Our (historical) search for Nazi eagles continues. While we thoroughly covered the history of the german heraldic eagle, from its use as the Reichsadler in the early 900s up until today as the Bundesadler in our post “The Nazi Eagles of Berlin” – we will refrain from rehashing its history in this piece. As we’ve already extensively documented the remaining Nazi Eagles in Berlin, as well as in the state of Brandenburg and Hamburg– we’ve started documenting the remaining Nazi Eagles in Köln (Cologne).

Disclaimer

If an address is not given for an Eagle, it is done so on purpose. If you do have a question regarding one of the publicly listed locations ask away. If you know of an Eagle that we’ve missed out on, feel free to leave a comment so we can continue to complete the list. It goes without saying that our interest in these Eagles/Symbols is purely historical, and in no way do we condone or support any fascist or racist ideology.

The Nazi Eagles of Cologne

Similar to our observations in the Nazi Eagles of Brandenburg article, where the the majority of cities and towns in Brandenburg that weve visited so far have seemingly been scrubbed clean of (most) symbols of the Third Reich – Cologne seems to have also been cleansed of these symbols after (or during) the war.

Its up for debate if many of these symbols were simply destroyed by allied bombings, which had reduced over 70% of the city to rubble, or if they were removed in the post war denazification process. Unlike in West Berlin, where we’ve spotted 34 Nazi Eagles to date, we’ve only found 4 (theoretically 5) Nazi Eagles and a few covered up Swastikas in Köln.

[1936] A Reichsadler above the entrance of the former Köln Butzweilerhof Airport
Address: Butzweilerstraße 35, 50829 Köln

Current Status: The Airport was closed down in 2006, and the area has been converted into a housing estate and business park since. The airport was declaread as a protected heritage monument in 1988.

Note: The Reichsadler above the entrance was designed by Willy Meller, a sculptor favored by the Nazis who also created pieces for the Berlin Olympic Stadium and several Nazi Educational Centers (Volgensang, Krössinsee) and the infamous Prora Complex. For reasons that are unclear, Meller decided to design an eagle inspired by the Reichsadler of the Weimar Republic, rather than the Third Reich – hence its more “modern” look.

Its also worth noting that this Reichsalder never had a swastika either, rather it sits atop the three crowns of the three holy kings which are also represented on the city seal of cologne. Most likely because of its resemblence of the Weimar Reichsalder, it was spared the same fate as the Reichsalder atop the Tempelhof Airport.

[1936] A Reichsadler on the facade of the former NSDAP Kreisverwaltung Mülheim
Address: Präses-Richter-Platz 1, 51065 Köln

Current Status: There have been discussions about removing the eagle, as the building was oringialy used (and is used again) by the Kolping Society who were forcibly evicted by the Nazis. As of yet,no decision has been made.

[1941] A Reichsadler on the Rodenkirchener Bridge
Address: Rheinbrücke Köln-Rodenkirchen, 51105 Köln

Current Status: Another eagle created by Willy Meller. Originally, four eagles flanked each side of the Adolf-Hitler Bridge, germanys first – and at the time – europes largest suspension bridge. Two of the eagles were destoryed when the bridge was bombed in 1945, the other two have surived to this day.

[1934] The remnants of a Reichsalder and SA-Man on the Martin-Luther Haus
Address: Mehlemer Str. 27, 50968 Köln

Current Status: The protestant church was co opted by the Nazis, who built the Martin-Luther Haus. The entrance displayed Martin Luther on one side and a SA Man on the other (enshrined by a Hitler quote) to display the parity between the Nazis and Luther. You can guess who created this piece – Willy Meller.

After the war, Martin Luther remained, while the Nazis symbols were removed, though still very much visible. The Proverb 14:34 was added in 1984, and the house was turned into a memorial to remember the failure and shame of the Protestant Church and Community during that time. The entrance of the building is publicly accessible.

Third Reich Swastikas in Cologne

While on the lookout for Nazi Eagles, we do occasionally come across swastikas from the third reich, some more poorly removed than others. While not a Reichsadler, we felt that we should include a small addendum here to the Swastikas that we found. There are apparently several swastikas on the roof and towers of the Cologne Cathedral that were added during repair works in the 1930s.

These are generally not visible to the public and can only be occasionally seen during special tours of the roof and towers. There is also the long standing myth that the “Domfontäne” fountain next to the cathedral has a swastika mosaic at its base, but this completely wrong as 1) the fountain was built in 1973 and 2) the pattern is actually a meander design. The eyes want to see what the eyes want to see.

One building where you can still clearly recognize the poorly covered swastikas is the old “Druckhaus Deutz”, a printing house which used to belong the Social Democrats before the Nazis seized it in 1933 to publish the Westdeutscher Beobachter – a party newspaper with a similar style, language and tone as the “Der Stürmer”. The Swastika were added in 1933, and then slightly altered/covered up after the war. The building is currently used by the Roland-Versicherung, a German insurance company.

Nazi Eagles Cologne Map

We’ve created this map to help those of you who are interested in finding/looking at some of these Nazi Eagles in Hamburg for yourself. If you are interested in the Nazi Eagle locations in Berlin and Brandenburg, feel free to check out the map at the bottom of these articles: Berlin | Brandenburg | Hamburg