NS-Dokumentationszentrum München

What NS-Dokumentationszentrum München does

The NS-Dokumentationszentrum München is a municipal cultural and educational institution operated by the Landeshauptstadt München (City of Munich), founded in 2015 and located at Max-Mannheimer-Platz 1 adjacent to the former 'Führerbau' on Königsplatz — the historic site of the former NSDAP party headquarters ('Braunes Haus'). Its core function is to document, research, and educate the public about the history of National Socialism with a particular focus on Munich's role as the founding city of the NSDAP. The institution serves a broad audience including school groups, university students, teachers, researchers, historians, and the general public, offering free admission to a roughly 1,000-square-meter permanent exhibition ('München und der Nationalsozialismus'), temporary exhibitions, guided tours, seminars, workshops, and a public event program. A second site, the Erinnerungsort Neuaubing (Neuaubing Memorial Site), is being developed at a former forced labor camp in western Munich.

The institution has built an extensive digital product portfolio alongside its physical offerings. Core digital products include: a web-based app with guided tours in 12 languages covering 118 historical sites in Munich and surroundings; an online lexicon (nsdoku Lexikon) with over 900 articles; the 'Forced Abroad' mobile game based on a Dutch forced laborer's 1945 diary; a multimedia scrollytelling series; an online magazine; the 'History is not the Past' podcast; and a research library with over 3,000 publications, 4 digital media tables, and 22 research terminals. Outreach is conducted across Instagram, BlueSky, Threads, TikTok, and YouTube.

The business model is predominantly publicly funded through municipal appropriations from the City of Munich, supplemented by modest earned income from group guided tours (90 EUR per group), publication sales (catalog at 20 EUR, guide at 8 EUR), and on-site café/retail. Additional third-party foundation grants support specific multi-year research projects. The institution is governed by a Director (Mirjam Zadoff, since 2018), a Deputy Director (Paul-Moritz Rabe), and a newly constituted Advisory Board (Beirat, since 2023) comprising politicians, victims' group representatives, and academic experts, and is supported by a Friends' Association (Förderverein). It awards the biennial nsdoku Prize (8,000 EUR) for outstanding contributions to National Socialism education.

Name

NS-Dokumentationszentrum München

Legal name

NS-Dokumentationszentrum München

Website

https://nsdoku.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The NS-Dokumentationszentrum München is a municipal cultural institution founded in 2015 by the City of Munich that documents the history of National Socialism at the former NSDAP headquarters, serving the public, schools, universities, and researchers via free exhibitions, guided tours, research programs, and multilingual digital platforms.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Historical Documentation Center / Museum & Cultural Education

NAICS

Historical Sites (71212), Museums (71211), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (712)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Government, Public Policy & Regulatory Reference (Public Administration, Regulatory Guidance) (EDAGAGAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Workshops, Webinars & Live Masterclasses (MPACALAD), Scholarly Societies & Conference Proceedings Publishing (MPAJABAK)

Keywords

• Historical documentation center
• National socialism education
• Museum exhibitions
• Remembrance culture programs
• Historical research library

Headquarters

HQ city

Munich

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Public Funding: The NS-Dokumentationszentrum München is an institution run by the City of Munich (Landeshauptstadt München), receiving government funding for operations.
2. Group Tour Fees: Guided tours for groups are available at 90 euros per group, with free admission for school classes and university students.
3. Publication Sales: Sale of exhibition catalogs (20 euros) and guide booklets (8 euros) in multiple languages including easy language versions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels12 records

Core offering

The NS-Dokumentationszentrum München is a municipal documentation center and museum that educates the public about the history of National Socialism with a focus on Munich's role as the founding city of the NSDAP. It operates a permanent exhibition on approximately 1,000 square meters, temporary exhibitions, guided tours, workshops, seminars, and an extensive multilingual digital portfolio including a web app covering 118 historical sites, an online lexicon with 900+ articles, scrollytelling stories, podcasts, and mobile games. It also operates the Neuaubing Memorial Site at a former forced labor camp.

