Tag: Nuremberg

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Courtroom 600

Nuremberg Palace of Justice
View of East Wing of the Palace of Justice. Courtroom 600 is behind the three large windows on the second floor. Photo by Sandy Ross (2017).

After visiting the Zeppelin Field, our last stop in Nuremberg was the Palace of Justice. Located to the east of the “old (medieval) city,” the building was one of the few in Nuremberg to survive the Allied bombings of early 1945. The Allies chose the small east wing of the Palace of Justice to hold what are now referred to as “The Nuremberg Trials.”

Despite what many people feel are the symbolic reasons for choosing Nuremberg to hold these trials, the real reason for their choice was much more pragmatic.

Iconic photographs of the first International Military Tribunal trial are well known and show the interior of the courtroom during the ten-month trial held between 20 November 1945 and 1 October 1946. The courtroom, open to the public (when not being used for trials), is known today as “Courtroom 600” and is easily recognizable even though it has been restored to its pre-trial appearance.

Why The Palace of Justice?

Yes, Nuremberg was a symbolic city to hold the trials of Nazi leaders and their accomplices. It was the site each year between 1927 and 1938 where the Reichsparteitage (Reich Party Congress) met and between 1933 and 1938 the annual National Socialist Party or Nazi rallies were held on the Party Rally Grounds (click here to read the blog Zeppelin Field). It was also here that the Nuremberg Laws were passed representing the first formal actions against Jews and a precursor to the Holocaust.

Palace of Justice 1945
Aerial view of The Palace of Justice shortly after the war ended. Notice the five radiating prison buildings behind the Palace of Justice. Only one remains. The wall circling the compound is no longer in existence. Photo by anonymous (c. 1945). PD-US Government. Wikimedia Commons.

However, there were other pragmatic issues that made the city ideal for the trials. First, it was one of the only buildings still standing large enough to hold the trial as well as accommodating the staffs of the court and prosecution teams. Second, the complex included a prison adjacent to the Palace of Justice. A circular wall surrounded the prison complex adding additional security. Next to the prison was a gymnasium where on 16 October 1946, the condemned men were hanged (executions arising from verdicts of the subsequent Nuremberg Trials were carried out at Landsberg Prison in Bavaria). Read More Courtroom 600

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Zeppelin Field

The next two blogs (including this one) are a result of our recent river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam. Along the way, we floated up and down three different rivers, one big canal, and went through sixty-eight locks (yes, you read this correctly—68 locks). One of the primary reasons we chose this trip was the day-visit to Nuremburg, Germany and the “World War II Excursion.” The alternate excursion was to the Nuremburg Toy Museum so you can guess it wasn’t a hard choice for us.

We visited two historical sites: Zeppelin Field where the massive pre-war night-time Nazi rallies were held and the interior of the courtroom where the highest surviving Nazi leaders were tried in 1945/46 on four counts, including crimes against humanity.

Nazi Party Rally Grounds

Nuremberg Congress Party Demonstration. Photo by anonymous (8 September 1938). German Federal Archives. Bundesarchive, Bild 183-H11954/CC-BY-SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons.
Nuremberg Congress Party Demonstration. Photo by anonymous (8 September 1938). German Federal Archives. Bundesarchive, Bild 183-H11954/CC-BY-SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons.

Located southeast of the old town of Nuremberg, Zeppelinfeld (Zeppelin Field) is part of a larger complex known as the Nazi Party Rally Grounds. In August 1909, Count von Zeppelin landed one of his airships on this location thereby giving the field its name. Other buildings on the grounds included the Luitpoldarena (deployment area), the Luitpold Hall (“Old Congress Hall”—damaged during the war and later demolished), the Kongresshalle (“Congress Hall”—still standing but never fully completed), the Märzfeld (March field—demolished), the Deutsche Stadion (“German Stadium”—only its foundations were built), the Stadion der Hitlerjugend (“Stadium of the Hitler Youth”—today it’s the Frankenstadion), and the Große Straße (“Great Road”—completed but never used). Only the Zeppelin Field, the Luitpoldarena, and the Große Straße were completed by the Nazis. By 1939, the focus of the Nazi party was on obtaining the labor and materials needed to support the German war efforts and not on the completion of their rally grounds (the last rally, “The Party Rally of Peace” scheduled for 2 September 1939, was abruptly cancelled when Hitler attacked Poland on 1 September 1939). Read More Zeppelin Field