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Published: September 3rd 2013
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Our hotel is just inside the Old Town city walls and therefore is very convenient to the cathedrals, the Pegnitz river, most museums, the Castle on the hill and of course eateries, shops and transport. We face the back of the hotel where we have a view of the old city wall, the new museum which we can look into because of its glass facade. We also have a fountain which turns on at 10am and turns off at 10pm. The hexagonal shaped fountain spurts up parallel shafts of water and each section goes up progressively until the fountain has 16 sections of water working, then it suddenly stops and starts again. People, especially children stand in between the shafts of water, squealing delightedly. We have become used to this noise, but are thankful that it does not continue all night!!
Nearly 4 kilometres of the once 5 kilometre city wall is still standing and the river which runs through the old town with its many bridges with colourful names like "Hangman's Bridge" and "Butcher's Bridge" and the old wood framed crooked houses which overlook the river, provide beautiful scenery as one walks around. We visited the catholic church and
Documentation Centre
Nazi Party Rally Grounds the protestant church and market in the main square and walked up to the old Castle, as we have done in all the other pretty towns we have visited on our travels. This city, however, was where Albrecht Durer lived and worked from 1509 until his death in1528. We visited his house and studio and viewed some copies of his works. There is a very interesting/grotesque fountain in the old town called the Marriage Fountain. This was erected in 1984 and the work, created by Jurgen Weber, relates to the poem "Bitter-Sweet Married Life" by Hans Sachs who in drastic words described marriage from the first stages of ardent love leading to exhausting marital rows through to the deathbed. The fountain is a sight to behold!!
Like many people my age, I knew of Nuremberg as the city where the famous Nuremberg Trials were held against the Nazi war criminals at the end of WWII. I had also seen films of the huge Nazi Party Rallies but did not know that they were held here. On our first full day in Nuremberg we took the underground to the Documentation Centre in the Nazi Party Rally Ground in the suburb
Memorium Nuremberg Trials
Listing the crimes and the punishment of some of the defendants of Dutzendteich. Hitler's mania for grand buildings were designed to be large structures with huge classical columns, statues of muscle-bound larger than life figures, large spaces within and huge spaces outside and around the buildings, including a large stadium and wide long thoroughfares. The large spaces were to accommodate the spectacles and rituals which were performed here by the Nazi party's many organisations during their week long rallies each year. The designs were meticulously drawn up by Hitler's architect, Albert Speer. The buildings were to last 1000 years and propel National Socialism into the paeans of the Egyptians and the Greeks. Buildings what would last forever and be viewed and admired into the future as the "Glory of the Reich"! It was a huge building project and the Zeppelin Tribunal was completed which was where the outdoor massive party rallies were held. Now it is a run down structure, but the podium is still there. Funnily enough, a gathering of motorcyclists dressed in pink bunny suits were standing on the podium having their photo taken! The Fuhrer would have been pleased 😊 About a million people marched on the parade grounds, carried out military exercises etc. here between 1933 and
Crowds adulating Hitler
Documentation Centre. Nazi Party Rally Grounds 1938. The tribunal was built to resemble an ancient Greek Pergamon Altar and the Congress Hall which resembled a larger version of the Coliseum was not completed by the end of the War. The huge granite blocks and stones cost many many lives of prisoners in the concentration camps. There was footage of ex prisoners who worked in these huge quarries. So many died - Hitler called this "elimination through work"
Into the north wing of the unfinished Congress Hall has been built a permanent exhibition entitled "Fascination and Terror" which deals with the causes, contexts and consequences of the National Socialists' Tyranny. We walked around, with an excellent audio guide, through the 19 rooms which contained videos of real footage as well as photos and text.
One of the videos showed excerpts of the film made by a German film-maker called Reni Riefenstahl. Hitler had asked her to film the upcoming 1934 Party rally in Nuremberg, the sixth such rally. The resulting chronicle of the Nuremberg Rally, Triumph des Willens (named by Hitler), was generally recognized as an epic, innovative work of propaganda filmmaking. Triumph of the Will became a rousing success in Germany. It made Riefenstahl
the first female film director to achieve international recognition. Reni was given a total free hand to produce this film and project the power of the Reich. She had unfettered access to everything and everyone and was able to get camera shots that made the rallies much larger than life. She died in 2003 at age 101!
There was also live footage of local people being interviewed about the rallies and all said that it was a great time - a carnival atmosphere. Many of the trades people were employed and bakers and others in the food industry were involved in supplying all the food and drink that was needed. They were swept up in the idea of the pure Aryan Community that Hitler wanted to pursue at the exclusion, indeed elimination, of all who did not fit into that ideal.
Our next day in the city was spent at the Palace of Justice where the Nuremberg Trials were held in historic courtroom 600. It was quite a walk from the old town and we walked through what seemed to be a Greek area. I say this because we passed many shops with posters of the "Hellas" Nuremberg
Propaganda film by Leni Riefenstahl
Documentation Centre. Nazi Party Rally Grounds soccer team pasted on the front windows. We viewed the courtroom, which of course had been modified spatially at the time to accommodate the large number of defendants, witnesses, prosecutors and judges. Not to mention the world press, translators etc. because of course the Trials gained worldwide attention between 1945 and 1949. We walked through the excellent Information centre with our audio guides and listened and watched the displays on the background, proceedings and consequences of the trials. Explanations were also given on the role of the defendants (21 of them) in the Nationalist Socialist power structure and the crimes they were accused of. There is also sound and film footage of the trials.
The "Nuremberg Principles" ensuing from the International Military Tribunal today form the basis for the International Criminal Court in The Hague. In my opinion they should have all received the death sentence, or at least never have been freed. However, some of those who escaped death had their sentences cut and even went on to continue their lives with roles in the GDR (German Democratic Republic).
I kept thinking of Spencer Tracy and where he fitted in to all this in the film "Judgement
Leni Riefenstahl on location at the Nazi Rally
Documentation Centre. Nazi Party Rally Grounds at Nuremberg". I found out in one of the displays that there were special trials of members of the Nazi Judiciary and the doctors who conducted experiments on those at the concentration camps. Well the Spencer Tracy film was about the trying of the German elite lawyers and Spencer was one of the American Military Tribunal Judges. I thought it was a good film. Will have to watch it again. Also Walter Cronkite, John Steinbeck and Rebecca West were some of the journalists from the West who were reporting on the trial. The translators had to, amazingly, translate statements simultaneously.
I read the following in a city pamphlet: "Nuremberg has been seen to have dealt with its devastating past and has documented National Socialist megalomania based on its effects on the city's history. The city has also seized upon the crimes against humanity … and is dedicated to protecting human rights worldwide." The City was given a Human Rights Award and also has a Human Rights street lined with columns upon which each Right is engraved.
We have not quite finished our travels in Germany. We have one week to go, however, I believe that Nuremberg and the
Leni Riefenstahl shooting her film
Documentation Centre. Nazi Party Rally Grounds importance of Human Rights is a good note upon which to conclude this trip which has taken us to countries whose people were severely deprived of their human rights in recent history. Fortunately they have regained most of those rights. I do know that it is important to visit and revisit these memorials about a time when these rights were not recognised. The reason for this does not need to be stated.
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