Initially meant to be residential construction, the NS Documentation Center of the City of Cologne is housed in the EL-DE building. This was the Headquarters of the Gestapo, the secret state police of the Nazi party, between 1934 and 44) but today it’s a museum, built to commemorate the tragedies of the Second World War. The Gestapo reworked the neo-classical building to their needs, setting up 10 prison cells and interrogation rooms in the basement floors, offices in the apartments, and an execution site in the inner courtyard. The cells were designed to hold up to 6 inmates each but by the end of the war, they were packed with 6 times the original amount. The hygiene facilities were insufficient, and over time the conditions became inhumane. Ironically, the building was one of the few constructions that remained standing during the city’s bombing, and it was immediately repossessed by the municipality to be used as various city administration offices after the war.