The history lesson - Four walks in two days

December 29, 2013

MC has lived in Germany for well over a year. He has taken advantage of his free time, history major that he is. And he took us to places we never took him. (1) And we learned things that we did not know - things that will stay with us, perhaps posing more questions than they answer.

 Nuremberg:

I. We went to the Documentation Center/Nazi Party Rally Grounds (2) in Nuremberg on the last Sunday of the year.

Outside of the Documentation Center - MC, DH, LD

 The museum exhibit there is detailed. It explains the rise of the Third Reich and the reason for the Rally Grounds locating in Nuremberg. It was an attempt to improve the local economy. The economy was dead so the community threw out the "anti-Nazi" mayor and elected one who invited the Nazi Party to use an expanse of land - and improve adjacent swampland - for their rally grounds and meeting area. [The Party was initially identified with Munich, not Nuremberg. But Nuremburg extended the invitation and the economic environment changed dramatically with the building projects as well as the feeding and housing of party members.] The community thrived and bought into this charismatic leader, or mis-leader as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lutheran theologian, refered to der fuhrer.(3)

The museum barely mentions the war, but does mention the targeted "undesirable" groups. The language has evolved over time. In the past I had always heard references to "the gypsies." Here they are referred to as the Sinti and the Roma, rather than "gypsies." I was familiar with the term "Roma," but learned that "Sinti" are a self-identified subgroup of the Roma.

Towards the end of the museum presentations are two exhibits some might miss. One is the last video (there are numerous video interviews throughout the museum). In this one a grandmother talks of the excitement and enthusiasm they had singing the party songs and marching. My paraphrasing of the rough translation - She said she sang a "rally song" about the flag to her granddaughter and one of her friends. "What are you talking about? What is this? ridiculed the young people. "What were we thinking?" questioned the old woman, ashamed at how easily she was misled.

The other was a work of art. In it are florescent tubes attached as rails to railroad ties. In between the "rails" are cards with the names of the victims. The exhibit explains that only 60 thousand names were displayed. Imagine the length of these "tracks" had all the victims been represented.

View 1.

View 2.

The cards

Zeppelin Rally Ground

 II. After viewing the Zepplinfield - where assemblies were held - we traveled on to the Palace of Justice. Up a few flights of stairs is Courtroom 600.(4)

Courtroom 600

The courtroom, significantly renovated. The lighting is not the same. During the trials the windows were covered for security.

As a child I sat in the hall at my home (I was supposed to be in bed) and listened to one of those television programs I was too young to watch. I now believe it was Judgement at Nuremberg, perhaps a teleplay or a televised version of the movie. I will never forget the "testimony" I heard about incidents in the camps. One story in particular still haunts me.

I knew very little about the trials and their consequences other than that those major decision makers who were not already dead were generally convicted and sentenced to death or long prison terms. This exhibit explains more about all of those who took part in the trials. It includes the later trials and the political influences that allowed many to escape execution or completion of prison terms.

I knew nothing of Justice Robert Jackson, an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court who stepped aside from his duties on the court to serve as prosecutor in Nuremberg (What an amazing man!). (5)

I did not realize that some had argued for summary execution of "perpetrators."(6) 

This relatively small, but powerful exhibition raised as many questions as it answered for me. I learned names of "perpetrators" I had never heard before.  And it was the righteous end, the prosecution, conviction and execution of sentences - as we had started the day with the rise and fall of the Nazis.

Our guide was thoughtful in his tour as he was the previous day, at Flossenburg.

I am not sure why I focused on this individual, but I took this photo, perhaps as a warning to elementary students.
After his stint as an elementary school teacher, he was an editor and a major member of the Nazi party and a primary player in the Nazi propaganda machine.

December 28, 2013

Flossenburg

III. The Flossenburg Concentration Camp (7)

I had never heard of the camp at Flossenburg. It was a work camp, not an extermination camp. Even so, some 30,000 men, women, and children died there, from illness and starvation and, yes, execution.

Reviewing the map

Camp guard tower

Text of one part of the exhibit.

Flossenburg provided laborers for the granite quarry. Much of this granite was needed for public buildings (like those in Nuremberg). Later there were sub-camps making armaments.

