It was a little rainy as we began our day, and ended up leaving the house around 11:30 or so to head for downtown Nuremberg. Ate at a cute little Italian place right down the street from the old castle fortifications of medieval Nürnberg, the same ones Hitler marched right past in his NSDAP rallies.
We drove out to Zeppelin field and we explored the area. It was used for many rallies in the early days of the NSDAP, and was crafted to accommodate up to 200,000 people.
It's mostly in ruins right now, and the troops from good old 'Merica blew up the giant eagle and swastika, but you can still stand on the very spot where the Fuhrer stood as he looked out on the sea of hundreds of thousands of his loyal followers. I thought about how I was standing under the same sky that saw Hitler and the Nazis throw many a rally and weeklong soirée.
It was so surreal to stand in his place, after seeing that very same pulpit pop up so many times on those black-and-white newsreel clips you see of him.
One thing I didn't know was that the stone used for much of the extravagant Nazi architecture came from granite mined by men from concentration camps such as Flossenbourg. The inmates there worked in extreme heat and extreme cold, wearing wooden clogs for shoes that left them with bleeding feet as they went slipping and sliding on the rocky hillsides. In these inhumane conditions, many would die-many from *accidents.*
Their blood must cry out from these stones.
Afterwards, George, Aunt Rachel and I visited the Museen der Stadt Nürnberg which is a museum about the Third Reich.
What makes this museum unique is that you learn all about the Nazis and the entire history of national socialism while being in the actual building that Hitler designed himself.
It is one of the last surviving examples of Nazi-designed architecture in the world. It was unfinished, a building that he and his party hoped to use as a place for a new Congress to meet when they won the war.
It was very well done and I learned a lot more in-depth information about the regime from their earliest days. We got audio guides to listen to since the writing there is entirely in German.
We all agreed that the item above was one of the most twisted things we have ever seen. It's an anti-Semitic board game developed by Nazi propoganda officials. It was designed to teach children to develop hatred for the Jews. They also had some art drawn by second grade schoolchildren depicting Jews in a very negative light. Brain-washed much?
After the museum, we walked outside
to explore the grounds further. George wanted to show us another still-standing piece of Nazi architecture, the Ehrenhalle (hall of honor) so we set off to find it. There was a wire fence around most of the park area for some reason, I believe it was because they were preparing for a Rock concert being held at the nearby Zeppelin field.
But, we were not to be deterred. George found a spot in the fence that was open, and so we slowly poked our way over to the building. And as we passed through a little glade on the way to the building, I couldn't help but notice that it was FULL of the many herbs and wild plants I know and love. Too bad no one was putting them to good use!
The building reminded me of a mini Parthenon in its own way. If you've seen any newsreels of Hitler speaking from early on in his career, you've probably seen this building before.
We had George take our picture. He kept saying "ready? Ok, ready?" I said "oh, just start taking 'em." Was going to try making up captions, but it's just as good without. Use your imagination. ;)
Ate dinner at a cute little Greek restaurant. I've gotten over my fear of trying out my language skill when ordering my food and it has gone quite well thus far, except when he asked me "apertief, ja?" and I didn't know what that was until George explained it was an Italian alcoholic drink. But why was he asking me? Do I look like the drinking type? I'll never know, I suppose. ;)
Later, the old manager guy came by to ask how everyone's food was. When he saw that the little kids were eating lamb, he was super impressed, and later came by and gave the kids free Eis, which was pretty sweet.
Came home to our apartment and relaxed for the rest of the evening. We have another day of exploring tomorrow! I heard today that gingerbread is Nürnberg's specialty. May need to investigate this claim ASAP.
;)
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