EXKURSION: Der Sportpark Müngersdorf in der Nazizeit, der Holocaust und der Umgang mit der NS-Vergangenheit in Sport und Gesellschaft

In the organizer's words:

A large arena for soccer and other team sports, facilities for athletics, tennis courts, a swimming pool, a cycling track: Cologne's Müngersdorf Sports Park was the largest German sports facility from its inauguration in September 1923 until the opening of the Berlin Olympic Stadium in 1936.

Get to know the history of the sports park on this tour: Nazi sports festivals and competitions, but above all international soccer matches, also attracted tens of thousands of visitors back then. However, Jewish club members and spectators were quickly ostracized. The sporting events also served as propaganda and were intended to support the regime during the Second World War. Ultimately, the sports park was used for shooting and military exercises. Learn more about the crimes committed in the immediate vicinity of the stadium as you walk through the surrounding area: In 1941, the Nazi rulers set up a camp complex just a few hundred meters north of the sports park, where thousands of Cologne residents* who were persecuted as Jews were interned in terrible conditions in the following years - in preparation for the subsequent deportations to the ghettos and extermination camps.

Today, there is a memorial at the site of the former deportation camp, while discussions about naming sports facilities and streets in the sports park highlight the difficulty of dealing with the Nazi past.

Due to the limited number of participants, we recommend registering in advance. If there are still places available, spontaneous participation is possible at the KVB station "RheinEnergieStadion" .

For: Adults | By: Museumsdienst Köln | With: Thorben Müller | Meeting point: KVB station "RheinEnergieStadion" | Participation: free of charge | Registration until: 21.02.2025

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