Nuremberg

Echoes of history were also present in a different way as we toured some of the former Nazi era buildings. Standing on the Zeppelin Field review stand, as my father said, even with all the changes in over a half century, you could still almost hear the marching jackboots from the great party rallies that had been held there more than sixty years earlier.

An interesting historical fact - many people associate Nuremberg with the war crimes trials held there after the Second World War. it is commonly assumed that the reason for this location was because of its symbolic importance, in contrast to the Nazi Party rallies that had been held there mentioned above. But this isn't the case. Nuremberg was chosen as the site of the trials for purely practical reasons; a large courthouse with a large adjacent jail facility to hold the prisoners was needed for the purpose. Berlin was the preferred location for the trials as the German capital, but it had been so heavily bombed that no such facility was left. Nuremberg was one of the few cities with such facilities intact.

It is also often believed that the city must have had a greater enthusiasm for Naziism than other German cities given the rallies and construction there. This is also not really the case. Much of this activity was set in Nuremberg because it is much more centrally located in Germany than Berlin, and also because of the ancient symbolic significance deriving from the Golden Bull. This decree was signed in Nuremberg by Kaiser (Emperor) Karl IV in 1356 and which required that each new German king hold his first Reichstag (imperial Diet) in Nuremberg. The Nazis held their rallies here to harken back to the days of the Holy Roman Empire.

For some great history and additional pictures of Nuremberg I recommend this website. Especially worth noting is its page on the destruction of the city in World War 2. It is amazing to see the city now in light of these pictures and realize how well it has been repaired.

Schöner Brunnen	Grabbing the Brass Ring	An early ancestor?	other side of Schöner Brunnen
taking no chances	Our Lady's Church	Nuremberg half-timbers	mediaeval bridge
river & flower boxes	Imperial City Castle	View from the Castle	Imperial Castle Sinwell Tower
inner courtyard	I want a door like this	Imperial castle panorama	St. George & the Dragon
Albrecht Dürer Haus	Dürer Haus sign	love these Eagles	St. Sebald's church towers
Congress Hall	Zeppelintribuene	Time & Graffiti	later in the day
hearing the echoes	Kids Today!