Nuremberg Party Rally Grounds

[Adam Carr]

Inside the courtroom. It looks almost nothing like the 1945 setup, since the Gemans have put back the wall the Americans removed to make a bigger courtroom. The ornate doorway at left is however recognisable from the films of the trial. The defendants sat along the wall on the left. Note the crucifix on the back wall: all Bavarian courtrooms have them.

[sobel]

How it may have looked

[Mannheim]

Great photos, Sobel! Attached hopefully are a couple of then and now (i.e. 2010 and 2012) photos. The first photo shows the entrance to the Zeppelinfeld opposite the Tribune. The second, if I get the order right, is a similar shot showing a modern administration/ caretaker building on the right. The third photo shows the original height of the Tribune walls and their current status.

[Mannheim]

I am currently laid up with a bad back so I have time to post some photos of Nuremberg and the rally grounds. If you intend going there, might I recommend the Documentation Centre in the Kongresshalle. The display is excellent. Also, when you walk out, you can look across the lake and catch your first glimpse of the Zeppelin Stadium, which I must admit took my breath away. However, before charging off to check out the Zeppelinfeld, I suggest walking around the back of the Kongresshalle, so that you have the lake on your left and the Kongresshalle on your right. If you do this you will come to an entrance to the Kongresshalle and can walk right in. Actually, I don't know if this is encouraged or even allowed but no-one yelled at me or chased me out so I took lots of photos. It is worth having a look to get an idea of the size of the thing. You will notice there are tourist placards explaining the place inside the area itself but whether these are for guided tours or not I don't know.

[Adam Carr]

It's always open to the public as far as I know. When I was there it was full of schoolkids getting lectures of the evils of fascism, as all German schoolkids do.

[sobel]

Hi Mannheim, very nice images, I particularly like the last then and now, of the colourisation I posted, to me it brings a sense of reality

regards

[Annelie]

Its not a long walk to the Ehrentempel, but doesn't seem as popular
to visit. Its a nice quiet park now.

[Annelie]

Another photo

[Paulheald]

Some really super pics here from Mannheim, Sobel, Annelie and of course Adam. I have to comment, Adam, that the pic showing you standing on exactly the same spot as the Fuehrer at the Ehrentempel - your boots were not nearly as shiny as his were! Whilst at this location I notice in the film "Triumph of the Will" that Hitler, Himmler and Ludze marched up three steps from the parade ground to the forecourt of the Ehrentempel. However, nowadays it is completely flat with no steps. I what happened to all those thousands of paving stones? Are they still buried under the earth? Is there anything left at the site of the Hitler Podium, opposite end to the Ehrentempel, where the three great pillars were once sited? It looked like just parkland to me, but I didn't have a chance to have a look around at that site.

[sobel]

Its not a long walk to the Ehrentempel, but doesn't seem as popular
to visit. Its a nice quiet park now.

Two images from Triumph of the Will, taken at about te same place

[Geoff Walden]

Hi Paul,

The Luitpold Arena is probably the most-changed area of the Party Rally Grounds. All of the construction on the side opposite the Ehrenhalle was removed post-1945 - including Hitler's podium (the big gilt swastika on the front ended up in the USA), Speer's flag stands, and Schmid-Ehmen's large bronze eagles. The only "period" parts left over on that side are the steps that led to the old Luitpoldhalle/Kongresshalle (which was a pre-Nazi building).

As you observed, the area in front of the Ehrenhalle was also changed, with the steps removed. This was probably done at the same time that they removed the paving stones that had been put in by the Nazis. I don't believe they are buried - I believe they were removed.

Hitler didn't stand in exactly the same spot there every year, but those cobble stones that are there now in that particular spot are not the original stones, BTW. I was there once when all the cobble stones at that spot in that stripe were gone - souvenired, I guess. They were subsequently replaced with new cobble stones, but when you look closely today, you can't tell they are newer than the surrounding stones. They weathered quickly to blend in.

[Paulheald]

Thank you, once again, Geoff for initially suggesting that we start a new thread on the Nuremberg Rally Grounds. It seems to be going very well indeed and has answered two of my original three questions. I think that all of us, who contribute to these various Axis threads, thank our lucky stars that we have someone like your good self that has such an amazing knowledge of so many facts photographs related to the Third Reich.

[Paulheald]

My interest was first sparked, as a schoolboy, by the school medical doctor. He had attended Reichparteitag and painted some very exciting and colourful word pictures of this event. I mentioned above that I have one last question regarding the Nuremberg Rally Grounds: Was this amazing construction complex actual and potential only used on a once annual basis? I attach a nice poster of Adolf Hitler looking most avuncular advertising just that - Reichparteitag.[img

[sobel]

Hi Paul,

Hitler didn't stand in exactly the same spot there every year, but those cobble stones that are there now in that particular spot are not the original stones, BTW. I was there once when all the cobble stones at that spot in that stripe were gone - souvenired, I guess. They were subsequently replaced with new cobble stones, but when you look closely today, you can't tell they are newer than the surrounding stones. They weathered quickly to blend in.

Very interesting observation and information, what puzzles me is why remove the cobble stones and then replace them with what appears to identical ones unless as you say they were souvernired??

Two images in my archive, and I admit I no longer remember the source, but do seem to agree with comments made by geoff, cobbles removed?

Any ideas as to what happened to the large bronze eagles?, melted down?

[Geoff Walden]

Wow, Alex, thanks very much for posting those photos! I had no idea that ALL of those cobbles had ever been removed! All I was talking about was a small semi-circle around where AH stood in 1934. So, most likely, none of those cobbles we see now were there in 1945, or in the same spots, anyway.

Yes, I believe the eagles were melted down, but I don't recall where I read that.