Jewish-Euro History | Fotoeins Fotografie

Posts from the ‘Jewish-Euro History’ category

Past and present histories of Jewish communities and culture in AT, DE

Nuremberg: The Landmark Trials in Room 600, 80 years on

Above: In front of the Justizpalast (Palace of Justice) at the corner of Benjamin-Ferencz-Platz and Fürther Strasse in Nuremberg, Germany.

On 20 November 1945, an extraordinary trial got under way in the German city of Nuremberg, only six months after the Nazis surrendered to the Allied nations in World War 2. For the first time in modern history, an assembled tribunal of international judges presided over trials against top leaders of a nation for crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and conspiracy to carry out these crimes.

What is called the “Nuremberg Trials” refers primarily to the “Major War Criminals Trial” where over 20 leaders in German Nazi high command were put on trial before the International Military Tribunal (IMT) from November 1945 to October 1946. The IMT consisted of judges from each of the four Allied nations: Great Britain, France, United States, and the U.S.S.R. Subsequently from late-1946 to 1949, 12 additional trials were held before American military tribunals to uncover and highlight the extent and depth to which additional leaders in German society supported the Nazi dictatorship.

“… The privilege of opening the first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the world imposes a grave responsibility. The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored because it cannot survive their being repeated. That four great nations, flushed with victory and stung with injury stay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of the law is one of the most significant tributes that power has ever paid to reason.”

– Opening statement by Robert H. Jackson, U.S. chief prosecutor, on the second day of the Nuremberg Trials (Major War Criminals Trial), 21 November 1945; see Sources below.

( Click here for images and more )

25T85 The Nuremberg Trials: Courtroom 600

E84, N02.

There’s a courtroom I’ve wanted to visit for a very long time. On return to Nuremberg after 22 years, I’m taking full advantage of the opportunity.

After the conclusion of World War 2, the four Allied powers agreed to put key Nazi perpetrators on trial which began in November 1945 and ended in October 1946. The Nuremberg Trials became the first international war crimes tribunal in history.

The famous venue, Schwurgerichtssaal 600 (Courtroom 600), remained an active courtroom at Nuremberg’s Palace of Justice until 2020. The courtroom is now a part of the museum Memorium Nuremberg Trials housed in the same building.

On 21 November 1945, Robert H. Jackson, the chief United States prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, gave his opening statement, which remains as one of the most influential speeches about the emergent principles and applications of international criminal law in the post-war era. His statement began with:

The privilege of opening the first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the world imposes a grave responsibility. The wrongs, which we seek to condemn and punish, have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated. That four great nations, flushed with victory and stung with injury stay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of the law is one of the most significant tributes that power has ever paid to reason.

• US National WW Museum: 2020 article.

• Robert H Jackson Center: YouTube.

I received neither support nor compensation for the present piece. I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 31 July 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

25T52 Berlin-Wannsee: 2 key places of remembrance

E51, B46.

On the train southwest from central Berlin to Potsdam, there are many reasons to stop in Wannsee on a bright summer day, including the many nice big (richly decorated) villas in the city district, a memorial to Heinrich Kleist, a small cemetery where Hermann Helmholtz and Emil Fischer are buried, as well as boating clubs and the Strandbad beach next to Wannsee lake.

But I’m here for the lakeside villa purchased by German Impressionist painter Max Liebermann and his wife Martha, and another villa just down the street whose importance lies in total infamy.

Liebermann-Villa

Max Liebermann was an important late 19th-century artist, contributing to the German Impressionism movement of the time. Liebermann had by 1910 a villa constructed by Wannsee lake for their family summer getaway from Berlin. By the 1930s, he like many suffered discrimination and persecution by the National Socialists because of his Jewish heritage. He died in 1935, and in 1940, the National Socialists forced the rest of the family to sell the villa. Since 2006, the refurbished villa reopened as a museum, thanks to the Max Liebermann Society.

