Back in September, I was in Germany. The better part of my Ancestors were from Germany. I’ve done a lot of Genealogy work over the years to support this. Both my Dad’s family, and my Mom’s family were about as German as you get. I took the bite with that DNA deal through Ancestry, in hopes of finding something more than German, German, German.
To make a long story short, I am about 90% German (or Western Europe) and there’s about a 10% chance of Great Britain. But the area mapped for GB overlaps Germany. Sooooo……
Back to it. I was recently in Germany. And it was exciting for me to be there, in the places where my family had been. Where they walked, and talked, and loved, and lived. We visited several cities.
Nuremberg was one.. It left a large imprint on me. You see, Hitler had big plans for Nuremberg. Big. It was the site of the Nazi Party Rallies. We aren’t talking a few guys roasting weenies around a campfire. No. We are talking about 700,000 Nazi supporters, at any given time. Supporting. Cheering. Rallying.
The area of the Rally Grounds are mostly now in shambles. But old Adolph was going to build it big. There was a Congress Hall which was huge. It was going to have 50,000 seats. It looks a lot like something from the Roman Empire.
The field grounds were 80 football fields in size, and the German Stadium was to have 400,000 seats.
And those German Nazis stood at Hitler’s feet, and listened to his message. His guarantees for them. A great nation, a strong nation. One filled with promises of prosperity, and wealth. They turned a blind eye to the truth of the matter. Because the promises were alluring to them. The promises were for them.
A World War halted the movement.
I was reminded of all of this… because on this date… this November 20th… back in 1945… the Nuremberg Trials began. Twenty-four high-ranking Nazis went on trial for atrocities committed during World War II. The proceedings lasted 10 months and consisted of 216 court sessions.
When it was all said and done… on October 1, 1946 …. 12 architects of Nazi policy were sentenced to death. Seven others were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 years to life. And three were acquitted.
The Holocaust is thought to have consumed around six million Jews, with an estimated further six million other people also murdered by the Nazi regime. That number has been estimated to be even higher.
It is staggering. Sickening. Horrendous. Twelve million people were killed, because they did not fit the plan. It is incomprehensible to me.
There is a lot about this world which remains incomprehensible to me.
I can only hope our world will continue to learn and grow away from these atrocities. WE ALL need to remember these things, so that complacency does allow them to reemerge. We need to remember.
“If you didn’t remember something happening, was it because it never had happened? Or because you wished it hadn’t?” ― Jodi Picoult, Plain Truth
“I would like to learn, or remember, how to live.” ― Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters