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Nürnberg (Nuremberg)
The Nazis saw Nürnberg as a classic example of
a city rich in Germanic and imperial history; indeed, Hitler agreed with the mayor who once called it the "most German of
German cities." Wishing to capitalize on this, the Nazi hierarchy turned Nürnberg
into the city for Nazi Party rallies, and every September from
1933 to 1938, the NSDAP held its annual rallies in Nürnberg -- huge week-long gatherings
that brought hundreds of thousands of people to the city to view the nationalistic and
militaristic extravaganza.
To better accommodate these massive rallies,
Hitler turned to his favorite architect Albert Speer (designer of the New Reichs
Chancellery in Berlin, and later the Nazi Minister of Armaments) to design and build a
suitable site, which became the Nazi Party Rally Grounds,
southeast of the city center. This site eventually featured some of Speer's largest and
most monumental works, with plans for an immense Olympic-style stadium with seating for
405,000 that would have dwarfed all else (this building never progressed much beyond the
ground-breaking stage). Wartime necessities brought a halt to the Party Grounds, which
were never finished, but most of what was built is still there, in a somewhat ruined
condition.
The Party Rallies featured large numbers of the
SS, SA, Labor Service, Hitler Jugend, and the Wehrmacht, parading through the old walled
town of Nürnberg and standing in mass formations on the several parade grounds, paying
homage to their Führer and deceased Nazi heroes. Hitler made several speeches during the
week, and viewed military demonstrations on the large exercise grounds.
Following the end of World War
II, Nürnberg was the site of war crimes trials
conducted by the Allies against former Nazi leaders. Click
here for a MapQuest map link to Nürnberg.
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While in Nürnberg, Hitler stayed
at the Deutscher Hof Hotel, near the Bahnhof (train station). He had a large
room on the first floor (second floor to Americans) with windows from which he could review marching
columns. An addition to the hotel was built in 1936 (to the right in the
period view), and afterwards Hitler stayed on this side, which had a special
Führer balcony. The building has changed a little
but is still easily recognizable,
and is still the Deutscher Hof Hotel (although it recently went out of
business). ("Nürnberg, Die Stadt
der Reichsparteitage," Berlin, Struck Verlag; 1938 postcard (author's collection) |
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Hitler at his
window in the Deutscher Hof Hotel in 1934. Note the lights below the
window, which spelled out HEIL HITLER. ("Adolf Hitler - Bilder aus dem
Leben des
Führers," Cigaretten-Bilderdienst, 1936) |
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Jugend pass in review before Hitler on his special balcony in the new
section of the Deutscher Hof in 1937. This side of the building has seen
more extensive changes during renovation, and it is no longer part of
the hotel. (U.S. National Archives RG 242) |
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| On the
left, a 1936 view of the hotel, showing the special Führer balcony of
the new section. The dome of the opera house is in the background.
(period postcard) |
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hotel in the area, the Fränkischer Hof (built 1938-39), housed the Nazi
press corps during the Rallies, and was open to the public otherwise.
Exterior decorations included five coats-of-arms shields, one bearing
the Eagle and Swastika insignia, by Phillip Widmer (seen above the
doorway in the period view). The hotel was extensively remodeled in the
1990s, drastically changing its appearance, and is now the Sheraton
Hotel Carlton. The shields were reinstalled on the front wall, including the
Nazi emblem with its swastika not completely chipped out. (period
postcard) |
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| Hitler
(with Himmler behind) reviews the honor guard from the Leibstandarte-SS
Adolf Hitler, in front of the Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof (main train
station). (National Archives RG 242) |
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| On the
left, a 1941 postcard view of the Hauptbahnhof. On the right, SA leader Horst
Wessel marches his unit past the Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof about
1929. (right -"Deutschland erwacht - Werden, Kampf un Sieg
der NSDAP," Hamburg, 1933) |
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Along the main route for the
marching columns to reach
the center of town was the Fleischbrücke bridge. Notice the bull statue on
the archway at left, in both photos. The
St. Sebalduskirche church on the main
square is in the background. (Hochbauamt Stadt Nürnberg) |
A period color image from the same
viewpoint (likely from 1937). (Life collection)
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The goal of the marching columns
was the Hauptmarkt, or city square, which was named Adolf-Hitler-Platz from 1933-1945.
Here Hitler reviewed the SS, SA, Hitler Jugend, and other marching groups.
Below is a panoramic view of the same scene today. Just to the left of center is the famous Nürnberg Fountain. The
St. Sebalduskirche
can be seen in the background behind the fountain, with the Frauenkirche on
the right. (See bottom of this
page for a view taken in April 1945 after the fall of the city to the U.S. Army.) (National
Archives RG 242) |
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Hitler salutes from his car,
stopped in the Adolf Hitler Platz near the fountain, as his followers march
by during the 1933 Parteitag rally. (period postcard) |
View taken from the same spot
today. The old Rathaus (Town Hall) in the background was damaged by bombing during World
War II, and was not rebuilt in the same style. |
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| Crowds
in the grandstands before the Frauenkirche during the Party Rally of
1933, and a similar view today. ("Deutschland
erwacht - Werden, Kampf un Sieg der NSDAP," Hamburg, 1933) |
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The Rathaus (Town Hall) was always
decorated for the NSDAP Parteitag rallies. (Hochbauamt Stadt Nürnberg) |
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The Gauhaus
(1937, architect Franz Ruff) on the Marienplatz (Schlageter
Platz during the Nazi period) was
the headquarters of the Nazi Party in Nürnberg, and of Gauleiter Julius Streicher, the
"Frankenführer," or Nazi leader of Franconia. Although damaged by
fire in 1945, the building was rebuilt and is practically
unchanged today (located now on Willy-Brandt-Platz). The name of a newspaper replaces the eagle and swastika on the façade.
