Nuremberg Past

• By admin
• July 31, 2016
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Courtroom 600

Congress Hall

Reading the guide books and visiting the National museum it becomes apparent that Nuremberg is home to many beautiful ancient buildings, historical events and famous people. But it seems to be most famous for its more recent past, the Nuremberg rallies and the War Crime Trials. Visiting the site of the Nuremberg rallies, one can’t help be amazed by the scale of it. The Congress Hall, a semi-circular building designed by Albert Speer based on the architecture, but  to be twice the size of the Coliseum in Rome and intended to seat 50,000 delegates.  The Documentation Centre in part of the Congress Hall is now an impressive museum detailing the connections, causes and consequences of the rise of the National Socialists.  We also cycled up the marching route (Grosse Strasse) for the Nuremberg rallies, a travertine concourse two kilometres long, used as a temporary airfield by the US army after the war.  By contrast we spent the afternoon in the Courthouse 600 which between 1945 housed the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials after the downfall and defeat of the Nazis. It was an amazing experience to be in the actual courtroom in which the trials took place, and there is much film evidence here to watch and hear the proceedings. It is a fitting memorial which focuses on the past, present and future of international human rights.