NS-Dokumentationszentrum der Stadt Köln

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 culture committee decided that the expansion, or rather the establishment, of the NS Documentation Centre be reviewed. On 1 July 1986 two researchers and two further employees started their work on the memorial book on Jewish victims from Cologne, which had already started a few years earlier; another historian started his work on the topic of forced labour in 1987. All five of them were employed and paid under the job creation scheme, which was being widely implemented at that time. The final decision was taken on 11 June 1987 the city council finally decided, for the second time since 1979, to establish the NS Documentation Centre of the City of Cologne, this time however the centre was actually to be created. Two additional research positions as well as one position each for a librarian and a secretary were created. The position of a museum educator, which the City intended to create, was not filled; merely funds were provided for guided tours instead. This was a serious mistake that was only corrected in 2003 with the creation of a part-time position for a museum educator, which in 2008 finally became a full-time position.

On 19 September 1988, the staff of the EL-DE House moved into the premises – offices on the ground floor, a small library and a room for group work on the first floor. It took another nine years until – in June 1997 – the new permanent exhibition was opened, as the owners of the building refused implementation of the necessary conversion measures for a long time. (Source: https://museenkoeln.de/NS-DOKUMENTATIONSZENTRUM/default.aspx?s=714)