fra 21. januar 2026
Intervention! Wie erzählen wir NS-Geschichte heute?
Commentary on the exhibits and modes of presentation of the almost 30-year-old permanent exhibition, accompanied by a web app; runs until the new permanent exhibition opens.
Denne side er endnu ikke oversat til dansk – derfor vises den engelske eller tyske tekst.
NS-Dokumentationszentrum der Stadt Köln
Museum and memorial in the EL-DE-Haus, the former Cologne Gestapo headquarters, with surviving prisoner inscriptions and an exhibition on Cologne during the Nazi era.
ÅbningstiderEntré fra 4,50 € Delvis tilgængelig
Aktuelle udstillinger
Om museet
The EL-DE-Haus on Appellhofplatz, named after its builder Leopold Dahmen, served as the seat of the Cologne Gestapo from 1935 to 1945. Surveillance, persecution, and the deportation of the Jewish population were organized from here; in the basement prison, inmates were interrogated and tortured, and in 1944/45 at least 400 people were executed in the courtyard. Around 1,800 inscriptions and drawings by prisoners from 1943 to 1945 survive on the cell walls, many of them by forced laborers.
The building survived the war almost undamaged and was afterward used by municipal offices, with the cells serving as file storage. Only civic protests in the 1970s brought the site back into public awareness. In 1979 the city council decided to establish a memorial, and in 1987 the NS-Dokumentationszentrum (Nazi Documentation Center) was founded.
In 1997 the permanent exhibition "Köln im Nationalsozialismus" opened; it was revised in 2009/10. Since 2019 the NS-DOK has used the entire building. Besides the memorial and exhibition, its tasks include research, a collection, a public library, educational work with its own learning spaces, and counseling on right-wing extremism and antisemitism. A new permanent exhibition is in preparation; until then, an intervention comments on the existing presentation.
Højdepunkter
- Memorial in the former Gestapo prison with around 1,800 wall inscriptions by prisoners
- Permanent exhibition "Köln im Nationalsozialismus" on two floors
- Inner courtyard, site of the executions in 1944/45
- Intervention "Wie erzählen wir NS-Geschichte heute?" (How do we tell Nazi history today?)
- Public reference library and online databases, including the memorial book and Stolpersteine
Permanente udstillinger
- Köln im Nationalsozialismus – Two floors on the Nazi seizure of power, urban society, terror and persecution, and the destruction of Cologne in the war, told through documents, photos, and individual stories.
- Gedenkstätte Gestapogefängnis – The surviving cells in the basement with the prisoners' wall inscriptions, and the inner courtyard as a place of execution.
- Grundlagt
- 1987
- Ejer
- Stadt Köln
- Ledelse
- Henning Borggräfe
- Besøgende pr. år
- ca. 97.041 (2019)
Entrépriser & rabatter
| Voksne | 4,50 € |
|---|---|
| Nedsat pris | 2 €Students, trainees, people with disabilities (degree of disability 50 or higher), volunteer service participants, and recipients of unemployment benefit and basic income support |
| Børn og unge | –Cologne residents under 18 and all school pupils get free admission. |
| Pensionister | –No senior discount mentioned. |
| Personer med handicap | 2 €ledsager gratis · Reduced (€2) with a degree of disability of 50 or higher; one companion is admitted free. |
| Studerende og elever | 2 € |
| Grupper | –Groups, please register in advance. Booked tours (1.5 hrs.) cost a flat €45 for school classes, €75 for student, trainee, and youth groups, or €112.50 for adult groups, each plus admission; all educational programs are free for Cologne schools. |
| Familier | –No family ticket mentioned. |
| MuseumsCard Single | 18 €two consecutive opening days at all municipal museums, including public transport in Cologne on the first day |
| Annual pass for Cologne's museums including special exhibitions | 90 €reduced €45; without special exhibitions €68 / reduced €34 |
Gratis entré: KölnTag on the first Thursday of the month (except on public holidays): free admission for Cologne residents
Free admission also for KölnPass holders, members of ICOM and the Museumsbund, and members of the EL-DE-Haus friends' association. Tickets only at the ticket desk (no online sales), card payment possible. Audio guide €2.
Tilgængelighed
- Delvis kørestolsvenlig
- Elevator
- Handicaptoilet
- Handicapparkering
- Servicehunde tilladt: ingen oplysninger
- Taktile tilbud
- Rundvisninger på tegnsprog
- Letlæste tilbud: findes ikke
- Synstolkning: ingen oplysninger
Listed historic building, not fully accessible. The main entrance is not at ground level; step-free access via the courtyard entrance at Elisenstraße 1a with an elevator to the raised first floor (please call the ticket desk in advance: 0221 221-24340). The elevator to the exhibition floors is only 80 cm wide and unsuitable for large electric wheelchairs; the memorial in the basement can be reached at ground level from the courtyard. Loan wheelchair, accessible restroom on the first floor, audio guides with hearing aids. Tactile tours for blind and visually impaired people as well as tours in sign language; exhibition texts not in Leichte Sprache (Easy Read German), no guidance system. Accessible parking spaces nearby, e.g. on Elisenstraße; Appellhofplatz stop for lines 3, 4, 16, and 18 with elevator.
Børn og familie
Kun delvist egnet til børn
- Familieomvisninger & workshops
Documentation center and memorial on the Nazi era with former Gestapo cells. Tours of the building are aimed at school classes from grade 7 (themed tour from grade 9); some events for children aged 8 or 10 and up. Learning spaces "Junges Museum" and "Remote Island" for educational programs.
Transport & parkering
Med offentlig transport
Appellhofplatz
Appellhofplatz subway stop (lines 3, 4, 5, 16, 18); Köln Hauptbahnhof is about 600 m or an 8-minute walk away.
I bil
Parkering muligt
No parking of its own; the museum recommends public transport or bicycle. Nearby parking garages: Opern Passagen and Quincy/Breite Straße (according to museen.koeln also DuMont-Carré); accessible parking spaces nearby.
- Handicapparkering
Service & spisesteder
- Museumsbutik
- Garderobe
Small bookshop in the ticket area. Coat check in the ticket area.
Arrangementer & udlejning
No information on venue rental found.
Planlæg dit besøg
| Rundvisninger | ja · varighed ca. 1,5 t. |
|---|---|
| Audioguide | ja (DE, EN, FR, ES, NL, PL, RU, HE) |
| Tilbud til skoler | ja |
| Fotografering | Allowed for private purposes in the memorial and exhibition rooms |
| Godt at vide | Exhibition texts in German only; audio guides in eight languages at the ticket desk. Regular public guided tours according to the event calendar; registration for events recommended. Bookable themed tours in German and English, other languages to a limited extent; also workshops and city walks. Groups, please register in advance. Bookable tours last 1.5 hours; the program for German learners lasts 2 hours. |
