Accommodation Areas

While the Party leaders stayed in the top hotels and Nazi built guesthouses, the rank and file stayed in a range of schools, factories, public buildings across the city and, in later years, huge tented areas in the Langwasser area south of the March Field.
The land for the tented camps was confiscated from the City Council and early in 1935, shortly after their foundation, the Reich Labour Service started work on turning the land into a huge campsite.

The tented camp area grew over the years and eventually expanded to 2350 acres.....enough space for hundreds of thousands of participants to live for a week.

Men of the Reich Labour Service worked all year round on the camps installing roads, hardstandings, water pipes, sewers and electricity cables.
The plan was for each organisation (SS, SA, Hitler Youth etc) to have their own areas, each one laid out like a military camp.

One of the self contained camps in the Langwasser area close to the rally grounds with spare sections for later expansion

The largest camp belonged to the SA and was finally an area 1000m x 850m.
The large tents (measuring 35m x 12m) each had enough room for 250 men.

How each group personalised their camp and the round tents of the Hitler Youth

Each participant brought their own bed roll and found a space on the straw that was scattered on the ground.
The camps also contained huge ablution blocks and dozens of wooden supply huts.

Most organisations, including the SA, SS, Reich Labour Service (RAD) and Hitler Youth were equipped with mobile field kitchens nicknamed Gulaschkanone.....'Goulash Cannons'.
These were trailers that featured a large central kettle and a chimney, allowing them to cook hot stews and coffee for large numbers.

A close up of a Goulash Cannon

For the huge numbers to be catered for, rows of these trailers were required for each camp.

This kitchen consists of, at least, seven 'cannons'

The 1929 Bladur von Schirach propaganda film shows rare footage of the domestic arrangements.