Nurnberg

The city of Nurnberg, in the German state of Bavaria, is famous for its medieval walls and ancient castle, gingerbread cookies, toy manufacturing, Gothic churches, Nurnberger bratwurst and the Christmas market. The city dates back to the year 1050 and for around 500 years, it was the unofficial capital of the Holy Roman Empire, sometimes referred to by historians as the First Reich or first German empire. The National Socialists made Nurnberg the unofficial capital of their empire, which became known as the Third Reich . (The Second Reich was the unification of the German states in 1871.)

It was at the Zeppelin Field, just outside the city of Nurnberg, that the National Socialists staged huge annual party rallies in the 1930ies. The rally would be preceded by a performance of the Wagnerian opera, "Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg," the story of Hans Sachs, which was Hitler's favorite.

Nurnberg, which is better known to Americans as Nuremberg, is also famous for the 1935 Nuremberg Laws, which defined who was a Jew, based on heredity, and allowed German citizenship only to ethnic Germans. The Nuremberg Laws denied the Jews the right to fly the Nazi flag, but at the same time, protected the right of the Zionists to fly their own flag, which is now the flag of Israel. The Nuremberg Laws formed the basis for the plans that were made on January 20, 1942 for the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question," since this law was used to determine who would be transported, from Germany and the Nazi occupied countries, to the concentration camps in the East.

In January 1945, 90% of the old city of Nurnberg was destroyed when it was bombed by the Allies because of its historic importance to Hitler and the Nazis. On April 20, 1945 (Hitler's 56th birthday), the city was captured by three divisions of the American Seventh Army, after a fierce battle that had lasted for several days. Because of its close association with the Nazi party, the city of Nurnberg was chosen as the site of the International Military Tribunal, the war crimes trial, which started in November 1945 at the Justizgebaude (Palace of Justice). After the war, Nuremberg was in the American zone of occupation and American troops were stationed in the city until 1992.

The name Nurnberg means "kidney rock." The name comes from the sandstone hill on which the Kaiserburg or Emperor's castle was built. The castle, along with the ancient city walls, was severely damaged during the Allied bombing raids, but it has since been restored.

One of Nurnberg's most famous citizens was Albrecht Durer, a Renaissance artist, whose house is one of the main tourist attractions in the city.

The castle in Nurnberg

The photograph above shows an aerial view of Nurnberg with the Kaiserburg (King's castle) on the left and the Sinwellturm (Sinwell Tower) in the center of the picture. From the Kaiserburg, there is a spectacular view of the whole city of Nurnberg with its beautiful red roof-tops.

It was the custom for the Germanic people in medieval Europe to set up a castle, around which a town would develop. Nurnberg was founded in the 11th century as the residence of Kaiser (Emperor) Heinrich III and the city that quickly followed became an important trade center. In 1332, Nurnberg was declared an imperial city, or a city state, by King Ludwig the Bavarian; it remained an imperial free city, with its local government answering only to the King, until 1806 when it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Bavaria, now the German state of Bavaria, after Napoleon's conquest. Nurnberg was the place where the imperial Reichstag (Parliament or Congress) met until 1543. It was also the unofficial capital of the Holy Roman Empire, which began when the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church crowned the first Emperor on Christmas day in the year 800 AD. The first Holy Roman Emperor was from the German tribe called the Franks; to most of the world, he is known as Charlemagne or Charles the Great, but he has always been known as Karl der Grosse to the Germans. He was chosen as the Emperor by the Pope because he was Roman Catholic at a time when there were several other Christian sects in Europe.

The original city of Nurnberg was established inside a defensive