Bückeberg / Lower Saxony
The artificially levelled large grass field on the northwestern slope of the Bückeberg was supposed to be developed as a Thingsstätte starting in 1935, after it had already been used as festival grounds for the “Reichserntedankfest” (Reich Harvest Thanksgiving Festival) in 1933. The official numbers of visitors in 1933 was 500,000; in 1937, the last year the festival was held, it was 1,200,000. Hitler was present with a speech and a ceremonial walk through the masses along a path still visible today.
There were a few – even heavily symbolic – reasons for this decision: this area in Lower Saxony was considered by the National Socialst as the country of free combative and “pure” peasantry. The nearby river course of the Weser, the river that ran entirely through “German country” from its source to its estuary, also played a role, as it could serve as a possible means of arrival for visitors. The railroad lines in the immediate vicinity carried weight, too. – Today, virtually nothing remains of the parts of the facility, which were completed before the end of the war. The area has been under preservation order since 2011.
Start of construction / inauguration
Spring 1935 / non-completed
Architect
Albert Speer, Berlin
Name historical
“Reichsthingstätte” Bückeberg
Historical use
Reichserntedankfest” (Reich Harvest Thanksgiving Festival) 1933 – 1937. After 1935 with show drills by the Wehrmacht. [3][4]
Use today
A documentation- and learning site is located at the site of the former Thingstätte. It explores the grounds by means of a path network and information panels.
https://www.dokumentation-bueckeberg.de/index.php
[1] Stommer, Rainer, Die inszenierte Volksgemeinschaft, Jonas-Verlag Marburg, 1985, page 233 f.
[2] Gelderblom, Bernhard, „The Reichsthingplatz / The Reichsstätte Bückeberg – Showplace oft he Reich´s Harvest Festival. The Aestheticization of Violence and Politics” , in: Bosse, Katharina, Thingstätten, Kerber-Verlag, Bielefeld, 2020, page 222 and also on this website: https://thingstaetten.info/en/bueckeberg-reichsthingstaette-the-aestheticization-of-violence-and-politics/
[3] Stommer, 1985, ibid.
[4] Gelderblom/ Bosse, 2020, ibid.