12. Hall of Honour
The Hall of Honour, after completion 1929 (Stadtarchiv Nuremberg).
During the Weimar Republic (1919–1933), the City of Nuremberg had a monument erected, to commemorate the 9,855 Nuremberg soldiers killed in World War I. The design was by architect Fritz Mayer. A rectangular yard is adjacent to the arcaded hall, with a row of pillars carrying fire bowls on either side. Lord Mayor Hermann Luppe officially opened the hall in 1930.
Commemoration of the dead of the SA and the SS at the Hall of Honour in Luitpold Arena, 1934 (Stadtarchiv Nuremberg).
During the1929 Party Rally, the Nazis for the first time incorporated the then unfinished Hall of Honour in their staging of the cult of the dead. The “Führer”, Adolf Hitler, commemorated the fallen soldiers of World War I and the “Martyrs of the NS Movement”. The ritual was intended to commit the “party soldiers” present to sacrificing their lives for the “Führer” and for National Socialism. In 1933, Hitler had the Luitpold Grove park re-modelled into the Luitpold Arena for the Party Rallies. Opposite, a grandstand for guests of honour was installed.
Wreath laying on National Day of Mourning, 1985 (Nürnberger Nachrichten).
Klassik Open Air in front of the Hall of Honour in Luitpold Grove (Mile Cindric).
After 1945, the City of Nuremberg had the area remodelled into a park again. Today, the Hall of Honour commemorates the victims of World War I and World War II, as well as the victims of the National Socialist rule of terror (1933–1945). Every year, victims are commemorated here during official events on the national day of mourning.