EL-DE Haus

5 Keysha Valentin Pedrosa - 7 months ago

This building held the headquarters of Gestapo back in Hitler times. It has a lot of information, photos, videos, articles that belonged to the victims and guards, and also on the basement you can see the cells where they held the victims, the walls have writings with messages from the people that were held there. It’s a very sad experience but something everyone should see and learn from. Being there makes you think about how cruel people can be and how power can make people do atrocious things; it puts everything in perspective.

5 Nisrine Haddad - 7 months ago

Painfully interesting experience that every human being should have. I recommend you to start with the basement even though you have 2 hours to do the whole tour because It is the most touching part due to the actual demonstration of the inhumane conditions in which prisoners were living. (the writings on the walls are devastating).
I also recommend you to pay 2 extra euros and listen to the audio tour, especially if you don't read German.

4 Qurratulain - 3 months ago

Highly recommend going. Though the exhibition upstairs is all in German, I think it's still worth taking the time to look at everything because some things just transcend language. The most heartbreaking thing was seeing the last letters that people had sent. It was also interesting to read the writing on the walls of the prison cells and the countdowns. The freakiest thing was going out onto the street and realising how central this place was. You could be walking down the street minding your own business, and there'd be prisoners in the building right there.

5 Kieran - 9 months ago

Haunting. The EL-DE Haus is a haunting reminder of the horrors perpetrated by the Gestapo.

Allow half a day to go through this museum. Despite being small in size, it contains a lot of rooms with displays and plaques to read. Also, it gets quite busy and large school groups will slow down progress through the exhibits.

The audio guide is worth getting.

5 Nguyen Nguyen - a year ago

This museum is very well done and informative. It was free when we went since it was some sort of museum day so we only paid €2 for the audio guide. If you can’t read German, the audio guide is a must or you won’t understand anything on the 2nd and 3rd floors since there’s no translations on those floors. We were exhausted from information overload after the 2nd floor, but if you took time to read everything and listen to all the audio prompts, you can easily be here the whole day. We were there for 2 hours. We loved this museum. I wouldn’t recommend bringing young children.

4 Angela M - a month ago

Love history and all things WWII However, the audio guide was a lot of information. There was so much to see it was almost overwhelming. Definitely a great time filler to dabble in or spend the many hours there if you choose.

5 H. Lee - 2 months ago

A must visit in Köln if one is interested in WW2 history, especially with how the Gestapo operated and the atrocities committed in such a central area.

Pro tip — get the audio guide and start from the basement where (main attraction) the cells are located. Tragic stories, horrible conditions and remnants of graffiti left by the inmates here left me in shock and sadness. The exhibitions on the upper floors are too information dense and tracks the rise of the reich, which to me is secondary to the stark and dark history of the basement.

Accounts of how the thin walls and The Central location of the EL DE HAUS meant that passers by on the streets are bound to hear the cries of torture victims; executions in the courtyard are most probably visible to the inhabitants of neighbouring buildings.. yet people simply turned a blind eye to it.. and even ‘forgot’ about it until the 1980s, thanks to a German activist.

Sad, depressing history that is worth the time.

Student ticket costs €2 and the Audioguide cost another €2.