2023-11-21 12:34:00
The Eifel region in western Germany on the German-Belgian border is famous for its wildlife and picturesque landscapes. Part of the territory is under special protection. In 2004, the Eifel National Park was created here.
In the middle of the park there is a place associated with the dark past – the times of the “Third Reich”. In 1934-1936, the so-called Order Castle of the NSDAP Vogelsang (NS-Ordensburg Vogelsang) was built here near the Urft reservoir. It was supposed to become a party school – a forge of personnel, but no one completed the full course of study.
Vogelsang, Krössinsee, Sonthofen
Urft Reservoir and Vogelsang Castle in the Eifel National ParkPhoto: Hans Blossey/IMAGO
These buildings were erected on one of the hills in the middle of an untouched forest on the orders of Adolf Hitler to house a center for training the “new elite of the Aryan race.” It was planned to enroll five hundred students each – the so-called cadets. In addition to the Eifel, party schools were also planned to be established in Krössinsee (Pomerania) and Sonthofen (Bavaria).
The training was supposed to last three to four years. The first year was intended to be devoted to the study of racial philosophy at Vogelsang. The second is to strengthen the spirit and will in Krössinsee. The third is to military affairs and diplomacy in Sonthofen. An additional year – improving skills and deepening acquired knowledge in the main fortress of the former Teutonic Order – medieval Marienburg, which is now located in Poland.
Aryan roots, drunkenness and bad behavior
Photos of the so-called Junkers in the Vogelsang exhibitionPhoto: Michael Kneffel/IMAGO
The school accepted young people aged 23 to 26 years old and at least 160 centimeters tall. Selection was carried out in accordance with racial theory. This Nazi theory itself was the main discipline in the curriculum along with sports. The decisive criterion for admission was not intellectual ability, but origin from simple middle-class families. A certificate of Aryan roots should be attached to the documents.
Other demands include anti-Semitic beliefs and a willingness to serve the “Führer” uncompromisingly. In a secret note from a high-ranking NSDAP functionary dated July 1, 1939, these selected representatives of the new “master race” are generally characterized as stupid and intellectually inflexible. During its short existence, about 10 percent were expelled due to drunkenness and bad behavior.
Another condition at first was leaving the church. One could only believe in the “Führer”. Soon, due to a lack of applicants who met other criteria, this item ceased to be mandatory. In 1938, they began to enroll as cadets even without a NSDAP party card. At the same time, 100 percent vision remained a mandatory requirement. Nearsighted and farsighted people were not accepted.
Order Castle Vogelsang. Old photos
Vogelsang in the late 1930s Photo: arkivi/picture alliance Eagle Farm in Vogelsang, 1936 Photo: arkivi/picture alliance Adolf Hitler and participants in the conference of NSDAP party functionaries in Vogelsang in April 1937 Photo: Bundesarchiv/Bild 146-1985-108-09A Formation of the so-called Vogelsang first-year cadetsPhoto: Sepp Spiegl/IMAGO Torchbearer in a photograph from 1938Photo: akg-images/picture alliance
Hitler in Vogelsang
The “Führer” did not pay special attention to the future elite of his “thousand-year Reich” in the Eifel. Hitler visited Vogelsang only twice, and briefly – in connection with party conferences that were held here. Hitler did not even mention the cadets in his speeches. During this time, the cadets themselves moved to neighboring settlements, freeing up places in the dormitories for senior party genosse.
Unlike Hitler, Vogelsang’s frequent guest was Hermann Göring, the Reichsmarschall of the Air Force and one of the main Nazi criminals. He appeared here in his luxurious uniform and was very fond of the honors that were shown to him. Goering came to the Eifel to hunt in the game-rich forests.
Castle construction and other plans
Clean air, a mountain reservoir… Next to the NSDAP order castle in the Eifel, they planned to build a hotel of the Nazi movement “Strength through Joy” (KdF) for two thousand vacationers. It was assumed that the guests of this hotel would gain strength and get acquainted with how the new elite of the “Reich” was growing up and becoming stronger. In contrast to the colossal size of the KdF complex in Prora on the island of Rügen, this hotel in the Eifel did not even have time to be built.
Reichsleiter Robert Ley, head of the German Labor Front and KdF, was responsible for the construction of Vogelsang. He appointed the architect of the project for the sanatorium in Prora, Clemens Klotz from Cologne. Everything was financed from funds confiscated from independent trade unions and employers’ associations. The pace of construction, even for shock Nazi projects, was more than high.
Not a single medieval castle could do without the main tower – the bergfried. It was the last and strongest refuge in the event of a siege or assault. The height of the so-called bergfried in Vogelsang was 50 meters. Since attacks were not expected here, a water tank was placed inside.
Vogelsang Order Castle today. Photos
The main tower and former residential buildings of Vogelsang Photo: DW / Maksim Nelioubin Rainy day in the Eifel Photo: DW / Maksim Nelioubin Image of the eagle in Vogelsang Photo: DW / Maksim Nelioubin Car garage, workshops and other technical rooms near the main entrance Photo: DW / Maksim Nelioubin Image of the knight on tower near the main gatePhoto: DW / Maksim Nelioubin Lower level of the Eagle CompoundPhoto: DW / Maksim Nelioubin
Reichs training camp
The foundation laying took place in September 1934. Already in May 1936, the first trial course began training in the Eifel. At first, the new school was simply called a Reichscamp training camp, but soon it was renamed Vogelsang Order Castle, trying to create the appearance of ideological and historical continuity with the medieval Teutonic Order of German crusading knights.
