It has been cold and raining the last two days but we got just a few showers and broken clouds today with the temps still in the 40s. While most of the passengers went off for a tour of the town, about 30 hardy souls including us went off in search of WWII history.
There are a lot of explanations as to why Hitler held his rallies here and also as to why the Allies decided to hold the WWII war crimes trials in the same place. In the former case, it seems that Hitler disliked Berlin (which never really supported him) and Nuremberg is a transportation hub that was easy to reach from most of Germany. The Allies, on the other hand, chose the city because there was a large and suitable courtroom in the Palace of Justice with a prison next door to house the defendants (fear of violence against the prisoners and/or the court was feared). The location was also in the American sector and France, Britain and the U.S. were not interested in having the Soviets host the trials.
was supposed to be the home of Nazi party meetings. It looks like a baseball stadium (the interior was never finished) and was designed to hold 50,000 people. It was supposed to by 1940 but, of course, Hitler invaded Poland and it has been untouched ever since. Grim and intimidating but I guess that was the point.
We next visited the Zeppelin Grandstands across a small lake from the Kongresshalle. Virtually everyone who has seen film of Nazi rallies will recall this site. Hitler at the podium waving has arms and speaking staccato German, banners everywhere and teeming masses and cheering crowds. It was slightly damaged during the war, the swastika on top was blown up on VE day and time and weather caused some of the columnar structure on either side of the main grandstand to be demolished in the sixties. Nevertheless, it is still used for public events including auto racing and rock concerts. It is hard to look at that podium and not think about devastation, death and evil.
After a drive back across town, we arrived at the Palace of Justice and Room 600. This was the location of the trial
of 22 Nazi leaders for war crimes. There is an extensive exhibit but unfortunately the text is mostly in German (the audio guide in English but we did not have time for that). Our Scottish guide (long story) gave us a brief overview. The room itself has been mostly returned to its state but it still is the the room where it happened. Twelve Nazis were condemned to death here and ten were executed (Hermann suicide hours before he was to be hanged; Martin Bormann died in the streets of Berlin in 1945 but his remains were not discovered until 1973). Seven men (including Albert Speer and Rudolph Hess) were given prison sentences and three individuals were acquitted. Hess, incidentally, was the last imprisoned leader suicide at the age of 92.
We will be joining the Danube River tomorrow after having traversed the three largest locks on the Canal. Each lock, BTW, can raise a ship 81 feet.
