Renaming of streets: “Adolf Hitler Street”

Renaming of streets: “Adolf Hitler Street” After the handover of power to the National Socialists, a host of streets and squares in Hanover, as in other cities in the German Reich, are renamed for political motives. Not just main shopping thoroughfares such Bahnhofstrasse, but also quiet side streets and intersecting streets fall victim to the…

Lange Laube: “SA Street” and Gauleitung [regional party leaders]

Lange Laube: “SA Street” and Gauleitung [regional party leaders] Post-1933, many streets in Hanover were renamed after prominent National Socialist figures or in honour of party organisations. Bahnhofstrasse became “Adolf-Hitler-Strasse”, the square in front of the Stadthalle [now the Congress Centre] became “Hermann-Göring-Platz”, and Lange Laube became “Strasse der SA”, SA Street [SA is the…

Aegidienkirche: a war memorial

Aegidienkirche: a war memorial The Aegidienkirche [Church of Aegidien], a Gothic hall church, was built in the middle of the 14th century. Together with the Marktkirche and Kreuzkirche it was one of the three churches in Hanover’s Altstadt. But today, its ruins stand as a memorial to the victims of war and violence. Hanover: View…

Cemetery of Honour on the northern bank of the Maschsee

Cemetery of Honour on the northern bank of the Maschsee Graves of victims from all over Europe: this cemetery is the resting place of 386 concentration camp prisoners, forced labourers and prisoners of war from many European countries. The victims include 154 from the former Soviet Union who were murdered in a mass shooting that…

The Holocaust memorial at Opernplatz

The Holocaust memorial at Opernplatz Inaugurated in 1994, the memorial next to the opera house commemorates Jewish citizens of Hanover that were deported and murdered. Although faced with a measure of opposition, the civic initiative Memorial association [Memorial e.V.] succeeded in erecting this important site in the heart of the city. The costs for the…

Neues Rathaus: the New Town Hall in Hanover

Neues Rathaus: the New Town Hall in Hanover Four scale models of the city vividly illustrate Hanover’s development, from the time it was the small residential seat of the House of Guelph (or Welf) (1689), to an industrial city on the eve of the Second World War (1939); then from the almost completely destroyed city…

Special court Hanover

Special court Hanover Special Courts, including the Special Court in Hanover, evolved over the 12 years of National Socialist rule from being special criminal tribunals dedicated to the persecution of the Nazi’s political opponents to “armoured troops of the criminal justice system”, there to keep the entire (wartime) society submissive by doling out draconian threats…

Tour 4: Financial theft and art theft

Tour 4: Financial theft and art theft Mit dem Laden der Karte akzeptieren Sie die Datenschutzerklärung von OpenStreetMap Foundation.Mehr erfahren Karte laden OpenStreetMaps immer entsperren Duration: 01:05Distance: 4,22 km Financial theft and art theft The robbing first of those who emigrated, then of the Jews and Sinti who were deported to their deaths was a…

Tour 3: Workers’ movement and resistance

Tour 3: Workers’ movement and resistance Mit dem Laden der Karte akzeptieren Sie die Datenschutzerklärung von OpenStreetMap Foundation.Mehr erfahren Karte laden OpenStreetMaps immer entsperren Duration: 01:15Distance: 4,92 km Workers’ movement and resistance Hanover was a city with a prominent labour movement supportive of social democratic ideas. Towards the end of the Weimar Republic, this movement…

Tour 1: Jewish life under National Socialism

Tour 1: Jewish life under National Socialism Mit dem Laden der Karte akzeptieren Sie die Datenschutzerklärung von OpenStreetMap Foundation.Mehr erfahren Karte laden OpenStreetMaps immer entsperren Duration: 00:48Distance: 3,14 km Jewish life in Hanover The inauguration of their first dedicated synagogue in 1870 marked the moment when the Jews of Hanover felt they had been accepted…