It is almost impossible to describe the detailed exhibit that provides documentation and information on the perpetrators, the victims, and the survivors. (But see the museum guide in the second link provided below at 7).

Some executed there are famous - names we recognize now, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, (3) and Admiral Wilhelm Canaris,(8) both opposed to Hitler and executed for treason.

Probably the most important thing I learned from Flossenburg was how extensive the system of labor/work camps was. When I hear "the camps" I think of those like Dachau and Auschwitz and Treblinka. There is a map here in the museum (and one of SS camps provided by the Holocaust Museum, see the link below) with markers for the different camps. Germany is almost covered with marks. Camps were everywhere. (9)


After the exhibit we made our pilgrimage to the "Valley of Death," The memorial at the area of the cemetery of the honored, the pyramid of ashes and the crematorium. It is in this spot that Polish survivors began the efforts of remembrance.

The Valley of Death looking past the pyramid of ashes towards the crematorium.

Insulators on the old electrified fence post

The Cemetery of  Honor

IV. Castle Ruins, Flossenburg.

We left the camp and climbed the summit of the Burgruins of Flossemburg. MC explained that the tour was designed purposefully. You start in the valley at the concentration camp, but end above, on the heights of the castle ruins. The hike is therapeutic. The cold air and exercise helps to clear the head. The sights are amazing. You can breathe again up there.

View from the ruins

Another view

Sun is setting

More of the sunset from the castle ruins above Flossenburg

My lessons:

1. I have a difficult time believing that many in the Germany of the 30s and 40s can deny knowledge of the camps. Camps were everywhere. Perhaps there was no extermination camp in one's back yard, but it would have been difficult to fail to notice the prisoners and camp laborers everywhere - marching off to work in this factory or that one or helping to plant or harvest crops in the neighborhood. It would have been difficult to miss that these prisoners were abused, beaten and starving. There is no "plausible deniablity."

And is it such a big step from the 5 or 10 executions every day or so and thousands of deaths from illness and starvation to the wholesale industrialized slaughter at the death camps?

2.  I resolve to remember the words of two men I met on these walks.

Deitrich Bonhoeffer's warnings to the German people about such zealous following of a leader, creating, in effect, a cult of the leader that can result in him becoming a mis-leader are warnings to us as well. Question authority. Do not blindly follow. Do not allow leaders to demean or diminish the weakest among us or those who are "not like us."

Justice Jackson's admission towards the end of his opening statement at the Nuremberg trials (5) reminds us that the Nazis were not some special kind of demons and we are not special either. We must also answer to humanity and civilization: 

     "The real complaining party at your bar is Civilization. In all our countries it is still a
      struggling and imperfect thing. It does not plead that the United States, or any other
      country, has been blameless of the conditions which made the German people easy
      victims to the blandishments and intimidations of the Nazi conspirators."



NOTES:

(1) In 1997, we took the children to Dachau - to the concentration camp. DH and I had traveled there in 1981. I knew they would receive the information appropriate for their ages (as if the Holocaust is information anyone at any age can really comprehend).


(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentation_Center_Nazi_Party_Rally_Grounds
     http://museums.nuremberg.de/documentation-centre/index.html

(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_Bonhoeffer

(4)  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Justice_%28Nuremberg%29
       http://www.memorium-nuremberg.de/exhibition/exhibition.html

(5) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L50OZSeDXeA
      http://www.roberthjackson.org/the-man/timeline

(6) http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/26/britain-execution-nuremberg-nazi-leaders

(7) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flossenb%C3%BCrg_concentration_camp
      http://www.gedenkstaette-flossenbuerg.de/fileadmin/dokumente/RSGB.pdf
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1COz_4qV11U (Warning! Disturbing video from liberation)
      http://www.gedenkstaette-flossenbuerg.de/en/visitor-information/map/

(8) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Franz_Canaris

(9) http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/sunday-review/the-holocaust-just-got-more-shocking.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
      http://www.ushmm.org/learn/mapping-initiatives/geographies-of-the-holocaust/mapping-the-ss-concentration-camp-system/

***With thanks for MC for guiding us.***

Getting there

December 26, 2013 

[This post is late - very late. I went looking for information and saw that it was sitting there incomplete. Some info was used on later post. Perhaps I rejected it for a reason last year, but today I thought it should be added. It made me laugh. I updated information and am posting it in July 2014, but backdating to stay with the rest of the trip.Confused? Join the club.]
 

