Zeppelinfeld Nuremberg

[Mannheim]

I was at the Nuremberg Rally Grounds yesterday and saw this notice. It looks promising (relevant section framed in red):

[CraigM]

Wow! I thought I'd never get inside the grandstand to see that hall and would have to settle for looking only at pictures of it. The whole site has suffered from decay and a severe lack of maintenance funding and I was worried that the structures would eventually decay to the point that the authorities would declare them unsafe and that would be the end of public access but I'm glad to see that things are improving.

Thanks for posting Mannheim.

[Geoff Walden]

That’s wonderful news! Thanks for posting!
Sounds like a side trip to me, Craig!

[Mannheim]

I'm going home (to Australia) in early December. Could members keep us posted if they go to the Zeppelinfeld and find the Tribune open?

[ManfredV]

As I know, Tribune outside and inside are not opened yet, but will be soon. I'm originally from Middle Franconia but there for some times a year only.
You'll have to try. But nevertheless whole area and exhibtion at Kongresshalle are a " must do".

[Hans1906]

Info about the Zeppelintribüne / Zeppelinfeld:

https://www.nuernberg.de/internet/nuern ... nfeld.html

Must one really have been there, where my grandfather marched with the RAD detachments, even had to shake hands with the Führer, or was allowed to do so, I don't think so.
This is really nothing to be proud of, apart from an international curiosity about the place.

One may like to smile about it, but the involvement of our german grandfathers in this system is not at all funny, rather deadly serious, unfortunately.

I will not comment further on this nonsense please, I will never visit this place as a tourist.


Hans

[CraigM]

the involvement of our german grandfathers in this system is not at all funny

Who said it was funny? I don't think anyone finds it funny.

This is really nothing to be proud of

Who said they're proud of it? I think most people on this forum are interested in the history and the architecture. Why is it OK to visit the Kongresshalle and all the other historical places in the area but not the hall inside the Zeppelin Grandstand? The prospect that something that's been closed up for decades is going to be opened to the public is exciting for historians. This forum is called "Axis History" after all.

I will not comment further on this nonsense

Why post anything about it then? Why post a link to more information about it? Why not just ignore this thread? Frankly Hans, your posts are often so negative and critical that I would prefer it if you never commented on anything here again. But that's just me. Perhaps most folk like your negativity.

[Hans1906]

@ CraigM,

put on my shoes just once, walk for a day in my grandfather's boots, who always is with me, looking for a better career, higher ranks, the Major wanted to become a General in the labor service.

The man was single-minded, brilliant, he would have been promoted to the rank of General labor leader by 1946 at the latest, if not earlier.
A man with only 8 years of schooling, a little knowing person, a man looking for a career, that was all.

That was possible in the Third Reich, there are thousands of examples...

* I remind my grandmother: "Your grandfather shook Hitler's hand!"
The old lady was completely over the moon in an afternoon coffee session with other old National Socialists, old ladies reminiscing about the good old times...

My grandfather was beyond me personally, I've never achieved his level of brilliance myself, you have to accept what you are, that's all it takes.


Hans

[Geoff Walden]

I will not comment further on this nonsense please, I will never visit this place as a tourist.
Hans

I take that as good news, Hans - it means that I will never see you there.

Please be as good as your word and stop further comments that are just your personal morality or opinions. I, for one, am not interested. You can have whatever opinions you want, but you can’t expect us all to share them.

[Hans1906]

Of course, this forum is important on the subject of history, indisputably.
But the story also includes family memories about the former
Nazi Party Rally Grounds, where my grandfather had to march several times with various RAD detachments.
The grandfather was a convinced National Socialist and took a lot of photographs himself in Nuremberg over the years, on the occasion of the Nazi party rallies.
There are almost 200 photos, of course all photos are related to the RAD in Nuremberg.
That is exactly the fine difference, you visit these places today as a tourist, or you have your own documents and photos from your own family history.

The man regretted his National Socialist past after 1945, he received the "Persilschein" as a follower, but he was there at the time, full of enthusiasm.
And of course there are a lot of "negatives" involved from my side, it's understandable that as the grandson of a Nazi I see a lot of things negatively.

As a family member many of you would certainly feel very much the same way, general approval was not and is not my issue.
It's not always easy to live with such a legacy.

This is not an apology for some of my posts on this history forum, rather an attempt at explanation.


Hans

[Hans1906]

I saw the only 61-year-old grandfather on his deathbed, I survived the man for many years.
The man was a wreck, like a ghost for me as a boy, Grandpa smelled strange, he was doomed to die, I didn't understand it at the time, I was too small, too young.
Decades later, Hans was always with me, the first pedal car, the first Märklin railway, the first bicycle, all the wishes that the man never experienced himself were granted to me.
I love this distant man, he was my father.


Hans