Nazi ruin converted into concert hall in Nuremberg

Nuremberg, Germany — Part of the biggest building the Nazis ever attempted, their Nuremberg Congress Hall, is to open Friday as a concert hall for the German city’s symphony orchestra.

The gigantic oval building, modeled on the Colosseum in Rome, but a quarter bigger to seat 50,000, was never finished or used.

Its outer walls surround a field of weeds. Nuremberg has kept the ruin as a warning against fascism for future generations.

Two completed annex buildings have been remodeled. One opened in 2000 as a museum documenting Nazi evil. The other opens as a 515-seat theatre this week with an inaugural concert by the clarinetist Giora Feidman. He specializes in Jewish music.

Nuremberg, chosen by the Nazis as the center of their "Aryan" world, agonized for years over whether to keep the vast park built by the Nazis for displays of mass loyalty to dictator Adolf Hitler.

The various Nazi ruins are all signposted for tourists from round the world.

Using one annex for music is intended as a counterpoint to the Nazi cult of violence. Both brick buildings have been symbolically broken open with walls and ceilings of glass.

The venue will be used till January 2010 for performances by the city theatre company, whose own theatre is being renovated.

After that, the theatre will be handed back to the orchestra, which has used the rooms since 1963 for its rehearsals.

Expatica with DPA