No dog walking today. A different kind of walk/run was in store. And how should I count the time? Do I skip a day?
 

First there was the running of errands in our town [For us it is somewhat like the running of the bulls in Pamplona, with a little less blood]. Then we “ran” up the highway to the airport. We were early, so we sauntered through check-in and security.* We walked around the terminal, trying to work out the “kinks” from the drive before the long flight made them permanent. We did what we usually do, seek out the newsstands and bookstores.
 

At this point I should mention that we were so dreading the long flight that we managed to almost miss the art immediately adjacent to our gate. A large mosaic circle on the floor looked up at me as we stood to prepare for boarding. “Oh, that looks like a work by Viola Delgado!” I mentioned to DH. “She was in my sister’s class in high school and is a very successful artist in Dallas. She does a good deal of public art.” Then I looked at the wall and saw the sign confirming that yes, this was the work of Viola Delgado and it is part of a “walk” one can take in the airport. It is something to look forward to the next time we are waiting there.**
 

How do I describe the flight? It was 9 hours of crying babies interrupted by, perhaps, a few hours of sleep here and there. DH and I sit across the aisle from each other on long trips. This way we have some space in our togetherness.*** I am sure we would have growled and grumbled and stared “death dagger looks” at the frustrated parents had we been sitting together. We are somehow more civilized sitting apart.
 

Our escape from the foreign airport was surprisingly easy. Our passports were not questioned (perhaps because FRANKFURT is stamped there repeatedly). And we looked like what we are  – middle aged folks, a bit dazed and confused by a long flight with screaming children (someone else’s – thank heavens!), little sleep, and only a modicum of understanding of the language.**** We found our luggage and our way to the train station (the LONG distance one as opposed to the regional station). We purchased tickets and waited for the train.

December 27, 2013

THE TRAIN!
 

After the cramped plane, DH insisted we travel “first class” on the Deutch Bahn.” I believe that means you pay twice as much for a ticket so you have a little more room, but a steward will make runs to the dining car for coffee and croissants.*****
 

At first we were traveling backwards. This did not sound like a good idea to me. I am not the best traveler (just a little motion sickness – really, nothing serious most of the time) and I REALLY hate going backwards on a train/bus/subway. I like to be looking where I am going. DH took one look at me – white faced and stressed and responded as only he can, “Well, there’s nothing I can do about it!”
 

We headed into the city and, after loading more passengers at the main Frankfurt train station,  we were facing forward (Hallelujah!).

We stopped only a couple of times before we arrived in Nuremberg (See the train post - the ride deserved its own post.).
 

When we reached Nuremberg, our ride was not there, allowing us some time inside to exchange money and change into warmer gear. Suddenly they found us – these smiling young people, LD and MC. They excitedly helped us ditch our luggage in the car and then we walked through the streets of the old city, still decorated for Christmas. Market stalls from the Christmas market were still in place. Some were empty, but others still served warm wine, chocolate, sausages and other foods (Insert another cheer here).
 

Nuremberg boasts many street musicians and, while there were no brass groups playing carols (my favorites, but caroling season is behind us), we were serenaded by accordion on our way in and violin on our way out of the city. Living statues also were surprising walkers and delighting children.
 

We shopped a little and climbed up to the castle before heading back to the Banhoff parking garage for the ride to Amberg.
 

               We are staying in the apartment of a friend of MC. It is inside the city walls of Amberg, across the street from a bakery, and down the street from two churches – we hear the bells. It is a 20 to 30 minute hike****** between the apartment and  MC’s house outside of the walls of the city, a short way up the hill atop of which perches a monastery and Our Lady Help of Christians church.
 

               Next to the church is a restaurant/coffee shop/beer garden, our last stop of the day. We ate and talked and talked and talked. Locals wished us happy travels as we planned the next day’s activities.

