The Zeppelinwiese, Nurnberg

More visits in Germany:

This planned Nazi compound in Nurnberg, which Hitler proudly declared "the largest building site in the world," was to become much larger than the city itself. Parts of the grounds are still extant. And the new Nazi Documentation Center, built by contemporary architect Peter Kulka, explores the overwhelming emotional power of the Nazi events--achieved by injecting strains of Wagnerian theater and Catholic ritual into fascist grandiosity--through exhibits covering the rise of the Third Reich and the Tribunals of 1946.

The exhibits were somewhat over-anxious to defend the "fairness" of the Nazi trials. But the Zeppelinwiese is actually the field across the lake from the Kongresshalle where Hitler addressed more than 100,000 spectators at a time. It was made famous by Leni Riefenstahl's film Triumph of the Will.

But what does the Documentation Center mean to young German school children, who are supposed to visit it for educational purposes? Perhaps nothing. When I was hear there were tons high school kids running around. Dozens of students raced passed me, chatting to one another, not noticing the huge portraits of the Fuhrer above them. I don't know what they were supposed to do when they saw it. None of them saw the pictures of children, their age, dressed in uniform for Nazi Youth events. It seemed kind of odd.