Day 17 - Wednesday May 14, 2025 - On the Road and Nuremberg

 

Courtroom 600, where the famous Nuremberg trials were held.

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!  

So, we board our bus for the 3 hour drive to Nuremberg where hopefully we'll continue our river cruise.  

Our bus stopped for a rest stop, bathroom break and we found we were at a chocolate store.  And bathrooms.  

I haven't ever seen this much chocolate.  It was all so beautiful.  They also had a coffee and cake bar.  There were at least six rooms full of chocolate, maybe more.

I wish I could have translated what all of the labels said, but I would probably have bought even more.  

They need these in the US at each truck stop!

We arrived at the ship just before noon and it had just pulled it, as well, coming through a loch before reaching us.

We had lunch and found that our rooms were ready.  Our luggage would be brought to our rooms as it was unloaded.

I had a 2:00 tour, having had to choose between Nuremberg and WWII or Surviving the War, Art in Nuremberg.

Our tour guide was 7"2' tall. He was born here in Nuremberg but played basketball on scholarship at Davidson college in North Carolina and after his degree, came back to Europe and played basketball for 10 years. His degree is in history and he enjoys giving tours. I felt so small!  Pictures just don't capture his height.

Nuremberg is a fairly modern city.  You won't see the old Baroque style buildings as the Allies pretty much bombed the hell out of the city, leveling it during WWII.  Nuremberg was part of the heavy  mechanisation and was largely responsible for much of the war effort.  Siemens was huge here, and is still large.  Another company,an, manufactured train cars and was a transportation related industry.  The Allies carpet bombed much of the factories.  As to where the money came to rebuild it, I'll leave that subject alone.  

The few buildings left unscathed by bombing are huge. Hitler had master plans to make Nuremberg a center for his rallies and public displays.  The issue is what to do, how to repurpose these massive structures.  Development of these areas is far more expensive than presently can be afforded.

We first went to Zeppelin Field where Hitless has his mass rallies. It covered about 11 square kilometres.  During the party rallies, deployments of the SA and the SS with up to 150,000 people took place in this area. 

We next went to Congress Hall, another huge structure which was the stage for Hitler's propaganda displays.  

Future plans for a new opera house on this site.

What it looked like in 1938

In another area inside Congress Hall is an exhibit giving you an overview of the history of the structure and the Nazi party rallies.

Our guide made it known that there is a concerted effort to make sure the youth of Germany do not ignore or forget its history.

For many years after 1945 the population wanted to ignore all that had happened during the Holocaust. They did not educate their children nor did they speak of the atrocities that either they had performed or knew had happened. 

Since the 1960s and even more currently, the 1980s the movement is towards acknowledgment and teaching their population what transpired during World War II during the Nazi regime. Children are required to visit at least one concentration camp as well as the classroom curriculum teach students about that period.

The Palace of Justice was the main reason I chose this tour. This is where the Nuremberg Trials took place.  We were able to visit the exact courtroom where they were held.  Of course there were changes to the room, but the bulk of the room remains unchanged.  

The 4 windows on the 2nd floor behind the flags is courtroom 600.

As for the cross, church and state are usually separate.  The answer as to why it's there, is just, "it's always been there".

The elevator that brought prisoners up to the courtroom 

The reason this building was chosen was due to there being a prison in the building connected to the courtroom.

Connecte prison to courtroom