Christmas Day in Nuremberg
If you were to compile a list of things to do on a Christmas Day, I’m sure most people would have a very similar list: visit with family, cook a giant feast, open presents, and/or maybe focus on a religious function. Regardless of what is on the list for most people, I’m sure that visiting Hitler’s bunker, zeppelin field, and the Nazi Party rally grounds would not be on that list. But that’s the plan for today! Naturally, we expected almost everything to be closed. Germany does take its Christmas holiday seriously, and one needs to anticipate that when visiting here during the holiday season. We figured we'd plan our day around architecture, cityscapes, and basically anything that doesn’t need to be “open” to access.
So… why the WWII stuff? Nuremberg was the start off point of the Nazi party, and many of the foundations of their takeover – and naturally the foundations of the war and everything that came after – happened here in Nuremberg. Obviously this is a part of history for which the Germans don’t exactly beam with pride. As much as the modern people here disassociate with the Germany of the 1930s, I do think it is important to keep artifacts like the bunker and airfield to stand as a memorial to history, a living relic to say that this did happen and it is important to understand it. Brushing it under the rug won’t erase the past; rather putting it on display can stand as a testament to that past, and serve as a reminder to not let it happen again. And as for the German people, they don’t need to justify themselves. It happened in their history sure, but they’ve risen well above that. Everyone can find horrors in their own cultural past, this one just so happens to be well documented and relatively recent. Coming from the US, we have institutionalized slavery in our nation's DNA, not to mention the country's foundation rests on the back of genocide. Glass houses anyone?
We arrived at the rally grounds after a good hike from the subway. It was an easy ride from the hotel, which was a good thing considering we will be back to the same stop on Frankenstraße tomorrow to pick up the car. I’m sure we could have caught a bus from the subway to the rally grounds, but we just decided to foot it. There is actually a whole park set up that contains the rally center and the airstrip called the (say it with me now) Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsglande.
Those Germans sure seem to love cramming together their words, huh? Let's see how it looks in English:
Letscramtogetherasmanywordsaspossible! Thisisinnowaydifficulttoread!!!
Hmm. It’s like trying to read a long domain name.
Anyway…
The rally center was turned into a museum that was closed of course, so we didn’t get to see the parade grounds themselves. That’s too bad, but we did get to walk by the impressive facade. We were really there for the zeppelin field anyway. Around the side of the rally grounds was a park with a lake that apparently had a lighthouse. Supposedly it was built in for a local fair they held before the bad days, but we couldn’t find it… maybe it was taken down or was a victim of bombing. The lake was still there, though the waterline looked a tad low.
We walked around the edge of the lake past a nice looking lakefront restaurant and some residential areas. Then, there before us opened up the zeppelin field. It was huge, with imposing architecture and a very distinct pulpit. That pulpit. That’s where he stood. We looked around the actual landing field, but much of it was fenced off and impassable. We walked back toward the bunker section and climbed the stairs. You could imagine these steps lined with officers standing at attention, dreaming of world domination as the zeppelins were launched in front of them. The bunker area was in poor condition. There were signs up about how they are trying to keep it from collapsing, but they just don’t have the funding. As time goes on, more and more sections are closed off as they are no longer stable. There were also signs showing the bunker in its heyday, a bold representation of the rigid fascist-style architecture. We walked along the top to the pulpit then stepped out onto it.
He stood here. It's not “I think he was probably around here somewhere” or “it might have been kinda near the area”. No, he stood right here. We were literally standing in the footsteps of one of the most evil people known to history, whose very name is associated with evil leadership. We looked out from the pulpit over the field, and it sure was a view. You could feel the power from this position. Surely it was designed that way, and surely that is why he frequently chose to appear on pedestals like this one. You could imagine looking out at your empire, looking down at everyone as they looked up at you. People everywhere are fascinated with power and evil like that of Hitler. What was going on in his mind? How did he so easily commit and inspire others to commit such atrocities? Standing in his literal footsteps on his pulpit made you think of that even more. It is a period in history that has captivated us in our attempts to rationalize it all. And there we were, standing right in the very footsteps of its primary villian.
So, um… Merry Christmas?
It was fascinating. It was sobering. It fills your mind with an endless stream of what ifs. But it also fills you with a sense of comfort that less than a century from such a war, there we were standing free in this amazing country. Free to stand where surely we couldn’t have stood before. We were surrounded by wonderful, friendly, accepting people. Despite the power, the hate, and the fear… he didn’t win. That’s an important thing to take away from this, especially considering the world we live in now and the attack in Berlin just a few days ago. There’s always hope for peace to prevail.
It was getting late as we walked back along the lake, and we still had a good hike back to the subway, then the train back to the city. After a long, somber day we decided to have a festive Christmas dinner at least! Much earlier we had breakfast in the hotel and an eierpunsch (think boozy eggnog) at a market stall we were surprised to find still open, but that was about it… so we decided to check out that pretty lakefront restaurant we passed on the walk here. It was called Gutmann am Dutzendteich, and fortunately for us it was open Christmas Day. And as it turned out, the restaurant was affiliated with a brewery! We ordered the schnitzel and potato salad, and started off with a Dunkelweizen. Had to check how strong the beer was and if we were hallucinating, but we weren’t… that schnitzel barely fit on the plate! Holy cow that was huge! We needed takeaway boxes, and had a stuffed waddle all the way back to the subway. Not going to lie, that wasn’t an easy walk after what felt like two feet of fried pork and potatoes!
As we walked back along the lake, we saw a liter beer glass down by the waterside. It was a bit dirty and crammed full of leaves, but the glass was from the Gutmann brewery! We grabbed it to clean up and take home as a free souvenir! I can’t tell you how many cool pub glasses we’ve found walking home. Just like the giant Leffe glass from Belgium, this one is a keeper!
The city was mostly deserted as expected, and we have an early morning tomorrow. Still, we walked around to look at the lights, peer out from the bridges over the river, and feel those old stone streets under our feet. We felt comfy in Nuremberg, a very home-like type of comfort. The city square was filled with empty market stalls as we took one last good look at the Frauenkirche, and gave one last Christmas turn of the ring on the famous wishing well. Last ones for now, anyway. We turned in to finish our box gluhwein, have some pudding, and wind down for bed.
Goodnight Nuremberg, ‘till next time...
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