Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism

Compared to other German cities, Munich has taken a long time to confront its Nazi history, perhaps precisely because of its particular importance, and responsibility, in the ascent of Hitler’s genocidal regime. It was in Munich, the “Capital of the Movement,” that the rise of the National Socialist movement first began, that Hitler enacted his attempted putsch of 1923, and where he later found influential and prosperous patrons. It is here, too, that Goebbels called for a nationwide pogrom against the Jewish population. An intentionally stark and striking white building, the Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism sits on the former site of the Brown House, the party headquarters, and sets out to interrogate this close local association between Munich and the Nazi regime in unflinching detail. Its rigorous yet highly accessible permanent exhibition is particularly powerful in its emphasis on the unfortunate and frightening continuation of fascism and anti-Semitism, including Munich’s contemporary Neo-Nazi culture.