Nazi Burger King

When we were in Nuremberg we observed firsthand how the Germans can’t decide what to do about their Hitler heritage. We stayed on the outskirts of town at the Nuremberg Hilton. It was practically within walking distance of the Rally Grounds. We spent one whole day going back to the Rally Grounds and Zeppelin Field three times. My husband stood up on the speaker’s stand where Hitler addressed the masses on Nazi Party Rally Days in September. The present day Nuremberg government that owns the stands has put up warnings that they are dangerous and may soon be knocked down just as the Bavarian government has recently knocked down what remained of the Berghof and all the old Nazi buildings surrounding it on the Obersalzberg, which we also visited.

In addition the modernistic visitors’ center was jammed with local high school students on a field trip to the museum or documentation center. They were being taught how to view their past in a negative way. The indoctrination center!

But to contradict that viewpoint we had lunch at a Burger King next to the Rally Grounds. I wondered about it when we entered. The architecture looked way too old-fashioned and even monumental. Then when we were leaving we saw it. There was the remains of a Nazi eagle still painted on the wall outside. I was amazed to learn that this was once Albert Speer’s control center for the lights on the field next door when Hitler was speaking. But according to a local ordinance no one, not even Burger King, was allowed to remove the eagle.

Isn’t that schizophrenic?