The Nazi Party Rally Grounds – Past, Present, Future

In 1936 Edward Heath was among the many visitors to the Nuremberg Rally Grounds, the vast architectural stage for the annual Nazi Party rallies and one of the most potent symbols of the regime’s power. After 1945 the site’s monumental remains posed a pressing question: what should be done with the physical remnants of dictatorship?

Since 2001 the grounds have been home to the Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds, a major museum and open-air historical site attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. Following a substantial multi-year renovation, the museum is due to reopen in 2026 with a newly conceived permanent exhibition exploring the history of the rallies, the architecture of propaganda, and the long afterlife of the site.

In this lecture, Professor Neil Gregor, historical consultant to the redevelopment project, reflects on the challenges of curating and interpreting this uniquely charged landscape. How can historians present the material remains of Nazism responsibly and critically? How should exhibitions balance the imposing quality of the architecture with the history of persecution and violence it embodied? And what does it mean to preserve rather than erase the built environment of dictatorship?

Drawing on his involvement in the project and his wider research on culture and politics in Nazi Germany, Professor Gregor offers a behind-the-scenes insight into the intellectual, ethical, and practical questions shaping one of Europe’s most important sites of historical memory.

Neil Gregor is Professor of Modern European History at the University of Southampton. He researches cultural and social histories of twentieth century Germany, focusing on the Third Reich, memory, and historical culture. He is the author of Daimler Benz in the Third Reich, Haunted City: Nuremberg and the Nazi Past, How to Read Hitler, and The Symphony Concert in Nazi Germany. He has co-edited Dreams of Germany: Musical Imaginaries from the Concert Hall to the Dance Floor. He is Vice Chair of the Academic Advisory Board for the Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds and has acted as historical consultant for the museum’s redevelopment project.

Date: Tuesday 1 September
Time: Doors from 18.30, talk begins 19.00
Where: Arundells, 59 The Close, Salisbury
Tickets: £16

All tickets are non refundable but you are very welcome to pass them on to friends or family if you are unable to attend.