(Clearwisdom.net) In the central area of Bavaria in Germany is the historic city of Nuremberg. It is the second largest city after Munich, and, in the middle ages, many German Holy Roman Emperors were born and lived there. Since ancient times Nuremberg has been an important place industrially in central Europe. The railway from Nuremberg to Feiert was the first railway in the country, which started the industrialization of Germany.
Historic trials
Even so, whatever traces of history are left in Nuremberg, none will ever compare with the trials of the Nazi war criminals in the International Court.
From 1945 to 1949, 12 large scale public trials were held in Nuremberg. Over 100 Nazi party war criminals were put on trial. The reason why Nuremberg was selected for the trials was because it was here that the Nazi party held its "Free party representative meeting" with "blood and race" as its central topic for discussion, and it is here that the notorious racial discrimination statute,"The Nuremberg Law," was passed, which led to the persecution of Jews.
In Nuremberg, the international military law courts still remain and are open to the public.
The Allied Forces discover corpses that the Nazis were unable to incinerate in time in the concentration camp.
At the time, many people didn't really understand why the trials needed to take place, because it was not open to question that the crimes had been committed, they were too numerous to record, and no punishment would be too severe.
Certain politicians and Jurists thought that, by holding public trials, people would become aware of the true situation. Although the German Nazi party was defeated, the poison of the Nazi consciousness was still hiding in the minds of many German civilians, and even many German soldiers felt that they were just carrying out the duties of a soldier and that they were not criminals. A portion of the German people had no knowledge of the crimes of the Nazi party, and only through public and impartial trials could the truth of history be uncovered, enabling the German people to go through deep and thorough reflection, thereby thoroughly destroying the roots of Nazi thought that existed in Germany.
After going through consultation with several large countries, in the end the allied nations unanimously agreed to legally try the German war criminals.
The first group of war criminals to be put on trial
The trial was not only aimed at the Nazi ringleaders, secret police, and members of the Schutzstaffel. Among those who were put on trial were included people in industry, the military, concentration camp guards, and and some not-so-well-known war criminals. What is worth noting is that four German judges also stood as defendants, because during the time of the German Nazi party, the courts were also Hitler's accomplices, and that many court decisions and adjudication constituted crimes of ethnic killing.
By means of mass media, the German people were informed about these trials, and only then did most of them find out that their nation had been grievously, immorally wrong. This allowed the German people to begin a thorough reflection and repentance. This was the first time a multinational court of law had ever tried the plotters, the organizations, and the executors of the war publicly and impartially. It was the first time that the charges of "Genocide" and "Crimes against humanity" were used.
Mankind made a vow "Never again"
Human rights column in Chinese
In 1993, the foundations for a street in the downtown area called Human Rights Street were laid, and 27 pillars were installed on the street. The pillars were carved with the UN Declaration of Human Rights in different languages. In 1995 in Nuremberg, the international human rights award was established, encouraging people and organizations to protect human rights all over the world. On the basis of deep retrospection after the Nazi war crimes, in 2010 in Nuremberg, a library was built on the spot where the Nazi national representative conference was held. An exhibition showing the crimes of the Nazi party was held to promote education about peace and human rights. The Nuremberg international military court is still open to the public. By these means the German people can tell their descendants not to forget the lessons of history.
The great majority of human rights documents, treaties, and declarations in existence today, including The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all originated as a result of introspection on World War II, especially the investigative trials carried out by the international court.
Even so, mankind has not heeded history. Only 50 years after these trials, a terrible tragedy is taking place in China, a nation with five thousand years of splendid culture. For the past 11 years, the CCP regime has persecuted those of its civilians who believe in Truth-Compassion-Forbearance. Similar to the Nazis, the CCP not only cruelly tortures Falun Gong practitioners, inflicting mental and physical torment upon them, but also seeks quick, huge profits by systematically harvesting vital organs from their living bodies. This is a hitherto unheard of crime against humanity.
The CCP's fate is destined to be the same as that of the Nazi party, and those who cooperate with it will face large scale trials in the future.
The appeal at the Nuremberg international human rights conference
On the eve of International Human Rights Day on December 9, 2002, the German annual international human rights meeting convened in Nuremberg. At the news conference, Falun Gong practitioner Chen Gang called for the rescue of her mother, Pan Huiqin. Because Ms. Pan practiced Falun Gong, she was persecuted by the CCP until she was destitute and homeless.
Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Zhentong recounted in detail how 14 innocent practitioners that he himself knew personally had been persecuted, fined huge sums of money, or underwent brutal devastation mentally in Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. Based on their own personal experiences, they called on all walks of life in Germany to uphold justice and to help end this persecution.
During the human rights conference, many Falun Gong practitioners did the exercises outside the venue, and many representatives participating in the conference were moved by the serene practice. Several practitioners went there four hours before the meeting to collect signatures for the petition and talked face to face to almost all the representatives attending the conference. Many representatives said, without hesitation, that they absolutely would like to sign.
At the assembly hall, Falun Gong practitioners were given an opportunity to speak, and practitioner Zhao Ming from Ireland told how he was brutally treated, deprived of his human rights, and persecuted in prison. He was interviewed by many media outlets. An old man said after leaving the assembly, "It really is very frightening how that Chinese person was imprisoned for two years. This sort of persecution is unheard of." After many people heard what Falun Gong practitioners had to say, they realized the severity of the situation in China, and that what is happening in China damages the fundamental moral principles, Truth-Compassion-Forbearance, which affects every person in the world.
The German national television station and a reporter from RTL television station filmed the Falun Gong practitioners doing the exercises, as well as banners that read, "The World Needs Truth-Compassion-Forbearance" and exhibition panels exposing the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong. A local radio station in Nuremberg interviewed the practitioners petitioning at dawn, carefully inquiring about the persecution that Falun Gong practitioners are suffering in China. A sponsor of the annual human rights meeting called The Nuremberg Daily also conducted an interview. At present, Chen Gang's mother, Ms. Pan, has already moved to Germany, and every day she goes to the places where Chinese tourists visit to inform them of the true situation of Falun Gong. After Zhang Zhentong's wife was released from Masanjia Forced Labor Camp, she was imprisoned again between 2006 and 2008. Although she was released again, the police hold her passport and will not allow her to reunite with her husband in Germany.
"The Buddha shows a thousand hands, the CCP regime shivers with fear"
Falun Gong practitioners can be found around the globe, and Nuremberg is no exception. Practitioners often hold activities there. On December 27, 2001, in the Nuremberg Daily, there was a report with the headline, "The Buddha shows a thousand hands, the CCP regime shivers with fear," which introduced Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Yang and her fellow practitioners. To oppose the persecution in China, they conducted an activity called "SOS: Urgent Rescue" and walked from Berlin to Munich.
The article described the beatific smile that shone on Ms. Yang's face following the gentle but powerful stretching exercise "Buddha showing a thousand hands." She then relaxed her entire body and began the next exercise. These were the Falun Gong exercises. Ms. Yang, who studies in Berlin, stressed that, "Our objective is to cultivate ourselves according to Truth-Compassion-Forbearance."
The report told how the authorities in Beijing incarcerated those who practiced the five exercises in prisons and forced labor camps. According to Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang, the Falun Gong that Mr. Li Hongzhi teaches helps people to turn towards goodness and become good people, and this is the real reason why the Chinese authorities suppress them and slander them with propaganda. She said, "For the CCP, whether one is a good person or a bad person is not important, the Party just wants to maintain ideological control of the people."
Chinese people heard about the true situation of the persecution when they came to Nuremberg
On October 21, 2006, Falun Gong practitioners held an activity to introduce the practice in St. Lawrence Church in downtown Nuremberg.
The local people passed by the exhibition table, looking, listening, and asking, wanting to understand Falun Gong. Sometimes they asked how they could support Falun Gong, and some even brought practitioners warm coffee. Even police officers smiled when they saw the Falun Gong practitioners.
There were many moving incidents with Chinese tourists. When practitioners handed informational materials to people from China, many of them walked over to find out the facts. Some spoke to practitioners for an hour and then had to go to the airport right away. Wishing them a safe journey, a practitioner said to them, "If you run into any of our fellow practitioners in China, please say hello to them." They replied, "We will most certainly pass along your message." A practitioner sighed with emotion, "The relations between people should be close like this, especially with us Chinese people. Were it not for the discord sowed by the CCP, how friendly it would be between us."
"If you think like that, the next person to be persecuted will be you."
On September 11, 2004, Nuremberg held a city-wide festival. Falun Gong practitioners demonstrated the exercises and re-enacted examples of torture that the CCP inflicts upon practitioners.
