NS-Ordensburg Vogelsang

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Overview of the Ordensburg.
View from the west of Wollseifen to the Hundred Houses (No. 17 on the site plan) with the main building behind (No. 6) and the tower (No. 11). One of the comradeship houses (the highest one, to the left of No. 16) protrudes to the left below the main building.
The site plan of the facility is no longer up-to-date, as of 2009
First groundbreaking for the construction of the Ordensburg Vogelsang
Arrival for the district leaders' conference at Ordensburg Vogelsang from April 22 to 29, 1937, photo taken from the Federal Archives
Location of the Ordensburg on the Erpenscheid above the Urftstausees

The NS-Ordensburg Vogelsang is a building complex built by the National Socialists in the Eifel above the Urfttalsperre on the Erpenscheid mountain near Schleiden- Gemünd in North Rhine-Westphalia . In contrast to the SS Junk School and the Reichsfuhrer School , the facility served the NSDAP between 1936 and 1939 as a training facility for the offspring of the NSDAP leadership cadre . The listed part of the buildings has a gross floor area of more than 50,000 square meters and, after the party congress buildings in Nuremberg, is considered to be the largest structural legacy of National Socialism in Germany with almost 100 hectares of built-up area .

After the Second World War , the complex was taken over by the British armed forces , who set up the training area on 6,354 hectares in the surrounding area . From 1950 to the end of 2005 the infrastructure was taken over by Belgian military forces , who set up a barracks there under the name “Camp Vogelsang” and used and managed this and the military training area until 2005. The buildings have been under monument protection since 1989. In 2016 Vogelsang became a Nazi documentation center as part of a permanent exhibition and as an architectural memorial.

time of the nationalsocialism

Planning and construction

In 1933, in a speech at the Reichsfuhrer School of the NSDAP and the German Labor Front in Bernau near Berlin , Adolf Hitler called for the construction of new schools for the "young leaders" of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). The Reichsleiter Robert Ley was entrusted with the construction . Ley commissioned the construction of three "training camps" ( NSDAP Ordensburgen ):

The construction, which was largely carried out on the district of Schleiden , was financed by funds from the expropriated trade unions and employers' associations . The name Vogelsang arose from the historical field name of the area.

The Cologne architect Clemens Klotz received the planning contract for Crössinsee and Vogelsang . On March 16, 1934, the groundbreaking ceremony for the "Reichsschulungslager Vogelsang" took place. The name NS-Ordensburg for the three buildings only became common from 1935. Construction of Vogelsang Castle began in March 1934 and, in the first phase, up to 1500 workers erected it within just two years.

Between September 22, 1934 and July 1, 1937, Franz Binz , who had previously been the district leader of the NSDAP von Schleiden, was the “castle commandant” .

In addition to the structures erected on Vogelsang, much larger structures were planned. Among other things, a gigantic "House of Knowledge" was to be built as a library, which would have literally put the existing building in the shade with its area of ​​100 m × 300 m. In addition, a " Strength through Joy - Hotel " with 2000 beds was planned. The largest sports facilities in Europe were also to be built on Vogelsang. The construction work, some of which had already started, was discontinued when the war began.

The following structures were planned and partly also executed:

  • The entrance area with gate and two towers (mostly completed),
  • The House of Knowledge (only the base walls completed),
  • The community house with Adlerhof, tower, east and west wing (completed, partly destroyed in the war),
  • The Burgschänke (completed),
  • Ten comradeship houses for 50 pupils each (completed, partly destroyed in the war),
  • Four hundred houses for 100 pupils each (completed),
  • The Thingplatz as an event stage and solstice square (completed),
  • Sports facilities with stands, gymnasium and swimming pool (completed),
  • The torch-bearer fire mark (completed),
  • The female employees' house (completed).

