Nuremberg

I had visited Nuremberg twice before in my professional career but the only sightseeing was the little toy museum in the old town section many years ago.

Nuremberg was the center of Nazi propaganda mostly aimed at German citizens to persuade them that Adolf Hitler was the answer to their dire economic conditions that persisted after World War I.  In Nuremberg, large public spectacles were staged with Nazi Party followers to show great power and strength.  Developing a Hitler cult was the objective, a mystique designed to create the illusion of power and great nationalistic strength.

This museum is devoted to the rise of Nazi power and influence and was the site of huge rallies held by the Nazi Party.  It appropriately ends with a very graphic portrayal of some of the horrors that resulted from their 12 year rule of Germany.

Some of the photos and film shot during these events were altered to look bigger than they were.  This photo of Hitler taken at this location is accurate in size and scope of the hysteria that was created around this very evil man.

Before bobblehead dolls were a thing, there were Hitler busts for sale.

A typical propaganda poster.

The rallies were huge.  Hundreds of thousands of Nazi Party followers descended upon Nuremberg 

for these spectacles.

This exhibit is the last stop before leaving this museum.  This replica of train tracks show the signs of well-known Nazi concentration camps on the wall where Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals, Jehovah Witnesses and Nazi critics were enslaved and murdered.  There were many, many camps but these are familiar to a lot of people.

There are 60,000 cards with the name of one Holocaust victim on them scattered on these tracks.  Each card represents 100 more whose names are not shown who died in concentration camps. The total number of Holocaust victims numbers over 6 million people.

A sobering but appropriate end to this museum.