exhibition in the EL-DE-House deals with the development of National Socialism in Cologne. It makes visible the basic structure of the Nazi system in its concrete local form. At the same time, it poses the question whether Cologne was really – as is generally believed – fundamentally resistant to National socialism, due to its Catholic, liberal and anti-authoritarian character. In addtition, the exhibition asks the question why National socialism and the history of the EL-DE-House have only recently become a subject of public discussion in the city.

The time frame of the permanent exhibition is the rise of National socialism during the Weimar Republic, until the end of Nazi rule in Cologne in early 1945. The exhibition does not only focus on the aspects resistance and persecution, but deals with the whole development of National socialism in Cologne.

Awards
The NS Documentation Center of the City of Cologne has been awarded several times:
 * European Museum of the Year Award 2000 (special appreciation)
 * Cologne architecture prize (Kölner Architekturpreis) 2001
 * Architecture prize North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW-Architekturpreis) 2001
 * Invitation to the Congress in Dubrovnik: “The Best in Heritage. An Annual Presentation of the Best Museum and Heritage Projects” 2002
 * Andrea Riccardi Prize 2004
 * History Award 2006 of History Channel for the research project: Navajos and Edelweiss Pirates - Non-conformist Youth behavior in Cologne 1933 to 1945 (Von Navajos und Edelweißpiraten – Unangepasstes Jugendverhalten in Köln 1933 – 1945)
 * Prize for innovation in adult education (Preis für Innovation in der Erwachsenenbildung) 2007 of the German Institute for Adult Education
 * Freya Stephan Kühn Prize 2008 of the association of history teachers in North-Rhine Westphalia (Landesverband nordrhein-westfälischer Geschichtslehrer)

In 2004 Elzbieta Adamski, Employee of the NS Documentation Center of the City of Cologne, received by the hands of the president of Poland, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, "for her extraordinary merits in the field of the development of German Polish relations" the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, one of the most valuable awards of the Polish state. For more than ten years now Elzbieta Adamski is in charge of the visit program for former forced labourers.

Special Exhibitions (Selection)

 * November 1988 to January 1989: Fate of the Jews in Cologne, 1918–1945
 * November 2002 to February 2003: Special Feature: Negroe. Black people in NS state
 * Mai 2003 to November 2003: Pictures of a Foreign Town. Forced Labour in Cologne, 1929–1945
 * November 2003 to January 2004: Hans Calmeyer and saving Jews in the Netherlands
 * August to September 2004: Oneg Schabbat. The Untergrund archive of the Warsaw Ghetto - Ringelblum archives. In cooperation with the Cologne branch of the Confederation of German Trade Unions, the Synagogue community and the Cologne branch of the Society for German Jewish collaboration
 * September to November 2004: The Memory of Places. A Picture Project by Sabine Würich
 * Mai to November 2005: Between the Frontlines. Cologne War Experiences, 1939–1945
 * Mai to September 2006: The "Lischka-Trial". Three NS Perpetrators on Trial in Cologne
 * Januar to August 2008: "Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome...". Political Revue - Cabaret - Varieté in Cologne, 1928–1938
 * November 2008 to January 2009: Life of the Jews in Cologne, 1918–1945
 * November 2009 to January 2010: Holy Night as if. Christmas in Political Propaganda. In collaboration with "Collection Christmas - Rita Breuer".
 * Mai to September 2010: Cologne an its Jewish Architects. In collaboration with Wolfram Hagspiel.
 * November 2011 to March 2011: Kölle Alaaf (Cologne carnival cry) below the Swastika

