German home school Schloß Iburg
The German boarding school Schloss Iburg was a school in the era of National Socialism in the former spot Iburg (Lower Saxony). The school, which was labeled “Oberschule für Junge” (high school for boys), existed from 1942 to 1945.
history
The double complex of castle and Benedictine abbey of Iburg had been in public hands since secularization in 1803 and was the seat of the district administration until the Iburg district was dissolved in 1932. In the year after the Nazis came to power in 1934, an SA sports school of the NSDAP was founded in the castle , which existed until 1939.
German home schools
School policy under National Socialism aimed to exert a strong influence on education and upbringing. In addition to the National Political Educational Institutions (Napola) and the Adolf Hitler Schools , boarding schools were to be set up for boys and girls that led to different school degrees. Charge was the main office service obergruppenführer Heissmeyer under the direction of SS -Obergruppenführers August Heissmeyer . According to Martin Bormann , head of the NSDAP party chancellery on October 1, 1942, the home schools should, in accordance with the order of the Führer [...], become a means of realizing the total entitlement to education by the state. So we have to create so many home schools that the children raised in denominational boarding schools can continue to be raised in home schools .
Founded in 1942
The German home school in Iburg was supposed to take in orphans and boys whose fathers had died in World War II , as well as particularly talented children whose home town had no secondary school. Only members of the Hitler Youth or those boys who were no obstacles to their acceptance into the NSDAP youth organization were admitted as pupils . External students, including girls, from the area and the neighboring peasant communities were accepted in small numbers. Girls were only allowed to attend home school if their performance was in the upper third of the class average. Boarding school accommodation cost 50 Reichsmarks a month. Orphans were waived; Schoolchildren from large families paid a reduced amount, and those in need were exempted from paying.
Classes began at the end of October 1942 in the north wing of the palace with a class made up of 25 boarding students and six external students. The external students were three boys and three girls. Two more were added to the first class in early 1943. The dormitories were in the south wing, the classrooms in the north wing. The knight's hall initially served as a dining room; later this was moved to the south wing.
The teachers initially lived in the former prison area on the so-called Klotzbahn until they moved into apartments in the village. Forced laborers who had been deported to Germany from the Ukraine were used in the kitchen and for other work . The young women between the ages of 16 and 22 were accommodated in the old pharmacy , a timber-framed part of the palace complex.
College
The headmaster was Hermann Kienemann (1909–1970), who had taught at the "State German High School in Construction" in Bederkesa until 1942 , became a teacher at the Athenaeum Stade again in 1950 and returned to Bederkesa in 1952, where he attended the "Lower Saxony Home School Bederkesa" until 1970 “Was active. Kienemann was replaced by Helmuth Köster in autumn 1944, who moved from Napola Oranienstein to Iburg.
The staff included two teachers who had previously taught at the rectorate school in Iburg, which was closed in 1941. The private school founded around 1900 prepared Iburger children for attending the upper secondary school, for example at schools in Osnabrück . There was the closest possibility to take the Abitur until the home school was set up. One of the teachers was the pharmacist's daughter Gisela Schlotheuber, who was born in Iburg and gave gymnastics and English lessons. In particular, it promoted pupils who had poor knowledge of English from the disbanded "State German High School in Construction" in Bederkesa and moved to Iburg. Part of the college consisted of teachers who came from Bederkesa.
daily routine
The daily routine of the students was subject to strict rules and was almost of a military nature. Before classes began at eight o'clock, the pupils had to do morning exercise, stand up for roll call and receive the daily saying. Then there was breakfast. After class ended at 1 p.m. and lunch, the younger students went to bed rest; afterwards sport was played or marches took place. The homework was done under supervision later that afternoon. After 10 p.m. there was night rest. On Sunday, during church time, drills were held in the open space next to the Klotzbahn, which the Iburg population used to reach the Protestant or Catholic castle church. Boarding school students were allowed to leave school for three hours on Sunday afternoon; Home leave was granted on one weekend a month.
classes
The school should lead to the Abitur in five years. One focus of the lessons was physical exercise, including boxing lessons and shooting for the senior class. English was taught as a foreign language; Latin and French were the only electives at the school. German, history, geography and music were taught at all grade levels; There was no art education in the last school year. Biology and mathematics or arithmetic were compulsory subjects at all levels; Chemistry and physics classes were taught in the last two grades. Handwriting was assessed on all certificates. Girls were given handicraft classes for a year.
Students in uniform
Home school pupils took part in military training camps ; in the last months of the Second World War they were used as flak helpers and in the Volkssturm . In 1944, the school was planned as a training facility for "war courses for young leaders of the army and the Waffen-SS ". The first course was to be held in April 1945; it never came to that. From March 1945, schoolchildren took part in the construction of anti-tank barriers on Reichsstrasse 51, today's B 51 . Towards the end of the war, two students were drafted into military service.
From Easter 1945
In 1945 the school had around 200 students, a third of whom were external, half boys and half girls. On March 31, 1945, Holy Saturday , Allied troops moved from the direction of Münster past Iburg to the north in the direction of Osnabrück. Most of the pupils at the home school had been on the Easter break since March 24, 1945, after they had received certificates for the second third of the school year. The students who remained in the boarding school received instructions on Easter Sunday to pack their things and bring them to the so-called Bennoturm, the keep of the castle. Headmaster Hellmuth Köster wanted to go to Napola in Plön Castle (Schleswig-Holstein) with around 30 students . The students only took hand luggage. On April 4, 1945, Iburg was captured by Allied troops; the school had already been completely cleared the day before. The students under Koester's direction reached their destination after several days on foot and by train, after the father of a student in a senior position on the Deutsche Reichsbahn had organized a wagon for the journey from Bremen to Hamburg, which was attached to a train. From Plön , where the Napola was already overcrowded, the group was sent on to Büsum . There Köster, another teacher and the students stayed in the “Braunes Haus” inn. There classes continued until May 8, 1945; On May 10, 1945, Iburger pupils in Büsum received their leaving certificates. Headmaster Köster later taught at the Domgymnasium Verden until his retirement .
In 1948 the state of Lower Saxony established the Lower Saxony Home School Iburg in Iburg Castle . The gymnasium in short form, which also accepted external students, existed until 1971.
literature
- Gerhard Vollbrecht: The German home school Schloß Iburg (high school for boys) 1942–1945 . Publication No. 5 of the Association for Orts- und Heimatkunde Bad Iburg (Ed.), Bad Iburg 2001
Individual evidence
- ↑ Quoted from Gerhard Vollbrecht: Die Deutsche Heimschule Schloß Iburg (high school for boys) 1942–1945 , p. 8
- ↑ Converted to today's purchasing power, this would be according to Frederik Matthaei ( memento of the original from January 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. about 175 euros
Coordinates: 52 ° 9 ′ 28.5 ″ N , 8 ° 2 ′ 30.5 ″ E