*Mounted on the fence is a Berlin memorial plaque dedicated to Max Liebermann. The 1909-1910 building was by architect Paul O.A. Baumgarten.*

*Front of the villa at centre-background, garden shed at left is now the museum’s entrance portal, and the “front garden” is in the foreground.*

*Renovated upstairs with barrelled ceiling; this used to be Max Liebermann’s work space and now it’s exhibition space.*

*Facing west to the back, which is now patio seating for the museum’s café. Wannsee lake is behind me.*

*2025 eastward view of the back garden, towards Wannsee lake. The villa is behind me.*

*1921 painting by Max Liebermann: “View of the garden at Wannsee, looking east”, oil on canvas.*

Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz

On 20 January 1942, 15 high-ranked SS-officers in various aspects of Nazi governance met in another lakeside villa just down the road from the Liebermann summer house. In a lunch meeting lasting about 90 minutes, the 15 decided the fate of millions, organizing pre-existing extrajudicial-killing groups into the logistics and industrialization of mass murder of European Jewish men, women, and children. Since 1992, the renovated building is both memorial and education site, with an active archive and library on the upper floor.

*Sign in front of entrance to “Memorial site: House of the Wannsee Conference”.*

*The villa at Am Großen Wannsee 56-58. Architect Paul O.A. Baumgarten had this villa built in 1915 for businessman Ernst Marlier.*

This is the former dining room where the 1942 meeting took place. Today, the memorial site has displays of the meeting, its participants, and a complete display of “The Protocol”, or minutes of the meeting.

Page 1 of “The Protocol” (minutes of the meeting): German at left, English translation at right. Numbers in dark blue correspond to participants. The Moiré pattern is caused by direct imaging of an illuminated display.

Page 2 of “The Protocol” (minutes of the meeting): German at left, English translation at right. Numbers in dark blue correspond to participants. The arrow points to wording with the word/phrase “Endlösung” or “final solution”; the euphemisms fly fast and thick. The Moiré pattern is caused by direct imaging of an illuminated display.

*The idyllic view out back onto Wannsee lake.*

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 28 June 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

25T50 Der Himmel über Berlin

E49, B44: the sky over Berlin.

It’s not exactly quite like Wim Wenders’ movie and personal letter to Berlin, but an unsettled weather pattern plus another warm day means there be changes in the sky today over the German capital city.

*1pm, near S-Bahn station Beuselstrasse (0.5x image scale).*

*345pm, AEG Turbine Factory building (large machine hall), by Peter Behrens, originally built in 1909. Temperatures maxing out at +32°C/90°F around this time of day.*

*550pm, changes over the Spree river (0.5x image scale).*

*556pm, facing north: Luisenplatz at Otto-Suhr-Allee.*

*557pm, facing west: Otto-Suhr-Allee at Luisenplatz.*

*610pm at Zoologischer Garten station: skies ominous, winds very gusty, temperatures drop 10 degrees to +22°C/73°F.*

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 26 June 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

25T49 Berlin Weißensee: Margot Friedländer

E48, B43.

The Jewish Cemetery in Berlin Weißensee is one of the largest in Europe. Opened in 1880, the cemetery remains active as the resting grounds for over 100-thousand people in an area covering about 40-hectares (99 acres).

But I’m here also to look for Margot Friedländer. Both survivors of the Holocaust, she and her husband emigrated to the United States in 1946. In 2010, she returned to her birth city of Berlin, where she spoke about her experiences to children at schools and at talks for the general public. She became a respected teacher and educator.

*Cemetery entrance: Holocaust memorial in the foreground, mourning hall in the background.*

*The final spot for Anni Margot Friedländer.*

*She passed away on the day I arrived in Europe and Germany. Finding the location of her grave and learning the date of her passing struck me hard.*

*Grave of honour from the city-state of Berlin. The little pin at lower left: “nie wieder” (never again).*

*“Just a moment: the boss is on their way to greet you personally.”*

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 25 June 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.