EL-DE Haus / NS Documentation Centre

The Cologne trader Leopold Dahmen had this two-storey house erected in 1935 on the corner of Appellhofstraße and Elisenstraße, which takes its name from his initials. In the same year the secret police (Gestapo) took over sole occupation of the house and set up their office here for the government district of Cologne.

EL-DE-Haus / NS Documentation Centre
Address:	Appellhofplatz 23-25 50667 Cologne
Phone:	0221/221-26331
Fax:	0221/221-25512
E-Mail:	nsdok@netcologne.de
Opening hours:	Tue. - Fri. 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Sat. & Sun. 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Prices:	€ 3,60 / 1,50 (reduced price)

From this time onwards the name of the EL-DE house was a synonym for torture and execution. The Gestapo set up 10 prison cells in the cellar. The inscriptions on the walls still show today the terrible suffering that was inflicted here on political dissidents and many Jewish citizens.

The Nazi documentation centre and the permanent exhibition »Cologne in the Nazi era« have been housed here since June 1996; the cellar with the former cells has been turned into a memorial.