München – Königsplatz

The political center of power between 1933 and 1945 may have been Berlin, but the cradle of the Nazi movement was Munich. It was in Munich that the party was formed (1920) and thrived and it was in Munich that the party had had its political headquarters until 1933 in the Brown House at Königsplatz. After the takeover of power in 1933, Hitler had Königsplatz rebuilt for Nazi purposes. 22,000 granite slabs, one square meter each, adorned the Königsplatz. This was a place where political ceremonies and tributes could be held.

In the eastern part of Königsplatz, Hitler had an honorary temple built where Hitler had the remains of the sixteen people who were killed in the coup attempt in november 1923. These sixteen people were hailed as martyrs and came within the Nazi movement to have an almost quasi-religious status. The glorification of death was an important feature of Nazism, which in its heroic death culture never managed to hail and honor life in the samw e way. The temple of honor consisted of two identical open constructions with eight tombs each placed in an immersion. Each temple was guarded by an SS honorary guard.

Next to each temple were built two major buildings. One was called Führerbau, where Hitler had a study where the Munich agreement was signed in September 1938. The second was called Verwaltungsbau, in which traditional political administrative work was carried out. The Nazi party headquarters, Brown house was located near Führerbau and directly behind the north of the two honorary temples. In a house opposite the Brown house, Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess had his office. In another building and near Verwaltungsbau, SS had its national headquarters and near Führerbau, Hitlerjugend had their national headquarters. Other nazi authorities located nearby were the labor front, the audit office, SA national headquarters, the women’s association, the justice authority, the party justice system and the Reich chancellery office.