Nurnberg part two -- Nazi Documentation Centre

(This post is a little delayed because we were busy with Christmas.)

Hitler made Nurnberg an important city in the Nazi regime, and today a museum chronicling the rise of the Nazis sits in some of the buildings they left behind. We visited this centre on our trip to Nurnberg.
The museum is located on the former Nazi Party Rally Grounds, specifically inside the unfinished Congress Hall. The Congress Hall is a huge building, originally intended for party conventions, is the largest remaining example of Nazi architecture. The museum occupies one corner of the building. It focuses mostly on the rise and rule of the Nazi Party; World War II and the Holocaust are mentioned only as they relate to that context. It had a lot of information about Germany during this time period, about the methods the Nazis used to gain and keep power, and the thoughts and sentiments of the German population at the time.
Particularly interesting to me was a movie at the beginning of the exhibition interviewing people who lived in Nurnberg during the 1920s and 1930s. They recounted what it was like in those times; with Germany struggling, Hitler was something of a star and a big attraction. He was someone for the Germans to pin their hopes on, and when stories about his atrocities began to spread, one interviewee said they thought "our Fuhrer doesn't do that."
Outside the museum, parts of the rally grounds remain, though not all of Hitler's plans for the area came to fruition. The biggest remaining part is Zeppelin Field, a vast field with concrete bleachers used for the big rallies. The field itself appears to be used for soccer now, and a road cuts between the field and the bleachers, but you can still climb up the stands and even out onto the speaker's platform. According to Rick Steves, the German police don't like people fooling around with Nazi gestures from the platform. We weren't tempted to test this.
The pictures from all of Nurnberg are on the Picasa site. This picture is of the outside of the Congress Hall. It was supposed to resemble the Roman Colosseum.
-Jason