Nazi Rally Grounds, Nurnberg

Monday, 6/1

Our train arrived in Nurnberg at about 1:30. We went directly to a no frills chain hotel and checked in to drop our gear off. Then we headed back to the train station to catch the #9 tram to the rally grounds.

The rally grounds have a Documentation Center whose primary purpose is to trace the evolution of the National Socialist (Nazi) movement: how they were able to gain such control and power over the German people. It started with Hitler's association with the SA, a group of ex-military extremists. Initially he tried to seize power through the use of force, but ended up in jail, where he wrote Mein Kampf. His book sold millions of copies, making him a rich man not too long after he was released. His party gained more and more followers, and slowly the other parties began to disappear and he took over the Reich...assuming the top three positions in the German government. Hitler managed to achieve a godlike status -- he staged huge rallies to make sure each person knew that they were just one in the crowd...a small part of the whole. He was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. He made plans to build enormous stadiums and fields in Nurnberg, most of which were never finished. The museum went into great detail about the Nurnberg rallies--- the astronomical number of troops and people that flocked to the events, the tents that were set up to house all the people, the food that was served, etc, etc. The Triumph of the Will was filmed during one of the Nurnberg rallies, which became the #1 propaganda film for the Nazis. Then it talked about how the Nurnberg laws were initiated during one of these rallies. These laws legally defined Jews as 2nd class citizens --and so began the concentration and extermination camps, which caused the deaths of over 2 million Jews. There was a small description of the takeover of Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium etc and the fight with the Soviets. However, the museum didn't go into much detail about WWII or the Holocaust...skipping over those and ending with the Nurnberg trials -- where more than a dozen high ranking Nazi officials were sentenced to death by an international war-crimes tribunal.

The tour ended with an interior view of the Congress Hall -- which was intended to be an indoor arena capable of holding over 50,000 people. Construction never made it past the outer walls. After the museum, we walked around the back of the Congress Hall to the Great Road and the Zeppelin Field. The zeppelin field is where the troops marched past and assembled for Hitler during the rallies. We climbed the stone steps and stood in the exact spot where he gave his speeches to the hundreds of thousands of troops and citizens. You could almost picture the masses as they were shown in the Triumph of the Will...pretty powerful.

Just beyond the field was supposed to be an outdoor arena capable of holding more than 400,000 spectators...but the construction budget was transferred to the war effort when only the foundation had been dug. A lake is there now.

You could tell that Nurnberg wants to put that chapter of history far, far behind them. And rightly so. Most of the historical sights have been converted into parks, hardly recognizable as the magnificent buildings they once were. And not a single Nazi relic could be found anywhere in the city.

But as you stood there on the steps facing the Rally Grounds, you could close your eyes and imagine Nazi flags on every building, thousands and thousands of troops, giant eagle and swastika statues and hundreds of lights beaming into the night sky. What a sight it must have been --and thats what Hitler wanted --to inspire a sense of awe --Fascination and Terror.