NS-Dokuzentrum

Red Baron blogged about Freiburg's Nazi documentation center before. It will be housed in the building of the former tourist office and is now under construction. 

Freiburg's tourist office in 1938 (©Stadt Freiburg) Click to enlarge

This is appropriate because the house was finished in the Nazi area in 1938. It is built in the style Freiburg's Municipal Director of Construction Josef Schlippe propagated in the late 1930s. Schlippe, who adhered to a völkisch (folkish?) style of architecture, survived the Nazi era and remained director of construction in Freiburg after 1945.

Look into the original main hall (©Stadt Freiburg)

During Freiburg's reconstruction, he pushed - like at the former tourist office - his idea of what he wrongly regarded as open medieval arcades. This he partly realized on Kaiser-Joseph-Straße (formerly Adolf-Hitler-Straße). Its buildings were destroyed during Operation Tigerfish, the November 27, 1944 air raid.

By incorporating the "arcades" into the facades of the houses, Schlippe gained space for the growing car traffic. Today, Freiburg's central axis is a pedestrian zone.

©Grether-Restauratoren/A.Ehrat

During the present conversion of the former tourist office, the construction workers made a discovery. Behind a wooden board, a painting by the Freiburg artist Theodor Kammerer was located. It is from 1938 and in the style of the time.

Kammerer depicted aryan people as fishermen, recreationists, and horsemen in the style of the Nazi ideology on a surface of eight by two and a half meters. Like the air-raid shelter, the art advisory board decided to integrate the historical painting as contemporary testimony in an authentic place, which means a rescheduling leading to a cost increase for the documentation center.

Also, the stone findings of the Old Synagogue - Red Baron reported - will be visible in the documentation center.

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