Structure of the plant

Overall, the complex was designed for 1,000 people (500 employees and 500 guests). The area is around 100 ha and the total usable area is around 70,000 square meters. The entrance guard, training and farm buildings, airfield and accommodation are located as barracks on a ridge above the Urftsee. On the edge of the slope there is the community house with Adlerhof and galleries with a large parking lot, as well as the tower towering over the order castle. From here, the dam and ridges of today's Eifel National Park can be seen well. The Comradeship and Hundred Houses are connected to the bottom in a terraced manner. In a central location in front of it, the Thingplatz is above a gym and swimming pool, as well as other sports facilities near the shore. The total difference in height of the terrace system is around 70 m.

Vogelsang village

1940, Vogelsang village
Remnants of the staff apartments in the village of Vogelsang, now demolished

Not far from the main building, on the other side of the valley, halfway to Wollseifen, a National Socialist model settlement was planned for the employees and the administration. 60 apartment buildings were to be built, including a school and kindergarten, as well as a cemetery. In the end, over 4500 people should live here. With the beginning of the war, work was stopped and 12 houses had already been built. After Vogelsang had become a military training area, the houses and wool soaps were used as targets and thus destroyed. Today there is nothing left. The last remains were removed and leveled for accident prevention reasons.

Ideological-artistic design

Visit of Hitler to the Ordensburg, recording from the Federal Archives
Floor plan of a comradeship house
Marching men on Ordensburg Vogelsang, 1937

Most of the sculptures in Vogelsang - Torchbearers , The German Man and the Sportsman Relief  - come from Willy Meller . While the wooden sculpture Der Deutschen Mensch disappeared in 1945, the other two sculptures - partially damaged - are preserved today. (see gallery)

The torchbearer at Sonnenwendplatz is a 5 m high, martial, muscular figure of the Aryan "master man" to be bred according to the Nazi ideology. The inscription on the relief plate reads: “You are the nation's torchbearers. You carry the light of the spirit forward in the fight for Adolf Hitler ”.

The athlete's relief (1938) made of red lava on the front wall of the grandstand is badly weathered and shows damage from bullet holes.

After a visit by Adolf Hitler in 1937, the entrance gate was supplemented with Doric columns without any static function. According to reports, the initiative came from Hitler himself. In addition, carpet cycles by Willy Meller , a bronze bust depicting Adolf Hitler created by Ferdinand Liebermann , or an inlay picture by the Cologne sculptor Josef Pabst were on display. A marble plaster mosaic by Ernst Zoberbier in the swimming pool and a tapestry by Peter Hecker depicting Siegfrieds Tod and Der Kampf in Etzels Saal completed the National Socialist propaganda art , whose “teachers” are to be found in the environment of Werner Peiner and the Hermann Göring Master School for Painting .

Training castle of the NSDAP, 1936 to 1939

On April 24, 1936, the three castles were handed over to Adolf Hitler in a ceremony. A little later, the first 500 Nazi Junkers moved into Vogelsang. The course participants came from all over Germany. They had been handpicked by Robert Ley at the suggestion of the Gauleitungen. Most of them were in their mid-twenties. The prerequisites were first probation in party work, complete physical health, labor and military service, as well as proof of ancestry that went back to the 18th century. Furthermore, the applicants had to be married by order of Robert Ley, but their academic achievements were of no interest at all. The applicants were promised when they joined the company that after completing their training they would be able to hold any government or administrative office in Germany.

The timetable was: 6:00 a.m. morning exercise, 7:00 a.m. flag roll call, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. working groups, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. lecture in the large lecture hall by guest or main teachers, afternoon sport, 5:00 p.m. Midnight to 6.30 p.m. Working groups, 10 p.m. Zapfenstreich . In the main lectures on racial studies and "geo-politics" the Junkers were indoctrinated with aggressive foreign policy and racist theses. In addition, there was intensive sports training, the focus of this training at Ordensburg Vogelsang was on equestrian sports .

The courses at the NS-Ordensburgen also provided for pilot training. For this purpose airfields were built at all three castles. The Vogelsang airfield was built near the Walberhof, near the village of Schleiden -Morsbach. At the request of the party leadership in Berlin, the Ordensburg Vogelsang was secured by a total of 16 bunkers in the west wall, the remains of which are still recognizable today and were listed on December 1, 2006.