NOTES:

*Always listen to your parents! Mine taught me to be polite to authority. We skated through the “old fashioned” metal detector at the airport because (trust me on this) I was nice to the TSA agent who asked me if I had a belt – “No, ma’am.” – and, when questioned as to whether I had any spare parts (which she further explained, “No hip replacements, new knees, what have you.”) I responded “Oh, no, ma’am,” – when I wanted to ask, “Just how in the (#%$&%@) old do you think I am?” [My apologies to anyone with new/spare parts].  We were then directed away from the FULL BODY SCAN (I am convinced we are all going to start glowing in the dark) and towards the old fashioned “walk through and don’t set off the bells and whistles” machine.

** http://www.dfwairport.com/art/P1_017319.php
 

*** "Love one another but make not a bond of love:
      Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls....
      And stand together, yet not too near together:
      For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
      And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow" 
      ~Kahlil Gibran, The  Prophet.
 

**** Thank heavens for DH’s GI German. I usually spend days squinting at signs, my mind telling me that I should be able to recognize words, if I would just concentrate more.
 

*****This is probably the right place to mention that DH does not like public transportation. He wants more control and usually insists that we rent a car. I LOVE public transportation. I like nothing more than sitting back and watching out the window as the miles fly by. I like the SEE things.

So, I figured I would not gripe about the cost of the tickets as we were ON THE TRAIN, I got a cup of good German coffee and a croissant, and I was able to watch out the windows as DH read a book and tried to pretend he was not on public transportation. I also like to meet locals and talk to them on the train. But on this ride, most in our car were working on laptops. And I do not know the language. [I should also admit that our last big trip was a bit of a nightmare of missed exits and wandering aimlessly on the autobahn and through the streets of more than a couple of German cities. We figured we should not tempt fate with another sojourn on the roadways of Germany if our travels did not really require a car.]
 

******30 minutes walking TO MC’s as it is uphill/20 minutes walking back to the apartment, if we are dawdling.

Deutsche Bahn - Have I mentioned how much I love trains?

I love trains.

I love traveling via public transportation.

There is something about successfully negotiating public transportation that still feeds my confidence.* Unfortunately, DH does not share my affection for trains, buses and trams (although he does enjoy a good cable car).

But our last trip (Christmas 2012) was a driving disaster - we missed exits on the autobahn, had difficulty with directions and signage. We got confused in the dark of night. We debated traveling by train on our next trip and thus talked ourselves into taking the two hour train ride from the Frankfurt Airport to Nuremberg, where MC would pick us up.

It was a great way to see the countryside and a very different train experience than my trip on the Texas Eagle in June. DH read most of the way - interrupted by an occasional comment on the scenes outside our window.

I. The Stations:

DH purchases our tickets - first class!

DH in the Deutsche Bahn ticket office.

Frankfurt Airport train station is pretty fancy.

Schedule - not what we expect here, where there is a 4 or 5 line list of trains each day - if that.

More of the fancy station.

Another train chart - something like which platforms the different trains will be on.

German trains run on time!

Hope this poster is not an omen.

DH with our luggage. Thank heavens for those "rolly suitcases."

Rail yard.

First stop. Until we got here we were moving backwards. NOT a good thing for this traveler.

Hanau Hbh

Aschaffenburg Hbh

Wurzburg Hbh

Nuremberg Hbh

II. The Trains:

Engine on a regional train (regional trains are red - long distance trains are white with a red stripe).

Freight train (Looks like ours except for all the electrical wires overhead).

Local train

Long distance train we moved past.

Not much room for our luggage. DH tried to read (REALLY - DH on a train!)

They serve you in First Class. I love German coffee.

III. Rivers:

The rivers are amazing - no drought here.

Another impressive river.

IV. Fields:

Beautiful fields throughout the countryside.

More fields - patchwork quilts.

This hill was like a sleeping giant covered in a crazy quilt of fields. I expected him to turn over at any minute.

Vineyards

Fields of windmills

Farmers took advantage of the weather

Fields of solar panels

V. Other sights:

Garden plots along the tracks - each with a shed.

Small towns with onion-domed churches

 

Another town with an onion-domed church, towering above the rooftops.

We traveled through some fog.

 

We went through numbers of tunnels, perhaps 12 or 15 of them. The longer tunnels had lights inside.

*I spent two months in England, Scotland and Ireland traveling exclusively by train, bus, ferry and thumb in the late 1970s (Don't tell my children or my mother about the hitchhiking), but that's another story.