Many people stopped to read the display boards and ask for informational materials. Many expressed their disbelief at how the CCP uses such cruel torture to try to force practitioners to give up their belief in Truth-Compassion-Forbearance. They were quick to sign their names and express their opinion that the ringleaders should all be brought to justice. Many also thoughtfully asked what they could do to help Falun Gong practitioners.
After receiving informational material from a Falun Gong practitioner explaining how Practitioner Ms. Gao Rongrong was terribly disfigured by police electric batons, a teacher wanted to use it as teaching material. When a woman saw the re-enactments of practitioners being force-fed and cruelly tortured in other ways, she started to cry and then signed her name and left her address on the petition form to bring Jiang Zemin to justice. Her husband, whose eyes had turned red and looked very upset, also wanted to sign his name.
One woman that approached the exhibition table to learn about Falun Gong and said that this sort of persecution should not happen. She had been to China before, and even had good friends in China, but she didn't sign her name because she was afraid that she would not be able to get a Visa if she wanted to go to China again. Hardly had her voice faded away when a German man next to her said, "Then the next person who will be persecuted will be you. If you think like that, sooner or later you will also be persecuted."
During the activity, practitioners also came across people who wanted to learn the practice and a Chinese person wished to read the book Zhuan Falun. Many German people asked for information about where the practice sites were.
"History must not repeat itself"
A Falun Gong practitioner explaining the facts to middle school students.
Falun Gong practitioners hold banners exposing the CCP's crimes.
On March 18, 2006, in front of St. Lawrence Church in Nuremberg, practitioners held a protest highlighting the CCP's harvesting of organs from living Falun Gong in concentration camps for lucrative profits. The practitioner displayed a banner in both Chinese and German. Practitioners went on a hunger strike for 24 hours to protest the persecution.
For the older generation of Germans, the crimes of the Nazis remain fresh in their memories. When many people saw the news about the CCP's crimes, they thought of the incinerators in the concentration camps, and were astonished and indignant at the CCP's savage acts, which they saw as even more despicable than what the fascists did. They condemned the CCP for its heinous crimes.
Two women who signed their names commented on the past existence of the concentration camps in Germany and how this sort of evil absolutely must not repeat itself and must be stopped. Mr. Chen from Taiwan said, "Such an inhumane crime cannot continue. The CCP cannot cruelly kill our fellow countrymen."
A woman from China said, "That the CCP is cruel and commits murder is an indisputable reality. It is ruthless towards Falun Gong." In the end this woman agreed to quit the CCP with her daughter.
Falun Gong practitioners expose the CCP persecution in the center of Nuremberg.
On June 5, 2010, practitioners from Nuremberg and nearby cities held an activity in the city to expose the CCP's crimes of persecuting Falun Gong. That day a rock music festival was being held in Nuremberg, the weather was unusually good, and tourists swarmed into the downtown.
When many people saw the exhibition panels and banners exposing the CCP's crimes, they walked over to have a look. After they talked with practitioners and came to understand the brutal persecution, they signed their names in support of Falun Gong.
Bringing Truth-Compassion-Forbearance to Nuremberg
The Divine Marching Band performs at the Nuremberg High Asian Culture Festival.
On July 17, 2009, at the opening of the three-day Asian Culture Festival in Nuremberg, the Divine Land Marching Band made up of European Falun Gong practitioners received an invitation to be the opening performance at the cultural festival.
This festival, the largest Asian Cultural Festival in Germany, included dancing, singing, music, dress and personal adornment, and food and drink from 15 Asian countries including India, Nepal, Vietnam, Thailand, and China. The Divine Land Marching Band brought the message of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance to the people of Nuremberg, and wherever they went they received a warm welcome from the local people. Zhang Yiping, the manager of the Economic and Trade Office from Shenzhen, a sister city of Nuremberg, was originally scheduled to give a congratulatory speech at the opening ceremony, but after seeing the Divine Land Marching Band, he immediately left the scene. When the German people saw how the CCP officials unexpectedly feared a cultural demonstration from their own country and behaved impolitely, they couldn't understand it.
This historic City of Nuremberg has been witness to the insane period of Nazi occupation and the International Court trials that followed. Today, people witness Falun Gong practitioners and their dauntless efforts to expose the CCP persecution.
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