Passau a Bavarian City on Three Rivers

We visited a peaceful, beautiful city yesterday--Passau. It is situated on three rivers, the Danube, Ilz, and the Inn rivers. It forms a peninsula because of this geography, and becomes an old quaint European city of charm.

The city is at least 2,000 years old, and was founded as much was in ancient Germany, by the Romans. The Celts were here for 4-500 years, and left in 100 B.C. No one knows why--possibly the economy? The Romans left in 480, as Rome was disintegrating, and the outpost was no longer viable.

The current town has a population of about 50,000, and a University with another 10,000 students. The University was founded in the 1960s. The largest industry here is a factory that makes gears for John Deere tractors. It employs about 3000 workers.

The narrow streets house many different high and low end stores, and the shopping is excellent. There is a church here, Saint Stephan's, that was originally built in

850, but it burned twice (1662, 1680) and was rebuilt after that in the baroque style. It is magnificent, and I have included a few photos of it. The interior has elaborate sculpture, and painting that cannot be shown in this limited description. The alter itself depicts the martyrdom of Saint Stephen and graphically, but tastefully shows his stoning. One cannot look at any point in this church without seeing some form of artistic expression of the Christian message. It is awesome! It was mentioned that this town was not heavily bombed in the war, and the Cathedral was only hit by six of seven shells.

Ironically, supporting churches this size takes many Euros, and a tax instituted by (yours truly) Adolf Hitler, helps with this issue. He instituted a "church tax" in

an effort to stop church attendance. It still exists, and is about 8% of your total income tax. It has helped to keep the beautiful churches viable and repaired.

Anne and I found a beautiful local restaurant for lunch, and ate some local bratwurst (lamb and pork), sauerkraut, and a liter (4.5% alcohol) of a local beer. It made the walk back to the ship easier. It was local, as the waitress had a difficult time getting our order. It was worth it!

It should be mentioned that Napoleon stopped by in 1803, and removed all the church rulers and monarchs. He made Passau part of Bavaria. That's why we were drinking so much beer there.   

Nurenberg and The War Crimes Trials

Visited Nuremberg on Saturday. It turned out to be a wonderful visit mainly because it supplied much information about WWII. I have always wondered how the German people could have gone down the Hitler road, and a visit to the Documentation Center supplied many answers to this question. This museum is a place of learning as many Germans go there. Just as important, German soldiers go there to learn their history. It surprised me that the whole episode is laid out clearly in this museum: the politics, the brain washing techniques, the concentration camps, the loses at the end of the war. Importantly, they do go into the failings of the Weimar Republic, as contributing to the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party.

This Documentation Center is built in the amphitheater that Albert Speer designed to help spread the propaganda of the Nazi party. It was huge and designed based on architecture of the Roman Coliseum. Built to sit 50,000 people; it had no electricity. It was to have a glass ceiling to let light in over the podium from which Hitler was to speak.(All the focus was to be on him.) It was never finished because of the War. Near by, in the Zepplin Field Hitler held many of his massive rallies. All of this architecture was designed to make the individual feel insignificant, and to gain strength from the massive crowds. It was essentially and "architecture of intimidation." Intimidation of the individual, forcing him to become part of a massive movement.

Hitler was presenting himself as the savior of Germany. It was an incredible propaganda machine that he wanted to present through the architecture and history of Nurenberg-- his favorite city. On January 1-2, 1945, 90% of the old walled city was destroyed by RAF incendiary bombing.

Hitler was a reaction to the Weimar Republic. He gave the people hope to grow out of their economic depression (there was 30% unemployment then), and to become a great nation again.

Very near this proposed amphitheater was the was a massive parade ground. In some movies, the  massive swastika on the  roof of this field was destroyed by the allies at the termination of the War. Another significant place in Nurenberg is the court house. This is the place where the war crime trials were held at the end of WWII.

Apparently, it was the opinion of the U.S. legal team, that these trials should establish principles for the future of international was crimes. Our tour leader told us that the Russians wanted to hang all of the 31 defendants, but the U.S. felt that that would undercut the credibility of the proceedings. In the end, three of the defendants were let go, and many were hanged or received life in prison. Goebbles, a prominent Nazi leader, committed suicide just prior to his hanging. No one knows how he got the cyanide, and it may or may not be a coincidence, but the guard of his prison cell ended up with his watch! It was humbling to stand in the very court room where this famous trial was held, and it appears that the U.S. team's ideas prevailed and have been perpetuated in such trials held at The Hague.

The rest of the day, we walked around the city. It's special. Beautiful square, and

churches. Had a lunch in a local restaurant of bratwurst, sauerkraut, and beer (bad for the arteries, but tasty). We sat with a couple of German's and one of them suggested a desert shop that we must visit. That topped off  our lunch with a scrumptious desert.