(Hochbauamt
Stadt Nürnberg) |
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Above left - another period view of the
Nürnberg Gauhaus. Above right - the Gauhaus still smolders when photographed by the U.S. Army
Signal Corps on 27 April 1945. The eagle and swastika can be faintly
seen through the smoke. (left - Fr. Prof. Gerdy Troost, "Das Bauen im neuen Reich,"
Bayreuth, 1938; right - National Archives, Record Group 111-SC,
205453) |
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September 1938, following the Austrian Anschluß,
the Nazis moved the imperial regalia of the Holy Roman Empire (the
"First Reich") from Vienna to Nürnberg, where they were housed
in the Katharinenkirche. St. Katharine's Church was severely damaged in
the 1943-45 bombing, and never rebuilt. Its ruins can be seen today in
the old part of the city. The regalia are now held in the Imperial
Treasury in the Vienna Hofburg. (Stadtarchiv Nürnberg) |
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| Nürnberg
had Nazi decorations at other times as well as during the annual Party
Rallies. This is a view of the world-famous Nürnberg Christmas market
(Kristkindlmarkt), then and now. (Stadtarchiv Nürnberg) |
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An SS Kaserne was built near the
Party Rally Grounds, southeast of the city center. The U.S. Army used this facility
as Merrell Barracks after the war, headquarters for the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment
(border guards). The
facility was returned to the German government in 1995 and is now a documents
center (only the front/main building remains). (National
Archives, RG 242) |
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common with other large cities, Nürnberg erected air-raid shelters when
the bombing of the Reich became a reality in 1943-44. This was the
Grübel-Bunker, located on Grübelstraße in the old part of the city
(on the left, seen in 1945).
It was designed to shelter 200 people and was built to resemble a normal
civilian building. In recent years the bunker was converted to
apartments by cutting windows and doors through the thick concrete
sides. Click here to see three
air-raid shelters in nearby Fürth. |
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Nürnberg's importance to the
Nazis naturally earned it the wrath of the Allied air forces. By the end of the war, some
90% of the old town was in ruins. Postwar rebuilding makes this
similar view of the Museumsbrücke almost unrecognizable. The tower of the Burg (Castle)
in the right distance is visible in the gap between the buildings. (Stadtarchiv Nürnberg) |
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Nürnberg was
taken by the U.S. Army on 17-20 April 1945. Following the fall of the old walled part at
the heart of the city, on the evening of 20 April 1945 (Hitler's birthday), the 3rd
Infantry Division held a formation in the newly renamed "Eiserner-Michael-Platz,"
under the direction of division commander Maj.Gen. John "Iron Mike" O'Daniel.
Compare the left-hand photo to the 1933 view
above.
(Donald G. Taggart, "History of the Third Infantry Division in
World War II," Washington, Infantry Journal Press, 1947) (Watch
a film on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEAo7JnDm_I
- thanks to Willem Oosterhof for the link.) |
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| Soldiers of the other divisions of
the XV Corps also entered Nürnberg. These soldiers belong to the 45th Infantry Division
(left) and 42nd Infantry Division (right). (42nd
"Rainbow" Infantry Division. Baton Rouge, LA, Army & Navy Publishing Co.,
1946) |
Signs of
the changing times in Nürnberg ... a GI replaces the Adolf-Hitler-Straße sign with one honoring President Roosevelt, 20
April 1945. ("Yank," 1
June 1945) |
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1945-1946 the Palace of Justice on Fürther Straße housed the Allied
Military Tribunal for the war crimes trials of former Nazis (which
continued under U.S. jurisdiction into 1949). The primary proceedings
were held in this side wing, in the hall with the large windows. The
photo on the left was taken shortly before the verdicts were announced
for the original defendants. (photo from the U.S.
Army in Germany site) (MapQuest
Map Link) |
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primary proceedings took place in Courtroom 600, which had an elevator
that connected directly with the adjacent prison where the defendants
were held. The courtroom is still in use today (open for tours on
weekends), but has changed since 1946 - the room is now smaller and the
spectator/press gallery from which this photo was taken no longer
exists. The original defendants were (first row, left-right) Hermann Göring,
Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, Ernst
Kaltenbrunner, Alfred Rosenberg, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Julius
Streicher, Walther Funk, Hjalmar Schacht; (back row, left-right) Karl Dönitz,
Erich Raeder, Baldur von Schirach, Fritz Sauckel, Alfred Jodl, Franz von
Papen, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Albert Speer, Konstantin van Neurath, Hans
Fritzsche. Martin Bormann was tried in absentia. (U.S.
National Archives)
Click here
for further info and links about the Nürnberg War Crimes Tribunal. |
 Continue to Nürnberg Part 2 -- the Nazi Party Rally
Grounds
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