Volumes of the series of publications

 * Barbara Becker-Jákli, Horst Matzerath, Harald Buhlan: Versteckte Vergangenheit. Über den Umgang mit der NS-Zeit in Köln. Aufsätze und Essays. (=Schriften des NS-Dokumentationszentrums der Stadt Köln. Band 1), Emons Verlag, Köln 1994, ISBN 3-9244-9151-8.
 * Thomas Deres, Martin Rüther (Hrsg.): Fotografieren verboten! Heimliche Aufnahmen von der Zerstörung Kölns. (=Schriften des NS-Dokumentationszentrums der Stadt Köln. Band 2). Emons Verlag, Köln 1995. ISBN 3-924491-55-0.
 * Karola Fings: Messelager Köln. Ein KZ-Außenlager im Zentrum der Stadt. (=Schriften des NS-Dokumentationszentrums der Stadt Köln. Band 3). Emons-Verlag Köln 1996. ISBN 392449178X
 * Karin Dördelmann: Die Macht der Worte. Denunziationen im nationalsozialistischen Köln. (=Schriften des NS-Dokumentationszentrums der Stadt Köln. Band 4). Emons Verlag, Köln 1997. ISBN 3-924491-15-1.
 * Hiltrud Kier, Karen Lieserfeld, Horst Matzerath (Hrsg.): Architektur der 30er/40er Jahre in Köln. Materialien zur Baugeschichte im Nationalsozialismus. (=Schriften des NS-Dokumentationszentrums der Stadt Köln. Band 5). Emons Verlag. Köln 1998. ISBN 3-89705-103-6
 * Michael Buddrus, Katja Klee, Gerhard Kock, Martin Rüther: »Zu Hause könnten sie es nicht schöner haben!«. Kinderlandverschickung aus Köln und Umgebung 1941-1945. (=Schriften des NS-Dokumentationszentrums der Stadt Köln. Band 6). Emons Verlag. Köln 2000. ISBN 3-89705-174-5.
 * Harald Buhlan, Werner Jung (Hrsg.): Wessen Freund und wessen Helfer? Die Kölner Poli-zei im Nationalsozialismus. (=Schriften des NS-Dokumentationszentrums der Stadt Köln. Band 7). Emons Verlag. Köln 2000. ISBN 3-89705-200-8.
 * Barbara Becker-Jákli, Werner Jung, Martin Rüther: Nationalsozialismus und Regionalge-schichte. Festschrift für Horst Matzerath. (=Schriften des NS-Dokumentationszentrums der Stadt Köln. Band 8), Emons Verlag, Köln 2002, ISBN 3-89705-255-5.
 * Jürgen Müller: Ausgrenzung der Homosexuellen aus der »Volksgemeinschaft«. Die Ver-folgung von Homosexuellen in Köln 1933-1945. (=Schriften des NS-Dokumentationszentrums der Stadt Köln. Band 9). Emons Verlag. Köln 2003. ISBN 3-89705-275-X.
 * Britta Bopf: »Arisierung» in Köln. Die wirtschaftliche Existenzvernichtung der Juden 1933-1945. (=Schriften des NS-Dokumentationszentrums der Stadt Köln. Band 10). Emons Ver-lag. Köln 2004. ISBN 3-89705-311-X.
 * Barbara Becker-Jákli: Das jüdische Krankenhaus in Köln. Die Geschichte des Israeliti-schen Asyls für Kranke und Altersschwache 1869-1945. (=Schriften des NS-Dokumentationszentrums der Stadt Köln. Band 11), Emons Verlag, Köln 2004, ISBN 3-89705-350-0.
 * Martin Rüther: Köln im Zweiten Weltkrieg Alltag und Erfahrungen zwischen 1939 und 1945. Mit Beiträgen von Gebhard Aders (=Schriften des NS-Dokumentationszentrums der Stadt Köln. Band 12). Emons Verlag. Köln 2005. ISBN 978-3-89705-407-3
 * Karola Fings, Frank Sparing: Rassismus, Lager, Völkermord Die national-sozialistische Zigeunerverfolgung in Köln (=Schriften des NS-Dokumentationszentrums der Stadt Köln. Band 13). Emons Verlag. Köln 2006. ISBN 978-3-89705-408-0
 * Jürgen Müller: »Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome...» Politische Revue-Kabarett-Varieté in Köln 1928-1938 (=Schriften des NS-Dokumentationszentrums der Stadt Köln. Band 14). Emons Verlag. Köln 2008. ISBN 978-3-89705-549-0

Individual publications (Selection)

 * Gabriele Rogmann (Bearb.), Horst Matzerath (Redaktion): Gedenkbuch. Die jüdischen Opfer des Nationalsozialismus aus Köln (=Mitteilungen aus dem Stadtarchiv von Köln. 77. Heft. Böhlau Verlag. Köln 1995. ISBN 3-412-12694-2.
 * Köln im Nationalsozialismus Ein Kurzführer durch das EL-DE-Haus. Köln 2011. ISBN 978-3-89705-209-3
 * Barbara Becker-Jákli: Das jüdische Köln. Geschichte und Gegenwart. Ein Stadtführer. Emons Verlag, Köln 2012, ISBN 978-3-89705-873-6.

Weblinks

 * Website des NS-Dokumentationszentrums
 * Jah-resbericht des NS-Dokumentationszentrums ab 2003/2004
 * Jahresbericht des NS-Dokumentationszentrums 2011

Kategorie:Köln-Altstadt-Nord Kategorie:Archiv (Köln) Kategorie:Aufarbeitung des Nationalsozialismus Kategorie:Museum in Köln