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Chirol
Author

Chirol

Date

May 31st, 2005

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Nürnberg

Nürnberg, or Nuremberg in English, is one of the most famous cities in Germany due to its association with the Third Reich. However, it’s actual importance dates back to the middle ages when it was a key city in the Holy Roman Empire and thus, the NSDAP (Nazi Party in English) chose it as the location for their rallies, or Parteitage, searing Nürnberg into the world’s conscience, especially through Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph des Willens.

This author had the pleasure of visiting Nürnberg recently to see the Reichsparteitagsgelände (only in German) as well as its museum. Here are a few pictures combined with originals from the 30s as to better show what the complex was used for.


The seating around the Zeppelinfeld:

The infamous Zeppelinfeld in the Reichsparteitagsgelände:

Chirol stands on the exact spot Adolph Hitler stood to oversee the massive parades and to give his fiery speeches:

The Kongresshalle from across the lake:

Comments to this entry

mark safranski
June 1, 2005
2:37 am
Interesting. Speer built these monumental structures to have a thousand year span of existence, considering how they could begin to crumble and still look impressive. How do they look close up ?
Curzon
June 1, 2005
3:13 am
Love the comparison pics, especially the first one. And you're looking sharp there, Sir Ignatius!
Chirol
June 1, 2005
7:43 am
Mark: They are in fairly poor condition but considering they aren't really kept up it's not surprising. Speer would be upset! I know they were supposed to decay beautifully and remind one of Greek or Roman ruins but WWII kind of got in the way as well as time. There are crumbling rocks everywhere, many things are overgrown with weeds and some areas are too dangerous to walk in (The Kongresshalle) because they aren't safe inside. Also many parts just don't exist anymore such as the massive swastika which US soldiers dynamited. The Marchfield, another larger marching field was also destroyed.