After the school opened, the political celebrities of the Third Reich also used Vogelsang as a place of representation. Adolf Hitler and other leading members of the Nazi state visited the Ordensburg several times. Others came from time to time as guest lecturers, according to Theodor Oberländer , who later became the CDU Federal Minister, in November 1936.

Commanders

Use by the Wehrmacht from 1939

When war broke out in September 1939, school operations were stopped, the Junkers dismissed and drafted into the Wehrmacht . Vogelsang Castle was handed over to the Wehrmacht . This used the buildings twice as military quarters: once during the western campaign in 1940 , then as part of the Ardennes offensive in December 1944. From 1940 onwards, exercises took place at the Elsenborn military training area . During the western campaign, the airfield at Walberhof (built 1934-35) was included. The following front-line troops were deployed there in 1940:

  • heavy flak division 143
  • 17th Jägerleit-Company / Air Intelligence Regiment 211
  • I. / Kampfgeschwader 76
  • II. / Combat Squadron 76
  • 2. / Jagdgeschwader 3
  • I. / Jagdgeschwader 21

From 1941 to 1944, three Adolf Hitler schools were housed on Vogelsang . From 1942 there was a public health station. In 1943 the house for female employees was converted into a “home for expectant mothers” (maternity ward). These were evacuated here from the Rhineland and the Eifel.

In 1944 there was a military training camp there , in which 15 to 16 year old youths from the Hitler Youth received military training. At the end of 1944 a Messerschmidt fighter squadron was stationed on Vogelsang. By Allied air raids some buildings were destroyed, including the east wing and the gymnasium. In January 1945 the facility was cleared.

Picture gallery

Camp Vogelsang, 1946-2006

The bird from Vogelsang

Barracks and military training area

For the general history of Camp Vogelsang and the military training area, see Vogelsang military training area .

Military signpost to the "Camp Vogelsang" barracks
Area of ​​the Vogelsang military training area in the expansion 1945–1960 (6354 ha) and 1960–2005 (4200 ha)

After the end of the Second World War in early 1946, the British military administration temporarily considered demolishing the Ordensburg as an outstanding symbol of National Socialism. In September 1946 the British confiscated 6,354 hectares of land around the Ordensburg as a military training area. The residents had to evacuate the village of Wollseifen . Except for the church and the primary school, all buildings were completely destroyed by target practice and fires. In 1950 the training area ("Training Area" Vogelsang) together with the former Ordensburg was handed over by the British to the Belgian armed forces.

The Belgian military also used the surrounding area as a military training area from 1950 and built other buildings on the site of the former Ordensburg, such as the “Van Dooren” accommodation block, gas station, troop accommodation for training troops and other outbuildings to “Camp Vogelsang”. The Walburgis Chapel was set up in the entrance building. Belgian infantry and artillery soldiers in battalion strength were stationed in the camp until around 1953. The barracks were then only used for the training area command, which comprised approx. 250 civilian and military forces, the maintenance of the barracks and the infrastructure of the training area, as well as the reception and supply of the training troops, including weapons and equipment. The already completed base and outer walls of the House of Knowledge planned by the National Socialists were used for the construction of the soldiers' accommodation "Van Dooren" , so that the angled architectural style is similar to the building from the Nazi era. The Belgian military cinema (later theater) was built on the neighboring foundation of a planned auditorium.

Belgian barracks "Van Dooren"

Template: Panorama / Maintenance / Para4

At the Ordensburg Vogelsang itself, the Belgian military administration carried out careful reconstructions of the buildings that had been destroyed in the war. Only the emblems of the Third Reich, mostly swastikas , were removed .

