During WWII, Adolph Hitler ruled Germany.
He led the charge of the Arian Race. That charge included destroying other races which were not Arian.
Killing. Killing children, and their mothers, and their fathers. Ending lives.
I have seen the death camps before. I have visited the Holocaust Museum in D.C.
Today, we passed briefly through Nuremberg. Here, our group toured the Nazi Party Rally Grounds. These Rally Grounds, NOW, consist mostly of run down decaying buildings, and overgrown marching fields.
Yet. In the late 1930s… here, more than 160,000 young men would gather to learn the Nazi way. To herald it. To applaud it and live by its ways.
Being in Nuremberg, reminds me, once again, of the Power Hitler possessed, and the power of the Nazi movement.
Someone in our group asked the question, “If so many did not want to follow him, how come they did?”
The answer in one word: Survival.
They would be ostracized. They would be labeled as unpatriotic. And then they would disappear. (You know. Today in America… we have a lot of Americans who call other Americans unpatriotic. We need to watch where we tread.)
But in those days, the people followed those Nazis, for whatever reason. Millions of lives were destroyed. For no viable reason. IS THERE EVER A VIABLE REASON?
The architecture of this group, this movement, is now much in decay.
And that is truly, truly, truly a blessing.
If it were not in decay, it would mean that Hitler had not been defeated. And I doubt that I would be sitting on a boat docked in Bamberg. I doubt that I would be anywhere near this place.
And I suspect our entire world would be much different. And not for the better. Not one bit.
(Today was a travel day. To Nuremberg briefly and then on to Bamberg. A lovely Farmer’s Market in Nuremberg, and a great dinner on our boat tonight. All in all, a very good day. Sometimes sad, but good.)