Nürenburg

Nüremberg, Germany

Normally I like to read about the places I’m going to visit, but on this trip I didn’t do advanced research.  Each place has been a surprise.

Actually Germany has surprised me.  Dan and I were in Berlin a few years ago and found it to be a vibrant city with friendly people and great museums, but other than flying through Munich, we haven’t been anywhere else in the country.

Confession:  Please forgive me, but I didn’t expect to like Germany.  I didn’t want to like Germany, but I do like Germany and the Germans I’ve met.    I was born during WWII, and my parents had friends who survived the concentration camps.  I have friends whose parents survived the concentration camps.  My father told me that he could hardly wait to get out of Germany when he was passing through on a tour.  I am a generation too close to the Holocaust and have an innate prejudice because of my Jewish heritage   On the other hand, I don’t expect anyone to blame me for what happened to Native Americans or to the Blacks in my country so I have had to learn to let go of these feelings.

Our German guide today told us that the attitude toward the Holocaust changed in the 1980’s because of a TV show on the subject in the U.S.  I don’t know if this is true or not, but he works for the Documentation Center (a huge museum that chronicles the history of the Nazis) in Nüremberg.  He did say though that the generation that lived through and remembered the war downplays what happened and if you ask them about the war, they talk about the bombings and nothing of the mass killings.

Nüremburg was the center for Hitler’s rallies.  Today we visited the enormous parade grounds and the Documentation Center, a large brick building with low ceilings that is the museum of the Nazis.

We watched movies of thousands and thousands of people in the streets of the city and at the rallies.  We also saw movies taken at the actual Nüremberg trials.  Both films were chilling reminders of one madman’s powerful, negative charisma. People on our tour questioned how he could have had such influence on so many people.   I felt as I did at Yad Vashem. But at Yad Vashem you wend your way from darkness to a large area of light, the Documentation Center was all darkness.  Instead of an avenue commemorating Righteous Gentiles, there are films of the worst leaders and most heinous of the Holocaust.  All school children in Nürenberg must visit this center.  Our guide suggested that we should watch “Judgement at Nüremburg,” which according to him was very accurate.  I watched it this afternoon in my statement (we have a choice of over 100 movies).

Ninety percent of Nürenberg was destroyed in the war, but they rebuilt the old city to look as it originally did.   It’s hard to tell that it wasn’t built hundreds of years ago.  The most interesting landmark is a large wrought-iron fountain with figures. Until recently there was a pipe to pull down to release water, but the locals were always playing a prank on tourists telling them to look through the pipe for a special view and to pull down the handle.  When they got soaking wet, they were not happy.  Our guide assured us that this was a “real” story.  Dan and I walked up to the castle and went past the house and museum of the fifteenth century artist Albrecht Durer.  Unfortunately on our walking tours, we don’t have enough time to go into the museums unless they’re a part of the tour.