If you have never seen the dvd entitiled “Triumph of the Will” created by Leni Reifenstahl in Germany, it is a propaganda film showcasing Hitler and the Nazis at the 1934 Party Rally in Nuremburg.  Most religions or political movements have a home base that can be called their focal point; the medieval city of Nuremburg symbolized the link between Germany’s Gothic past and its Nazi future.

Each September a pilgrimage was held in which followers gathered from all over the Reich to participate in torchlight marches (Charlottesville??) and solemn ceremonies honoring fallen Nazis.  Hitler and his thugs really got off on pagentry.  If you look at the faces of some of his followers they looked like crazed holy rollers from the backwoods of Mississippi who just met their Messiah.

The Nazis sure knew how to produce high drama. There was a hush of 30,000 people as Hitler appeared in the back of the giant stadium and followed by his aides, Goering, Goebbels, Hess and Himmler, marched slowly down the long center aisle while everyone raised their hands in sick adoration as he made it to the podium.

He would start his speeches quietly, at a slow pace, eventually working up to a frenzied rant. His disillusioned followers loved every minute of it.  He held the rallies here from 1933-1938.  The big war started in September 1939 so there was none held that year.

The parade grounds still stand minus the giant swastica that was on top of the main building that the Allies blew off.  It is in rough shape and the citizens of Nuremburg have no real plans for a it.  A developer proposed apartments and a mall but is was not approved.  It is another memorial, not a shrine, to an evil time.

A few of us climbed the steps to stand at the podium where Hitler once held a nation, actually the world, in his very uncapable hands.  As I looked out on the vast parade grounds I could almost hear the goose stepping SS and the roaring crowd, see the giant swastica banner lit up by search lights.  Another surreal experience.

Back in the 1970’s they allowed folk concerts there briefly.  Bob Dylan stood at Hitler’s podium, a Jew who would have surely died in a concentration camp back in the day, and sang a song.  FU Hitler.

Later we visited the remains of the party rally amphitheater. Why have a party rally when there was only one party? Hey, more pageantry!

Another decaying Nazi relic to the past. There was a “Dokumentation Center” in the old building to go through. Our German guide explained the exhibits and photos of the chronological time line of the years 1933-1945.  Hitler always bragged to his fools that his reich would last a thousand years.  It made 12 years before if self destructed.

Again I was impressed by our native guide. He didn’t try to defend any of the indefensible actions of the Nazis but seems to be resigned to taking responsibility and dealing with it. No excuses were made.

Later we checked into the Nuremburg hotel and had another sausage based dinner. Not my favorite but I am really trying to eat what the locals eat. Dave, I really am!

The dinner conversations have been light and lively and I have thoroughly enjoyed talking to fellow travelers. I have made a real effort to NOT talk politics but someone else brought it up around dessert.  As I suspected I am quite alone in my views and confessed to them that I am probably the biggest Trump hater they will ever meet.  I figured, that’s it for me.  I will be traveling really alone the rest of the trip.  But you know I can’t go along just to get along.  Instead, we had the best give and take and respectful conversation about this extremely polarizing subject that I have been a part of since this whole nightmare started on November 8, 2016.  I did not think that was possible.  Of course they are wrong (ha-ha) but I retired for the night feeling hopeful for the first time in a long time.

Tomorrow the Palace of Justice – place where the war crimes trials were held in 1946.  Watch “Judgement at Nuremburg”, great old movie.  Spencer Tracy, Judy Garland, Maximillan Schell, Marlena Dietrich.  Made in 1961 and one of my favorites.