Adolf Hitler schools

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Adolf Hitler Schools (AHS) were boarding schools during the National Socialist era , which were similar to the National Political Educational Institutions ("Napolas") and were among the National Socialist elite schools .

The Adolf Hitler Schools should not be confused with a large number of schools that were named Adolf Hitler School in 1933; see. for example: the Martin-Luther-School in Marburg , the Werner-Heisenberg-Gymnasium in Heide , the Nordstadtschule in Pforzheim , the Paul-Werner-Oberschule in Cottbus or the Goethe-Schule Flensburg .

Origin and task

Baldur von Schirach had tried in vain to get the elite national political educational institutions under his influence. When Robert Ley's son had not passed the (very difficult) entrance exam for Napola, Schirach and Ley got together and founded the Adolf Hitler Schools as pre-schools for the castles of the Order . The five-year schooling (before the war a six-year schooling was originally planned) was concluded with the diploma of the Adolf Hitler Schools , which was equivalent to the state high school diploma and was intended to open any party and state career for graduates.

While the Napolas were subordinate to the Reich Ministry for Science, Education and National Education and thus to Reich Minister Bernhard Rust , the NSDAP and the Hitler Youth under Reich Youth Leader Baldur von Schirach and the German Labor Front under Robert Ley controlled the Adolf Hitler Schools. The founding of Adolf Hitler schools can be dated with Adolf Hitler's decree on January 15, 1937, on which he gave the approval that the “National Socialist schools to be set up, which are also to serve as pre-schools for the National Socialist order castles”, were allowed to bear his name. However, at this point in time there was still some uncertainty about important organizational aspects or the financing, and the planning was de facto only advanced in February and March 1937 to such an extent that only in the NS Ordensburg Krössinsee in Western Pomerania the school opened on April 19 could. Students were prepared from ten participating districts combined, each district had to provide 30 students aged 12 to 13 years old.

structure

Reich youth leader Baldur von Schirach and the head of the German Labor Front (DAF) Robert Ley issued a declaration on January 17, 1937, in which the AHS is defined in more detail. It was submitted at a time when the aims and tasks of the AHS were not yet clear, and was due to the rapid publication by the two initiators. It initially included the following six points:

  1. The Adolf Hitler Schools (AHS) are units of the Hitler Youth (HJ) and are managed by them responsibly. The subject matter, curriculum and teaching staff are determined uniformly across the whole of the country by the undersigned Reich leaders.
  2. The AHS has six classes. Admission generally takes place at the age of twelve.
  3. Those boys who have proven themselves to be outstanding in the German Young People and who are proposed by the responsible authorities are accepted into the AHS.
  4. School education is free of charge.
  5. School supervision is one of the sovereign rights of the Gauleiter of the NSDAP. He either exercises it himself or hands it over to the regional training office.
  6. After passing the school leaving examination, the Adolf Hitler student has any career in the party and the state open to them.

The high-ranking officials of the party and the Hitler Youth leaders selected the students. Both forms of the elite school of the Third Reich had in common that they wanted to attract enthusiastic and capable National Socialists. Another thing they have in common is that they were set up as free boarding schools in castles and nationalized boarding schools. However, while a career as a future party official was desired at the Adolf Hitler Schools as pre -schools for the NSDAP Ordensburgen , the Napola graduates lacked this emphasis on continuing their studies or taking up a career. Max Klüver, however, points out that actually only a very small proportion of the graduates found accommodation in party or military organizations.

Locations

schools

Initially (until 1941) ten AHS were planned, which were run under three names (school number; naming after the Gau ; future location).

Consecutive numbering Named after the Gau Future location principal architect
School 1 East Prussia Tilsit Hannes Klauke, Wilhelm Lenz (from 1938), Ludwig Magsam (from 1943) Erich zu Putlitz
School 2 Kurmark Potsdam (then: Frankfurt (Oder) ) Reinhard opinion (from 1938) Hanns Dustmann
School 3 Cologne-Aachen Waldbröl W. Kirsch (temporarily H. Steinbronn) Clemens Klotz
School 4 Koblenz-Trier (then: Moselland ) Koblenz August Buttkereit Clemens Klotz
School 5 Saxony Plauen Rudolf Raab NN
School 6 Thuringia Weimar Horst Munske Hermann Giesler
School 7 Francs Hesselberg H. Roloff Julius Schulte-Frohlinde
School 8 Munich-Upper Bavaria Mittenwald (then: Chiemsee ) H. Kreissl Carl Vessar
School 9 Mecklenburg Heiligendamm Max Klüver, H. Gause (1938) Hanns Dustmann
School 10 Saarpfalz (then: Westmark ) Landstuhl Jupp Madert Rudolf Kruger

School 11 was established in 1941 and School 12 was added in 1943 by splitting off from School 8.

