Munich Third Reich & WWII History Walking Tour

Marienplatz and Munich after World War I

The Munich history walking tour begins on Marienplatz in front of the New Town Hall, the neo-Gothic building of 1867 to 1908 whose Glockenspiel draws the crowds at eleven. Your guide uses the square to set the scene of 1918 and 1919: a defeated Germany, a revolution that toppled the Bavarian monarchy, a short-lived Soviet republic crushed by troops in the streets around you and the hyperinflation that wiped out savings in 1923.

This chaos is the soil in which the Nazi movement grew, and the guide explains why Munich of all cities became its birthplace: the army units stationed here, the nationalist clubs, the fear of another revolution. You also see how the square itself was rebuilt after the bombing of World War II, which destroyed much of the Old Town. About twenty minutes are spent here before the walk heads to Platzl.

The Hofbräuhaus and the first mass meeting

A few minutes from Marienplatz, on the small square called Platzl, stands the Hofbräuhaus, a historic hall founded in 1589 and rebuilt in its present form in 1897. Its festival hall on the upper floor could hold two thousand people, which is why the young party chose it for its first mass meeting on 24 February 1920, when its twenty-five-point programme was read out to a packed room.

The guide explains what was said that evening, who listened and how a small group of agitators used halls like this to grow from a fringe club into a mass movement within three years. The building is seen from outside, and it is a good place to understand how ordinary the beginnings looked. Visitors who search for Munich Third Reich sites often start here; the tour puts it in context before moving on to the Residenz and Odeonsplatz. Allow about fifteen minutes.

The Feldherrnhalle, Odeonsplatz and Viscardigasse

The Feldherrnhalle is the open loggia on Odeonsplatz built in the 1840s in the style of Florence to honour the Bavarian army. On 9 November 1923 it became the place where the party's attempt to seize power ended: marchers coming from the river were stopped here by state police, shots were exchanged, sixteen marchers and four policemen died and the leaders were arrested and tried. After 1933 the regime turned the spot into a shrine with an honour guard that every passer-by had to salute.

Behind the loggia runs Viscardigasse, a narrow lane that residents used to avoid the salute; a line of bronze cobbles set into the paving now marks their small act of refusal. Your guide tells the story of the march, the trial that followed and the way the site was used for propaganda. With the Theatine Church and the Residenz around you, this is also one of the most beautiful corners of Munich. Plan about twenty-five minutes here.

The Hofgarten and the White Rose resistance

Next to Odeonsplatz lies the Hofgarten, the Renaissance court garden of 1613 with its central temple, fountains and arcades. On its eastern edge stands the Bavarian State Chancellery, built around the preserved dome of the former Army Museum, which was left in ruins as a reminder of the war, and in front of it the war memorial sunk into the lawn.

Here the tour pauses to tell the story of the White Rose, the group of Munich university students and a professor who printed and distributed leaflets against the regime in 1942 and 1943, were caught after scattering them in the university's atrium and were executed within days. The guide explains who they were, what they wrote and how Munich remembers them today, with a memorial of leaflets set into the pavement outside the university a short walk away. It is the most moving stop of the walk, around twenty minutes in a quiet setting.

Königsplatz and the former party quarter

The walk ends on Königsplatz, the neoclassical square laid out in the early nineteenth century with the Glyptothek, the State Collection of Antiquities and the Propylaea gate. In the 1930s the party made this its ceremonial centre: the lawns were paved with granite slabs for rallies and torchlight parades, two temples of honour were built for the dead of 1923 and the surrounding streets filled with party offices.

Your guide shows what remains and what was removed: the temples were blown up in 1947 and their foundations are now overgrown, while the former party administration building and the so-called Führerbau, where the Munich Agreement was signed in 1938, survive as the University of Music and Theatre, where the tour finishes. On Brienner Straße the site of the former party headquarters is now the NS Documentation Centre, opened in 2015, which is free to visit and the natural next step after the tour; many guests spend an hour or two there.