NS-Dokuzentrum

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

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

This is appropriate because the house was completed in 1938, during the Nazi era. It is built in the style advocated by Freiburg's Municipal Director of Construction, Joseph Schlippe, in the late 1930s. Schlippe, who adhered to a völkisch (folkish?) architectural style, survived the Nazi era and remained the director of construction in Freiburg after 1945.

Look into the original main hall (©Stadt Freiburg)

During Freiburg's reconstruction, he pushed, as at the former tourist office, his idea of what he wrongly regarded as open medieval arcades. He partly realized this on Kaiser-Joseph-Straße (formerly Adolf-Hitler-Straße) after the war, when the street's buildings had been destroyed during the November 27, 1944 air raid known as Operation Tigerfish.

By incorporating the "arcades" into the houses' facades, Schlippe created 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 a contemporary testimony in an authentic place, which would require rescheduling and increase costs for the documentation center.

Additionally, the stone findings from the Old Synagogue, as reported by Red Baron, will be on display at the documentation center.

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