Saturday, April 5, 2008

Nürnberg (Nuremberg)

The story of a city that saw the rise and fall of Nazism
I could remember I first saw the name Nürnberg (or Nuremberg in English) when I started learning History in Sec 1. And I was glad I had the chance to visit this city. Today despite its dark history during the 20th century, it is the second largest city in Bayern (one could easily guess what the largest city in Bayern is). And so from Bamberg I took the train to Nürnberg, arriving in the evening. I spent a total of one day and two nights there, maximising every time I have to cover all of the city as well as to meet up with Cynthia. Actually she does not live here, but she's here on a dance course and will go back to Ausgburg when school reopens.

The Altstadt

Here you see the "kiam chye" map with all the circles, crosses and sketchy routes which I clutched for most of my time here. The Altstadt of Nürnberg is enclosed by the town walls. And at every corner of the wall there is a tower. Actually the whole city was flattened by the Allies in 1945 and as a result the Altstadt was painstakenly rebuilt from the heaps to restore what it looked exactly like in the past. Therefore all the walls, together with some of the jewels in the Altstadt were rebuilt replicas.

One of the first few pictures that I took when I arrived that evening. Part of the town wall. Notice that the U-Bahn (subway train) runs through it. Another part of the wall nearby the Hauptbahnhof

The front entrance of the Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof.

I was pleasantly surprised upon arriving at Nürnberg. Firstly I found the train station above to be beautifully designed. And the sunset lighting made it look more beautiful. Secondly the Altstadt is immediately right at the doorstep of the train station, which means the first thing I saw when I stepped out the train station was already the town walls.

Nürnberger Wurst

Nürnberg sausages are one of the best in Germany. Although they can be bought off the supermarket shelves and cooked, but the best, authentic sausage here is made on the spot upon ordering, so says the menu as they justified the waiting time. Nürnberg sausages are different from most of the other German sausages because they are firstly, much shorter, and they do not curl and in terms of thickness not as thick. It is hence like a mini sausage, if you'd want to call it this way.

Nürnberg Sausages with potato salad and dark beer

Another street favourite is 3 of such sausages stuffed into bread with thick mustard. Although it is quite fattening I must say, it is still a delight to wash it down with beer. And everyone does it on the street, even people you'd normally don't expect to associate with junk food - such as elderly people as well as girls with great looks and figueres gobbling down on that with beer. Well but I guess to have a sense of proportion, this is probably not junk food in Nürnberg context.

Hauptmarkt in der Altstadt (Main market)

The best time to visit Nürnberg is actually not during easter but rather during the christmas period because of its spectuclar Weihnachtsfest (christmas market). But other times of the year we could see that at the centre of the Altstadt stalls are set up.

The Martplatz is also the place where the Gothic looking Frauenkirche (Women Church) as well as the Schöner Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain), a golden fountain of Jewish and Christian heros as well as other figures stands.Also, if you could see from the map above, there is a river that cuts through the Altstadt. The picture above is one of the bridges. A rebuilt replica of the previous building before it was bombed in WW2.

The Kaiserburg (Imperial castle)

At the north end of the Altstadt stands the Kaiserburg. In this self contained castle is today a museum which shows the King's living quarters and a well which still yields drinking water. Also, it is possible to get a picture of the city from this the Kasierburg.

The 40metre well is located not in the tower but in the house beside it.

The rise and fall of Nazism

Most people who visit Nürnberg tend to forget or leave out this area called the Reichsparteisgelände (Nazi party compound). Firstly it is located outside the Altstadt and secondly, there is well, honestly not much to see. However it is an integral part of the history of Nürnberg as well as Germany for this is where we see how the Nazis carried out its rallies as well as propaganda speeches. The Nazis first bought over a vast area of this land in the 1920s and developed this land to be the area for rallies. The rallies soon became a content of propaganda as well as anti-semetic policies.

Indeed, Nürnberg is the place where the infamous rallies began, the boycott of Jewish business began, as well as the place where the Nürnberge Rassengesetzte (Nürnberg Raciallaws) which stripped the Jews of their citizenships were enacted.

The stadiums which were used for their rallies. Below you see a hall which was never completed. Hitler intially intended for it to look like the Roman Colosseum.

The way to the Frankenstadion (venue for the 2006 World cup). The glory of today with the dark past of yesterday. In fact the Frankenstadion was once the former marching grounds for the Hitler youth as well.

Venue of the Nürnberg Trials in 1946.

2 km from the east of the Altstadt lies the Nürnberg Palace of Justice, as it was named. It was the place where the trial of war criminals were carried out in 1946 after the war. I suppose the trials were chosen for the symbolic reason because of its association with the Nazis during the war. Today the place is still used as a court, and the trialroom of the war, is especially used for murder trials.

http://picasaweb.google.com/vintagebin/1718MarNRnberg

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