Product overview

The NS-Dokumentationszentrum München operates as a documentation center and museum focused on the history of National Socialism, located at the site of the former 'Brown House' (Braunes Haus), the NSDAP party headquarters. The institution offers a combination of physical exhibitions and digital products. The core physical offering includes the permanent exhibition 'München und der Nationalsozialismus' (approximately 1,000 sqm), temporary exhibitions, guided tours, seminars, and workshops. The digital portfolio consists of multiple interconnected products: the nsdoku app (web-based multilingual tour guide), nsdoku stories (multimedia scrollytellings), nsdoku magazin (online publication platform), the nsdoku lexikon (online encyclopedia with 900+ articles), the Forced Abroad mobile game, the Departure Neuaubing web application, and the History is not the Past podcast. The institution also maintains a Learning Center and Library with digital research terminals. The CaféBar Max provides on-site visitor amenities. All digital products are accessible via the documentation center's website and are designed to complement physical visits and extend educational outreach.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Forced Abroad. Tage eines Zwangsarbeiters: Mobile game based on the diary of Jan, a Dutch 19-year-old forced laborer transported to Munich in January 1945

Products and services

• München und der Nationalsozialismus (Permanent Exhibition)
• nsdoku app

Quantifiable outcome

• Free admission for all visitors
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und KunstbaucoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Research partnership for the project 'Zu fragmentarisch ist Welt und Leben?' examining the connections between artistic personalities and the völkisch ideology in Munich around 1900, running from 2025 to 2027.
• Stadtsparkasse MünchencoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Research partnership to produce a scientific study on the role of the municipal savings bank during the Nazi era, examining personnel and operational structure, business development and policy, and the bank's self-image as an institution of the 'Volksgemeinschaft'. Project running from 2024 to 2027.
• Goethe-Institut e.V.minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2023Cooperation partner for the international conference 'Fragile Democracies 1923/1933/2023' held March 22-24, 2023.
• Förderverein und Freundeskreis NS-Dokumentationszentrum München e.V.coreOthersThe friends' association supports the work of the Munich Documentation Centre morally and materially, bundling financial and volunteer commitment. Its purpose is exclusive and direct promotion of academic research into the history of National Socialism in Munich.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Topography of Terror: Documentation center in Berlin on the site of the former Gestapo headquarters and SS Reich Security Main Office, focused on Nazi history and the terror apparatus. Operates permanent exhibition, library, and educational programs on an analogous model to nsdoku and is the closest functional peer.
• House of the Wannsee Conference Memorial and Educational Site: Berlin memorial and educational site at the location where the Wannsee Conference was held in 1942. Combines historical exhibition, education programs and research on the Holocaust with a comparable civic-remembrance mandate.
• Buchenwald Memorial: Memorial site at the former Buchenwald concentration camp in Thuringia, with permanent exhibition, archive, library, and educational programs for school groups. Comparable civic-remembrance mandate and operational model.
• Fondation du Camp des Milles – Mémoire et Éducation: Memorial, museum and educational site near Aix-en-Provence at a former internment camp, awarded the nsdoku Prize in 2020. Comparable mix of historical site, exhibition, and education programs on WWII and resistance history.
• Anne Frank House: Museum and educational institution in Amsterdam at the site where Anne Frank hid during WWII, offering exhibitions, educational programs, and a recognized model for site-based memory-culture institutions. The graphic-novel adaptation of Anne Frank's diary was awarded the nsdoku Prize in 2018.
• Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site: Memorial site at the former Dachau concentration camp near Munich, operated by the Bavarian memorial foundation. Closest geographic peer; operates permanent exhibition, guided tours, archives, and educational programs on Nazi persecution history.
• Memorial de la Shoah: Paris-based memorial, museum and documentation center on the history of the Holocaust, offering permanent and temporary exhibitions, an archive, library, and educational programs for school groups and researchers. Highly comparable scope and audience to nsdoku.

Broad incumbents

• Jewish Museum Berlin: Major Berlin museum with permanent and temporary exhibitions on German-Jewish history including the Nazi era, alongside library, archive, and educational programs. Broader thematic scope but overlapping audience and educational model.
• Deutsches Historisches Museum: Berlin's national history museum covering German history from antiquity to present, with significant programming on the Nazi period and post-war memory culture. Larger and broader in scope but shares mission of historical-political education.
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: Federal museum and memorial in Washington DC documenting the Holocaust with permanent exhibition, archives, research, and extensive educational programming. Larger-scale but similar integrated museum-research-education model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/nsdoku
• Instagraminstagram.com/nsdoku
• TikToktiktok.com/@nsdoku
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/nsdoku

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about NS-Dokumentationszentrum München