October 5 - Tour of Nuremberg

Nuremberg is a large city of 500,000 people with a diverse economic base. It remains one of Germany’s most successful economic regions, blending a varied industrial base with a thriving service sector. The city is a hub for manufacturing, especially in automation, electrical engineering, and metal/plastics processing, with major companies like Siemens and Bosch leading the way.

The service sector now accounts for about 61% of the region’s economic output, with Information technology and tourism playing key roles. Nuremberg is also recognized for its medical and healthcare industries, earning the nickname “Germany’s Medical Valley.”  Events like the Toy Fair and Biofach attract many international visitors to the city.

The unemployment rate in Nuremberg is low at around 4.2%, which is below the German and EU averages. Salaries are competitive, especially in manufacturing and tech, and they say the cost of living is relatively affordable compared to other major German cities. Gas here sells for about $2.50/l.

Having done a comprehensive walk through the old town of Nuremberg last night we decide to take a city tour.

One of the first sights that we saw on the trip was the Opera House. It is an imposing structure that can host 2,000 opera lovers for a performance. It was leveled by a bomb in 1944, but it was rebuilt after the war to its original splendor.

Opera House

Next, we arrived at the Palace of Justice. It was here that Nazi criminals were put on trail for Crimes Against Humanity. We saw the jail and execution yard where ten prominent Nazis were hung on October 16^th, 1946.

Palace of Justice

We then passed two cemeteries. The first was a Jewish cemetery, which is now locked down 24 hours a day to avoid neo-Nazis from damaging the graves. It is so sad that these sick losers still roam the earth. After that we passed the second cemetery, Johannis Graveyard, which is famous for the floral displays on the graves.

Floral display at Johannis Graveyard

We then drove through the old town and got to view the magnificent churches, stores, and restaurants for a second time. Historically, this area was part of the Jewish quarter before the Jews were expelled from Nuremberg in the late fifteenth century. The Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche) was built on the site of the former synagogue, which was demolished after the expulsion. 

Frauenkirche

One of the interesting bits of information that we were told about was that on the site of the flea market, there is a mechanical puppet show.

Puppet Show in the central square

After that we drove out to a parish called Poststadt. It is here that Hitler erected a giant stadium to host his Nazi party rallies. It is impossible to see any video history of WW2 and not see a video of one of those rallies. A little further down the road was the SS headquarters. In a display of irony, it is now home to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.

Chamber of horrors - SS Headquarters in Nuremberg 

When we first arrived in Nuremberg on the train, one of the first things that I noticed was that there were entire blocks of housing that were very old, probably over 100 years of age. In the history books on the second world war, that I have read, it is commonly accepted that Nuremberg is the cultural birthplace of the Nazis. I would have thought that the Allies would have leveled the city as it did to many of the cities in Germany. It was part of the strategy of destroying the industrial capacity of Germany. Equally important in this strategy was to destroy the moral of the Germany populace by making them homeless. I know that the Allies did not attack some historical sites in Germany, but not entire areas as large as Nuremberg.

According to our guide on the city tour, it turns out that if the building still had 10% of their edifice intact then it had to be rebuilt as closely as possible to the original design.

The buildings next to our hotel have many windows that have decals on some of their windows that look like ladders. The ladder-like decals mark windows that are designated for fire department access in case of emergency. They signal where external rescue ladders or aerial platforms can safely reach.

Fire department access signage 

For dinner we went to a restaurant called Bruderherz. The food was delicious. The best part was that it was only a 5-minute walk from the hotel. I had a lager, but it was so sweet and I thought they had given me Canada Dry ginger ale.