Nurenburg day 3: 1. Adolf Hitler as rock star. Human history has been marred by successful charismatic amoral megalomaniacs, but he will forever be the gold standard. 2. Nazi board game to teach children how to kick the Jews out of Nurenburg. The city had a special meaning to Hitler as it is the oldest city in Bavaria and he wanted a huge parade ground/sports comlex/podium for his speeches/monument to pan-Germanism bult as the centerpiece of the 3rd reich. By the early 1930s the writing was on the wall and all the Hopfs, not wishing to be Finzi-Continis, who physically or mentally could leave sold all that they could and got out of Dodge leaving the rest behind. This included my grandfather Ernst who was reported as having died at age 40 of colon cancer. My father was in boarding school in Engand, my aunt in Switzerland, leaving only my Oma to leave Germany itself. 3. American GIs atop the Hitler parade field after taking over the city. 4.the remains of the Hitler/Speer complex, left behind as an open wound on the landscape untouched as a reminder of the insanity. No attempt has been made to cover up or explain away the awfulness. The documentation center museum there pulls no punches as to who was responsible. 5. The Americans bombed the ancient city into rubble and it was rebuilt by the citizens with statues (6) to remind visitors what had happened. Our guide, Margot put it this way: The Germans brought this upon themselves, the allies had every right to destroy the city and they did. Now it is our obligation to make sure that no one forgets and that this never happens again. 6. a simple touching memorial in one of the churches to all the broken countries of the world.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 12:39:14 +0000