Consecutive numbering Named after the Gau Future location principal
School 11 Silesia Waiting Walter Stopp (temporarily H. Lischner)
School 12 Bohemia-Moravia Iglau Ernst Popp

Since school operations were to take place in new school buildings with the corresponding National Socialist architecture , the students from the above districts were first grouped together in the Ordensburg Krössinsee in Western Pomerania . The groundbreaking for the ten planned AHS buildings took place on the anniversary of Adolf Hitler's above-mentioned decree on January 15, 1938, simultaneously in all ten districts. Robert Ley and Baldur von Schirach laid the foundation stone personally in School 3 in Waldbröl, while the Gauleiter took on this task in the other districts.

Due to the war and the shortage of manpower and materials, the construction project came to a standstill, so that all schools with a total of around 1,500 students were housed in the Ordensburg Sonthofen (Oberallgäu) in 1940 . This solution was obviously unsatisfactory, so that alternatives were sought. Since the planned buildings could not be completed in a reasonable time, they started looking for suitable buildings.

Preliminary locations of the schools

That is why in autumn 1941 the schools were relocated to the following temporary locations:

Selection of students

Adolf Hitler School: "Hitler Youth on duty" checks the lockers of his classmates

For the selection of suitable students, the Gauleiter of the selected Gaue , later all Gaue, should use the following criteria:

  • “Evaluation of the boy by the Hitler Youth. Has the boy already distinguished himself and asserted himself as a leader by nature, as a ringleader, as it were?
  • The correct racial evidence of his ancestors (guidelines of the Racial Political Office, of course illegitimate children are equated with legitimate children, provided they meet this condition). (Note: Proof of ancestry going back to January 1st, 1800 was requested)
  • Complete health.
  • Proof of the hereditary health of the clan.
  • Activity of parents in the ethnic community (party membership, activity in the branches of the party and the affiliated associations) "

From 1938 the selection criteria were specified and instructions were issued by area leader Kurt Petter, the inspector of the AHS, on how the technical and qualitative implementation of the selection process should be carried out. In addition to the criteria mentioned above, the instructions clearly show that in addition to the cognitive skills that the students had to demonstrate in the selected groups of around eight Pimpfen , the entire daily routine was used for the assessment and considerable importance was attached to social skills (ability to work in a team; Comradeship; helpfulness).

Educational concept

curriculum

The creation and development of a curriculum for the Adolf Hitler schools is the subject of controversy . Some authors even doubt whether uniform and binding curricula existed for the Adolf Hitler schools. However, this claim has now largely been invalidated. The author Max Klüver, who at the time was the headmaster of an Adolf Hitler School himself (School 9), quotes Harald Scholtz: “No curriculum has been handed down for physical education […]” and at the same time refers to the discovery of such a plan in the Federal Archives by Bernett. In addition to extended physical education, military sports camps were held, as camp life was emphasized in camaraderie .

principle

According to Theo Sommer , a student at the Adolf Hitler School in Sonthofen , the principle “You have to be good comrades” applied to the AHS. He thus points to the higher value of war training in contrast to teaching.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Memorandum The Adolf Hitler School. Verlag der Deutschen Arbeitsfront, Berlin 1937, p. 4.
  2. ↑ Robert Ley, Baldur von Schirach: Declaration of January 17, 1937. In: Memorandum Die Adolf-Hitler-Schule. Verlag der Deutschen Arbeitsfront, Berlin 1937, p. 4.
  3. ↑ a b Harald Scholtz: National Socialist Ausleseschulen. Boarding schools as the means of rule of the Führer state. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1973, ISBN 3-525-36156-4 , p. 210.
  4. ↑ Barbara Feller, Wolfgang Feller: The Adolf Hitler Schools. Educational province versus ideological breeding institution. Weinheim u. a. 2001, p. 39.
  5. ↑ Barbara Feller, Wolfgang Feller: The Adolf Hitler Schools. Educational province versus ideological breeding institution. Weinheim u. a. 2001, p. 60.
  6. ^ Schloss Drachenburg: History. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on April 18, 2015 ; Retrieved April 28, 2015 .
  7. ^ Memorandum The Adolf Hitler School. Verlag der Deutschen Arbeitsfront, Berlin 1937, p. 10.
  8. ^ Max Klüver: The Adolf Hitler Schools. Beltheim 2007, p. 49.
  9. ^ Max Klüver: The Adolf Hitler Schools. Beltheim 2007, p. 49 f.
  10. ↑ Arnd Krüger : "Basically there was no sports lesson that, apart from gestures, would have been different from before and after." Reality and reception of National Socialist sport. In: Mechthild von Schoenebeck (Hrsg.): On dealing with the subject of music education with its history (= music education research. Vol. 22). Verlag Die Blaue Eule, Essen 2001, ISBN 3-89206-046-0 , pp. 19–41, pedocs.de (PDF).
  11. ↑ Sit down, six! - School stories from Germany (1/3). Lost childhood . Documentary by Dora Heinze on behalf of SWR. German premiere on December 8, 2005
  12. ↑ Not to be used as the only literature, as this is a description of a former AHS school principal.