Hauptmarkt

Today we drove to Nuremberg. The first pic is of the train station. We then visited the Nazi Party Rally grounds where the military would parade in front of Hitler. It’s been very interesting to see how the German people openly discuss the Nazi time period and want to be sure that people understand it, so something so horrible never happens again.
I really wanted to visit the courtroom where the Nuremberg trials took place. We had an English speaking guide who really helped us understand how the trials happened. Pic 2 is of the courthouse. This courthouse was chosen because it was in the American sector of Germany and it was one of the few courthouses still standing after the war. Nuremberg was heavily bombed but because the courthouse wasn’t in the middle of the city, it escaped. The last reason Nuremberg was chosen for the trials was because a jail was attached to the courthouse. They didn’t want to transport the 23 defendants and maybe have them escape. They had to walk from the jail directly to the courtroom. Pic 6 is of the inside of the courtroom. It isn’t very big. There were 23 defendants, each with 2 attorneys, there were translators, stenographers, reporters, people filming the whole trial, 2 judges from each of the 4 allied countries, Russia, England, France and the US and the prosecutor was from the US Supreme Court. During the first meeting of the judges, the Russians said, “They’re all guilty, let’s just kill them”. The English and French agreed but the American judges said, “No, we have to look at the evidence and hold a trial”. The trial lasted 11 months. 12 defendants were found guilty and were hanged shortly thereafter. 7 went to prison, 3 were found not guilty but when tried in the German courts they were found guilty, and one committed suicide with a cyanide pill his attorney gave him.
After the courthouse we needed to do something “lighter” so we went to an area of town that has a lot of crafts. Pic 3 is of the entrance into the old town where these shops were. Pic 4 is of the area. Pic 5 is lunchtime! 6 little bratwurst, and potato salad. Simple but yummy. At the end of the day Olivia caught a train back to Bayreuth and Davor and I continued our trip to the Regensburg area to visit his sister and brother in law.

Highlight of the day: Visiting courtroom 600 where the Nuremberg Trials took placeRead more