"Worms: Nibelung and the Nazis" a Worms Travel Page by antistar

Worms is the home of the Nibelung, the German mythological stories that were appropriated by the Nazis because of the values they saw them contain, such as an "absolute fidelity to the superiors". Worms is therefore unfairly tainted by the Nazi association, and attracts a few unwelcome ideological tourists every year. I'd forgotten about this link until I got off at Worms station, entered the shop, and found myself queuing behind a man and his son, both dressed in the black bomber jacket and blue jeans uniform of the neo-nazis, and sporting skinheads. They smiled and were polite, and could possibly have not been neo-Nazis at all, but the image made me feel uncomfortable about the city. The fact that while wandering around nearby Oppenheim an hour earlier I'd seen a shop dummy in someone's conservatory holding out its hand in a Nazi salute under the German national flag just made me even more uneasy.

As I said, it's unfair to press the Nazi connection, and I should stress that after spending nearly a year in the country this was the first encounter with anyone or anything related to this discredited regime. Worms also has an abundance of history outside of the Nibelung, which in itself is fascinating for its own reasons. The city of Worms has a Roman heritage, it was a medieval economic powerhouse, and in 1521 the Diet of Worms (the old Imperial Parliament) famously declared Luther an outlaw. Worms was also once known as Little Jerusalem, for its large and thriving Jewish population, and the community has long since left the city, the town pays its respects with the well preserved Jewish Quarter.