History

Recent History

One-third of all German farms are in Bavaria - hence the popular Nuremberg farmers markets - yet agriculture accounts for only 1% of its GDP; the engine of the economy is still in the manufacturing sector, which accounts for about 32% of the state's GDP. Nuremberg, together with Fürth, its neighbour to the north, forms an important industrial region focused on engineering, printing, plastics, toys and food: Siemens is one of the largest employers in Nuremberg. In recent times, Bavaria has been investing in high-tech, future-oriented sectors, such as biotech and genetic engineering and information, laser and medical technology. Tourism is another pillar of the economy. In 2000, about a million visitors came to Nuremberg, a quarter of these from overseas.

Modern Day History

In the 20th century, Nuremberg became linked with, and heavily burdened by, the legacy of the National Socialists. After seizing power in 1933, Hitler selected Nuremberg as the site for his mass party rallies. Although the National Socialist Party had held its rallies in Nuremberg since 1927, after 1933 the pomp and machismo was escalated. His main architect, Albert Speer, designed the bombastic grounds, still partially there today. The triumphalism of these events and the grounds is captured in Leni Riefenstahl's famously symphonic propaganda documentaries Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will) and Tag der Freiheit (Day of Freedom).

In 1935, the infamous Nürnberger Gesetze (Nuremberg Laws), which stripped Jews of German citizenship in addition to other repressive measures, were also enacted in the city. The sadistic brutality of Hitler's local henchman, Julius Streicher - who published the rabidly anti-Semitic weekly Der Stürmer - prompted more than 5000 of Nuremberg's Jews to emigrate. Of those who stayed, few survived the war.

Allied bombing raids killed about 6000 people and destroyed about 90% of the Altstadt. After WWII, numerous top Nazis, including Streicher, Göring and Speer, were tried by an international military tribunal at the so-called Nuremberg Trials: 22 leaders and 150 underlings were convicted and sentenced; dozens were executed. The Marshall Plan and local dedication spurred the painstaking reconstruction - using the original stone - of almost all main buildings, including the castle and the three medieval Altstadt churches.

Bavaria's economic postwar recovery has been impressive, as it transformed itself from an essentially agrarian society - they were bypassed in the 19th century by the Industrial Revolution which altered most of Europe - into a progressive and modern state.

Pre 20th Century History

The first official mention of a town in the area we now know as Nuremberg was in the 11th century. Until the Kingdom of Bavaria was established in 1806, the people of the region thought of themselves - and had developed - as three distinct tribes: the Bajuwaren (Bavarians), the Franken (Franconians, of which Nurembergers made up a large part) and the Schwaben (Swabians). Of the three tribes, the Franconians were the first to become a major power player in Central Europe under the Merovingian dynasty in the 5th century. But when fighting broke out among the aristocratic clans in the 8th century, the Merovingians were replaced by the Carolingians.

Nuremberg was considered the unofficial capital of the Holy Roman Empire. The roots of this dysfunctional empire are planted in Charlemagne's coronation in 800 AD. When Charlemagne's father, Pippin, helped a beleaguered pope (Charlemagne would later do the same), he received the title Patricius Romanorum (Protector of Rome), virtually making him Caesar's successor. Soon afterwards, he gave the pope a state of his own - the Vatican. The empire was known by various names throughout its lifetime. It formally began (for historians, at least) in 962 with the crowning of Otto I, king of Ostfranken, as Kaiser, and finally collapsed in 1806, when Kaiser Franz II abdicated. Sometimes it included Italy as far south as Rome; sometimes it didn't - the pope usually had a say in that. It variously encompassed present-day Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Lorraine and Burgundy (in France), Sicily, Austria and an eastern swath of land in the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. This was the so-called First Reich. The Second Reich was created by Otto von Bismarck in 1871, while the notorious Third Reich was Adolf Hitler's attempt to cash in on this dubious glory.

Numerous imperial diets (parliaments) took place in Nuremberg, thanks to the 'Golden Bull', a law passed in 1356 by Emperor Karl IV. Among other things, it required every newly elected king or emperor to hold his first gathering of parliament in Nuremberg. From 1424 to 1800, the city was also the empire's 'treasure chest', acting as guardian to the crown jewels and many of the priceless artworks we see today.

A progressive and tolerant city, Nuremberg's artistic climate also flourished, especially in the 15th century. Numerous masters, local boy Albrecht Dürer foremost among them, lived and worked here, leaving their legacy throughout the city.

With the Thirty Years' War, both Nuremberg's population and its prestige began to decline. It reached its nadir in 1806 under Napoleon, when the former Free Imperial City - now weakened and bankrupt - was absorbed into the Kingdom of Bavaria. Nuremberg made a comeback later that century with the onset of industrialisation and the founding of several important manufacturing businesses, including the Faber company, makers of lead pencils to this day. A major milestone came in 1835 when Germany's first railway began operating between Nuremberg and Fürth.