With the establishment of NATO in 1956 and the admission of the Federal Republic of Germany, in addition to soldiers from Belgium, NATO units from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, France, Luxembourg, the United States of America, Germany and Canada also practiced on the through the Belgian military managed training ground. In 1960 the practice area was reduced to 4200 hectares. From 1957 to 1975 there was a German liaison command, from 1997 to 2005 a German military representative (DMV), who were stationed within the barracks. At the end of 2005, the military use of "Camp Vogelsang" ended.

Airfield

Walberhof airfield in use by the Belgian Army

The Walberhof airfield (grass runways), built as early as 1934-35 and used by the NS Ordensburg and the Wehrmacht (see above ), was operated by the Belgian army for light aircraft and helicopters until 2006. In 1963 a Piper Cub L-18C of the Belgian Army Aviation crashed here . The pilot and one companion perished.

Vogelsang ip, International Square

Since January 1, 2006, the facility has been open to the public again as Vogelsang Internationaler Platz after its military use was abandoned. The Vogelsang plant is currently still owned by the federal government , but is to be transferred to the Euskirchen district with the support of the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia .

Part of the surrounding area is accessible by bike and hiking trails. Since autumn 2009, the Victor Neels Bridge over the Urftsee - a 150-meter-long steel structure named after the Belgian commander of Camp Vogelsang from 1970 to 1980 - has connected Vogelsang with the network of cycle and hiking trails between Urft barrier wall, Gemünd and the Kermeter .

Vogelsang IP non-profit GmbH, founded in 2005, has set itself the task of redesigning and developing various new usage concepts for the entire system. The indoor swimming pool from the Nazi era, which was also used by the Belgian military, was originally intended to be converted into a bar after 2006, but has been preserved, restored and used again by the local swimming and sports club Vogelsang from Schleiden and is open to the public. It is part of the extensive sports facility that is still to be renovated. The indoor swimming pool, sports hall and the sports field can be rented for use from the swimming and sports club.

New Forum building, aerial view (2015)
Vogelsang ip 2015

A temporary visitor center with restoration was set up in the former canteen of the castle (east wing) in 2006 and expanded in 2008. In 2011, the Belgian military cinema from the 1950s was renovated. Since April 2012, a new visitor center has been expanded as a memorial site.

Memorial and exhibition

On September 11, 2016, the permanent exhibition Determination: Herrenmensch. NS-Ordensburgen opened between fascination and crime . It presents the history of the NS-Ordensburg, linked with other topics from the NS-time, on an area of ​​800 m². A large national park exhibition as well as additional temporary exhibitions in the basement rooms of the Ordensburg inform the visitors. A staircase covered with a glass structure leads from the Adlerhof to the newly designed cellar. This design was selected on the basis of the results of an international architecture competition in 2008. The buildings and sculptures are explained by yellow information boards. Two tours (slope and plateau tour) are signposted.

The four and a half years of construction were longer than planned, the costs of 45 million euros were significantly higher than calculated. More than 250,000 visitors came in the first year after the opening.

There are daily guided tours; they are also available in a foreign language on request. The 48 meter high tower can also be climbed for an admission fee. It offers a good view over the "Adlerhof", the visitor center and the "Kameradschaftshaus" as well as the national park with the Dreiborn plateau , Kermeter and the Urftsee .

Other facilities

The Red Cross youth, nature and environmental education center "Transit 59" and the Vogelsang ip Red Cross Museum each have their own educational programs. The former cinema from the 1950s serves as an event location and will become the core of a new conference center in addition to the rooms in the Forum West and East that are already used for conferences.

Listed Belgian military cinema

However, the future of the Belgian Van Dooren barracks is unclear. Due to the high maintenance costs, the unused building could be demolished in the medium term (except for the foundations from the Nazi era).

It was planned to accommodate the administration of the Eifel National Park in the buildings of the "Malakoff" gate area at the entrance to the facility. Following a tender by the Federal Real Estate Agency, the Malakoff entrance building with the vehicle yard was sold to an Opel car museum. The Degener brothers are moving to the Ordensburg from Vreden with their largest collection of Opel classic cars in Europe .

