The Kimberley School Newsletter March 2016 | Page 8

22nd - 25th January 2016 Nuremberg Visit
A group of Year 11 and 12 students recently made a four
day visit to the beautiful German city of Nuremberg. As
we started our descent into the Albrecht Dürer Airport, we
could see the snow-covered fields all around, and cold,
snowy weather would stay with us throughout the weekend. The accommodation base on this trip is the coolest
youth hostel ever, actually part of the Kaiserburg (imperial
castle) with amazing views over the Old Town.
On the first evening, we went a short way past the old
merchants’ houses to a traditional restaurant, one recently
visited by Jamie Oliver, for various dishes such as
sausages, steak, pork shoulder, sauerkraut, fried potatoes,
dumplings, chicken, salad, ice cream etc. Nuremberg
sausages (Nürnberger) are so small that 8 or 10 of them
constitute a normal portion. Many centuries ago, when
large parts of the population were affected by plague,
charitable people determined to eat them would make
sausages small enough to thread through their keyholes,
thus avoiding direct contact and infection; the plague has
gone but the finger-like sausages remain.
Saturday’s theme was National Socialism. We stopped
at the main market square (for more information on
this and some of Nuremberg’s famous churches click
here) scene of the world’s most famous Christmas
markets one month earlier, but renamed Adolf Hitler
Platz from 1933 to 1945, then used local transport to
reach the former Nazi Party Rally Grounds. These are
on the south east side of Nuremberg with their Great
Road pointing north westwards in a direct line towards
the Kaiserburg, our home from home. The whole
terrain was shrouded in snow and mist but we took our
bearings from the frozen lakes and the modern football
stadium, home of 1 FC Nürnberg, to arrive at the main
grandstand on the Zeppelin Field. The central part of the
grandstand is still intact, complete with the only surviving
lectern used by Hitler, and it is a bizarre and chilling
sensation to stand on the very spot where he addressed
the masses assembled on the vast meadow below.
(Click here for more info).
We were grateful to get back to the Congress Hall, the
gargantuan yet unfinished Nazi building which now
houses a museum and exhibition all about the Third Reich,
which one tours at one’s own pace taking in short films,
displays, pictures and text with the help of a hand-held

audio guide (click here for more info). We also had our
packed lunches in the Congress Hall foyer.
After lunch, we continued our tour in the Luitpold Grove
and Arena, another expanse of parkland with a wealth
of historical associations. As with the Zeppelin Field
and other installations this morning, there are plenty of
information boards in German and English with pictures
from the Third Reich period. As visible as ever is the Hall
of Honour, originally a monument to the fallen of World
War One, then an integral part of Hitler’s party rituals and
now a monument to all victims of war. We walked across
the Grove to the remains of another grandstand and then
to the steps of the old hall, infamous as the place where
the murderous Nuremberg Laws on racial purity were
proclaimed in 1935 (click here for more info).
The group then returned to the centre of Nuremberg, its
picturesque old town, and enjoyed free time shopping
and eating. We arranged to meet back at base for our
evening meal. It was an easy meeting point, due north
and visible from almost anywhere in the old town.
After so much sinister history, we always planned to have
some fun on Saturday evening. The Kristall Palm Beach
swimming complex provided a most welcome distraction
with its amazing slides, rapids, jacuzzis and other pools.
It had been a long but very fulfilling day in Nuremberg.
Sunday’s theme was Justice and first call was the house
of the Nuremberg Trials. This is still a working courthouse
but mainly a museum – specifically about the Nuremberg
(main and other) trials which were set up after World
War Two but there is also much about other more recent
genocides like those in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and the
work of the International Criminal Court. This was also
a self-guided tour with English audio guide, if required,
and a work sheet. So we saw exactly where leading
Nazis like Göring, Hess and Speer were brought to justice,
before the world, in 1945-46. The prison where they were
held and the gymnasium where 10 of the accused were
hanged are no longer there, but standing in the very
room where the drama of the trials took place is quite an
experience. I would recommend this museum for history
students but also prospective law students, as the
Nuremberg Trials were a major event in the history of
war crimes legislation. For linguists too, these trials
marked the birth of simultaneous translation – just about
everything that was said had to be understood in French,
German, English and Russian (click here for more info).

Nuremberg
Trip
Nuremberg Trip