The area of all Vogelsang premises is 50 thousand square meters. During the Second World War, the buildings were almost undamaged, except for two destroyed residential buildings, as well as several bombs hitting one of the wings of the so-called Eagle Compound – Adlerhof and the sports hall.
The target of the bombers was not the castle, but the dam on the Urft reservoir, from which water flows through a special canal cut into a rocky mountain slope to the hydroelectric power station in Heimbach – an architectural monument of the Art Nouveau era.
Dormitory for female service personnel Photo: DW / Maksim Nelioubin
Vogelsang was supposed to resemble a monastery, to have the aura of a closed, elite order. However, the future “Aryan” functionaries in their monastery could not do without female staff. Not far from Adlerhof, in a secluded corner, a women’s dormitory for 70 places was erected – Haus der weiblichen Angestellten.
“Torchbearers of the Nation”
The upper part of the Torchbearer todayPhoto: DW / Maksim Nelioubin The lower part of the Torchbearer todayPhoto: DW / Maksim Nelioubin
The cadet’s day began at six in the morning with exercises. Exactly at seven – verification. From 8:00 to 10:00 – seminars. From 10:00 to 12:00 – report in the large hall. In the afternoon – physical education again. In the evening – two more hours of classes. Lights out at ten.
The ceremonial verification of the cadets took place in the open air on a green lawn, near the monument to the Torchbearer. Bullet marks are visible on the stone body, and some parts are completely knocked off, but the inscription on the monument remains almost untouched:
“You are the torchbearers of the nation. Carry forward the light of will in the fight for the cause of Adolf Hitler.”
End of quote.
The so-called Order Castle was one of the centers for the spread of criminal ideology. Some sources erroneously call Vogelsang a training camp for SS personnel. These allegations probably arose because an SS unit was guarding the complex and area.
The so-called Vogelsang Hall of Fame with the sculpture “New Man” by Willy MellerPhoto: Sepp Spiegl/IMAGO
In the autumn of 1939, the Junkers left Vogelsang. They were sent to the front. Even the first cohort did not manage to complete the training completely. About twenty people out of one and a half thousand cadets will later be brought to trial for war crimes, in particular, on the territory of Ukraine. One of the teachers served as commandant of a concentration camp in the Netherlands during the war.
During the war and after
At first, after the start of the war, Wehrmacht soldiers were quartered in the vacated castle. Later, women and children began to be evacuated here from the destroyed cities of the Rhine and Ruhr regions. In the spring of 1945, Vogelsang was occupied by British troops without a fight. Before this, while it had been empty for some time, local residents managed to quickly take away almost all the furniture and break out the parquet flooring.
Soon the Allied command of the anti-Hitler coalition decided to use Vogelsang as a permanent barracks, turning the neighboring territory into a training ground. The swastikas were removed, but the sculptures remained. The red volcanic lava athletes installed in the stadium have stood the test of time worse than others.
Fragment of a bas-relief with athletes at the stadiumPhoto: DW / Maksim Nelioubin
They lost some important parts of the body – either the material let us down, or someone helped… For some reason, one Aryan athlete holds his severed head in his hands, pressing it tightly to his chest, but familiarization with the pre-war photograph on the information stand brings clarity. The severed head is actually a sports ball. The stone weight also disappeared somewhere.
Photo of a 1930s stadium bas-relief Photo: IP Vogelsang
Belgian period
In 1950, British units left Vogelsang, handing over the complex to Belgian NATO partners. The Belgian military was stationed here until 2005. They considered their barracks as a historical and architectural monument – they restored two destroyed residential buildings to their original form, as well as the damaged wing of the central building – Adlerhof.
The cinema building of the Belgian barracks Photo: DW / Maksim Nelioubin The auditorium of the former cinema of the Belgian garrison Photo: Stefan Ziese/imagebroker/IMAGO
One of the largest representative buildings on the territory of Vogelsang, according to the plans of the Nazi architects, was supposed to be the so-called House of Knowledge, but its construction stopped at the very beginning. After the war, the Belgians used the foundations of the main auditorium to build a garrison cinema. After the withdrawal of the Belgian units, Vogelsang came under the control of the German federal authorities. In 2006, the territory was opened to visitors. The first step was to create a documentation center.
Vogelsang is the second largest architectural reminder of the Nazi past in Germany in terms of territory and scale. Of all the construction projects of the “Third Reich” that have survived to this day, it is second only to the NSDAP Party Congress Grounds in Nuremberg.
1930s mosaic in the Vogelsang poolPhoto: Oliver Berg/dpa/picture-alliance
Information center and forum
Now Vogelsang is visited annually by about 300 thousand people. The state authorities of North Rhine-Westphalia, with the support of federal agencies and European funds, turned the former order castle into an international forum Vogelsang IP for studying the past and a place for youth meetings, scientific projects, conferences and symposiums.
There is also an information center for the Eifel National Park, part of the interstate German-Belgian nature park Hohes Venn – Eifel (High Fens Nature Park – Eifel).
In 2020, in the small town of Gemünd, located nearby on the Urft River, a new youth camp site DJH Jugendherberge Gemünd Vogelsang with 245 places was opened.
#Forge #personnel #Reich