NS Documentation Centre of the City of Cologne, Cologne

It is one of the best places to learn about nazi history. It can take easily 3 hours if you listen to each audio clip in the audio guide so I would highly suggest you come with some time. The most striking part of the museum is the prison in the basement. Give some time to the prison to just empathize.

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.

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.

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.

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.