At the beginning of the 2010s, the former Nazi elite school Vogelsang received funding of 32 million euros from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia to expand the facility into a tourist educational site with mixed use. The permanent exhibition “Destiny: Herrenmensch” was awarded the coveted German Design Award and uses multimedia to explain Vogelsang's past as a Nazi training center.

Outside the Ordensburg, in the former Schelde military camp at Camp Vogelsang, refugees have been accommodated since the beginning of 2017.

Former soldiers' accommodation "Schelde" and currently accommodation for refugees

As of 2018, a total of fourteen “settlements” (associations and investors) with an investment volume of 57 million euros have already been implemented in Vogelsang IP. A mobile home park was created in 2018. 14 uses are in operation, four more settlements are under development. Almost 170 jobs have been created in Vogelsang.

In October 2018 the "Akademie Vogelsang Internationaler Platz" received various exhibits from the now closed Museum of the Belgian Armed Forces in Germany (BSD) in Soest on permanent loan . A documentation of the history of the military training area Camp Vogelsang is planned, but it will also shed light on the subject of the “Cold War” and the civil relations between Belgian military personnel and the local population.

In February 2020, the German Alpine Club announced that it had taken over the left wing from Malakoff and that it would set up a club house there.

Bus connection

The area is accessible by bus lines

  • L.63, Simmerath - Einruhr - Vogelsang (- Schleiden)
  • SB82 (National Park Shuttle) Kall - Gemünd - Vogelsang

to reach and via the stops:

  • Sign 224 - tram stop, StVO 1970.svg Vogelsang IP, Walberhof
  • Sign 224 - tram stop, StVO 1970.svg Vogelsang IP, cultural cinema
  • Sign 224 - tram stop, StVO 1970.svg Vogelsang IP, forum

opened up.

literature

in alphabetical order by authors / editors

  • Hans-Dieter Arntz : Vogelsang - history of the former order castle. Helios-Verlag, Aachen 2008, ISBN 978-3-938208-71-7 .
  • Hans-Dieter Arntz: Ordensburg Vogelsang ... through the ages. Helios-Verlag, Aachen 2007, ISBN 978-3-938208-51-9 .
  • Hans-Dieter Arntz: Ordensburg Vogelsang 1934–1945. In: Germany archive. Third Reich. Documents. Archiv-Verlag, Braunschweig 2008 (loose-leaf collection).
  • Hans-Dieter Arntz: Ordensburg Vogelsang. 1934-1945. Education for political leadership in the Third Reich. 6th edition. Helios-Verlag Aachen 2010, ISBN 978-3-86933-018-1 .
  • Paul Ciupke, Franz-Josef Jelich (Hrsg.): Philosophical education in religious castles of the National Socialism. On the history and future of the Ordensburg Vogelsang. Klartext, Essen 2006, ISBN 3-89861-713-0 ( history and adult education. Vol. 20).
  • Franz Albert Heinen : NS-Ordensburgen. Vogelsang, Sonthofen, Krössinsee. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-86153-618-5 .
  • Franz Albert Heinen: Godless, shameless, unscrupulous. For the eastern deployment of the Ordensburg teams. Gaasterland-Verlag, Düsseldorf 2007, ISBN 978-3-935873-27-7 .
  • Franz Albert Heinen: Vogelsang. From the NS-Ordensburg to the military training area. A documentation. 4th edition. Helios-Verlag, Aachen 2006, ISBN 3-933608-46-5 .
  • Franz Albert Heinen: Vogelsang. In the heart of the Eifel National Park. An accompanying booklet through the former "NS-Ordensburg". Gaasterland Verlag, Düsseldorf 2006, ISBN 3-935873-11-5 ( Rhineland leisure guide ).
  • Franz Albert Heinen: Ordensburg Vogelsang. The history of the NS-Kaderschmiede in the Eifel. Christoph Links Verlag GmbH, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-86153-777-9 .
  • Monika Herzog: Vogelsang architecture guide. A tour of the historical complex in the Eifel National Park. Edition B, Cologne 2007. ISBN 978-3-9807179-0-8
  • Alexander Kuffner: time travel guide. Eifel 1933–1945. Helios-Verlag, Aachen 2007, ISBN 978-3-938208-42-7 .
  • Ruth Schmitz-Ehmke : The Ordensburg Vogelsang. Architecture, building sculpture, furnishings = workbook of the Rheinische Denkmalpflege 41:
  • Ulrich Traub: Where students were trained to be perpetrators. The former Ordensburg Vogelsang has become a place of remembrance . In: Evangelical newspaper for Lower Saxony . No. 7 NK, 72nd year. Lutherisches Verlags-Haus, Hanover February 19, 2017, DNB  1067532226 , p. 9 .
  • Stefan Wunsch, Vogelsang ip (ed.): The NS-Ordensburg Vogelsang booklet to the site and exhibition. Sandstein Verlag, Dresden 2016, ISBN 978-3-95498-245-5 .

