de-006264
type: Institution
sources: 314.aspx
opening hours: Tuesday to Friday: 10:00 am to 06:00 pm Saturday & Sunday: 11:00 am to 6:00pm Every first Thursday of each month: 10:00 am to 10:00 pm Closed on Mondays and during carnival
agent has or had location: 1
has or had agent name: Cologne s National Socialism Documentation Center
has or had agent name: NS-Documentation Center of the City of Cologne
history: The establishment of the NS Documentation Centre of the City of Cologne is itself a typical example of the politics of memory in Germany. It could not have been established without citizen involvement, nor could it continue without this important element today. The history of the EL-DE House after 1945 and the development of the NS Documentation Centre are closely linked. The council of the City of Cologne decided on 13 December 1979 »to establish a documentation centre on the era of National Socialism in Cologne«. In addition, it was decided to renovate the basement of the EL-DE House, to establish an information site on the victims of National Socialism and to install a commemorative plaque on the outside wall of the EL-DE House (see page 18– 21). This was a visionary decision. The council realised that it would make little sense to establish a memorial site immediately due to the poor resources available – as a result of the war and the neglect thereafter – and insufficient knowledge that was available of the NS era at that time. In fact, a position in the Historical Archive of the City of Cologne was filled with Horst Matzerath, who later became the first director of the NS Documentation Centre, on 1 October 1980. Initially, he believed that it was his main task to build up a ‘compensatory documentation’ on the NS era in Cologne based on reviews of out-of-town and foreign archive collections. But for many years there was no talk of a ‘centre’: For quite a long time the demand for establishment of a documentation centre was deemed satisfied due to the creation of this post and Matzerath’s subsequent appointment. In 1985 a group of committed citizens founded the initiative for the establishment of a NS documentation centre and organised demonstrations and other activities. This was again a decisive step forward. In early 1988 this initiative resulted in the Friends of the NS Documentation Centre association, the EL-DE House Association. In October 1985 the City’s …
name: NS-Dokumentationszentrum der Stadt Köln