Nuremberg, Germany

October 12, 2016

We spent the morning sailing along the Danube and into the Danube canal to our destination of Nuremberg.  Nuremberg is the fourth largest city in Germany.  It is in the state of Bavaria between the rivers Pegnitz and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal.  Site of the famed Nuremberg trials, we had the option of a city tour or a WWII tour which included the Documentation center and the court house where the trials were held.  I chose the WWII tour.

We did an abbreviated tour of the city on the way to the parade grounds.  It appeared to be a nice city, but I think we were all really focused on what we were about to see.

Our boat was docked in the woods.  Beautiful area around us, reminded me of driving through the aspens in CO.

We got a glimpse of the city on the way to the parade grounds and document center.

We drove past the "coliseum" and document center on the way to the parade grounds.  The grounds were huge and it was hard to imagine how many people actually stood and listened to Hitler talk. The Area has been declared an UNESCO historical site, which has created a financial issue for Germany. They have to maintain an UNESCO site and the necessary repairs will cost around 75 million Euros. Our guide said the state of Bavaria has committed 25 million, Nuremberg 25 million so they hope to get the remaining 25 million from the federal government of Germany.

Stands for viewing soldiers as they lined up for review by Hitler

Main staging area where Hitler stood in front of his troops

People standing where Hitler stood

At the entrance of the grounds were a row of square buildings.  Turns out these were the latrines since they would have over 100,000 people on the grounds.  Our guide said they are now used for storage and can be rented.

Latrines turned storage units

This is a picture from Wikipedia showing troops lined up for review by Hitler in 1935.  It gives you an idea of the enormity of the crowd.   

From the parade grounds we drove back to the coliseum.  It was designed after the coliseum in Italy but was unfinished since the cost of the war stopped construction.  But the building itself is so large our bus could actually drive inside of it and make a complete circle.  The plan was to have added seating and cover it completely with glass.

Outside of the coliseum

 These next pictures were taken while driving inside the coliseum.  It gives you an idea of just how large it is.  Our guide said he was not sure how they ever would have covered it with glass but that was the plan.

It was eventually decided to add the Document Center to the coliseum.  The intent was to make sure future generations knew what Hitler had done, the horrors of the Nazi reign and to prevent such a thing from ever happening again in Germany.  The Document Center follows the rise of the Nazis from the end of WWI through the Nuremberg Trials.

Hitler from the Document Center

Troops lined up for inspection in the parade field we visited earlier

This railroad is the last exhibit in the Hall of Documents.  Scattered along the track is a card for every document person who died in a German camp.  It is a visual that really captures the enormity of lives lost at the hands of the Nazis.

We heard in the Document Center that when the American freed the camps, they were wholly unprepared for what they found.  They thought they would find some prisoners, but did not anticipate finding the mass of humanity, both dead and alive, that awaited them.

Many of the pictures we saw in the Document Center I remember seeing in school.  I remember vividly the move we saw in school of front end loaders moving dead bodies, emaciated almost to the point of being skeletons, into mass graves.  I don't know if they still show those pictures today, but in the 1960's they did.  Those who decided to set up the Document Center were right.  You never forget these images.  Tragic as they are, I hope we never forget.

As we traveled to our next site, our guide explained that between 1945 and 1946, German officials involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity were brought before an international tribunal in the Nuremberg trials. The Soviet Union had wanted these trials to take place in Berlin. However, Nuremberg was chosen as the site for the trials because the city had been the location of the Nazi Party's Nuremberg rallies and the laws stripping Jews of their citizenship were passed there. Also, the Palace of Justice was spacious and largely undamaged despite extensive Allied bombing. The already large courtroom was easily expanded by the removal of the wall at the end opposite the bench, thereby incorporating the adjoining room. A large prison was also part of the complex.

We arrived at the courthouse, but a capital case (murder) was being tried so we couldn't go into the courtroom, but we could go to the museum next door.

What was interesting was that the Germans requested the Americans run the trials.  As our guide put it, Germany had ticked off everyone around them by invading them, so they felt the Americans would be the most objective.  He also told us that there were only two things that the tribunal could rule on, so they expanded it to four items which would allow for both death sentences and prison sentences. The voting countries were the U.S., Britain, France and Russia.  The Russians just wanted to line everyone up and shoot them while the French did acknowledge two of the four indictments as being legal.  So I guide said the Russians and the French in essence canceled each others vote,  Our guide said the Russian Judge wanted to be able to go home, so he voted guilty and death sentence for everyone where the French generally voted not guilty, which left the British and the Americans.  The other thing that was dismissed was the notion of "I was just following orders."  Initially that was used as a defense but later was not allowed. 

The guide told us stories about those on trial.  There was one man who swore he was not involved and he got something like 20 years in prison.  After he was released, it was learned that he actually had been one of the worst offenders but by then was gone.  Another story he told was about Israel. They found Germans in Argentina and wanted the tribunal to extradite them and try them.  Israel's request was not honored, so they extradited one of the men they had found, tried him and executed him.  After that, members of that German community mysteriously died, most in accidents.

The trial was still going on when it was time for us to leave, so we boarded our buses and headed back to the boat.  Fascinating day.  I learned a lot I don't remember learning in school about the rise of the Nazi Regime and also heard and saw a lot I do remember from school.

A picture from the Nuremberg trial (Wikipedia)