Web links

Commons : NS-Ordensburg Vogelsang  - collection of pictures

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Topographic map Schleiden 1893. Accessed April 21, 2019 .
  2. [1] Extensive video (NL) about the history of Vogelsang from 1932 to 2005, total 44 min, see 20: 45min
  3. The history of Vogelsang. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on March 30, 2013 . 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.vogelsang-ip.de
  4. Training location for mass murder on www.bpb.de.
  5. Hans-Dieter Arntz Ordensburg Vogelsang ... through the ages , Helios-Verlags- und Buchvertriebsgesellschaft Aachen 2007, p. 8f
  6. a b Eifel: NS-Ordensburg Vogelsang is being rebuilt - Pictures & Photos - WELT. Retrieved February 10, 2020 .
  7. Heinz Erler: The village of Vogelsang. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on January 1, 2016 ; accessed on January 28, 2016 . 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wandern-erler.de
  8. Ruth Schmitz-Ehmke: The Ordensburg Vogelsang. Architecture, building sculpture, equipment. Cologne 1988, p. 55ff.
  9. ↑ Purpose : master man. NS-Ordensburgen between fascination and crime , catalog for the permanent exhibition Nazi documentation Vogelsang, Verlag Sandstein Kommunikation, 2016, ISBN 978-3-95498-220-2
  10. ^ Heinen: NS-Ordensburgen. C. H. Links Verlag, 2011, pp. 67, 68.
  11. [2] Use of the Vogelsang airfield during World War II - see Germany (1937 Borders)
  12. Kamp Vogelsang - a nostalgic terugblik! Jean Claessens, Stijn Bollen, accessed May 25, 2015 (Dutch, private website).
  13. [3] Belgian video on the history of Camp Vogelsang, total 44 min, see 20:45 min
  14. Chapel
  15. Vogelsang. (No longer available online.) In: Belgian garrisons / locations in Germany from 1945. Museum of the Belgian Armed Forces in Germany, archived from the original on March 5, 2016 ; Retrieved May 25, 2015 . 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.museum-bsd.de
  16. http://www.kamp-vogelsang.be/hoofdmenu/reportages/adlerhof/ Personnel strength of the training ground command
  17. [4] Belgian video on the history of Camp Vogelsang, total 44 min, see 20:45 min
  18. German Federal Armed Forces on the NATO military training area Vogelsang / Eifel. Retrieved March 30, 2013 .
  19. Internationaler Platz vogelsang ip. Retrieved February 17, 2017 .
  20. The Eiffel Tower should shine yellow to the valley. Retrieved November 21, 2017 .
  21. https://www.schwimmbadvogelsang.de/ Hallenschwimmbad Vogelsang
  22. permanent exhibition
  23. Vogelsang as a crowd puller. Short report, Generalanzeiger Bonn, on the results of the "Forum Vogelsang", September 12, 2017, p. 26
  24. http://www.vogelsang-ip.de/files/vogelsang/uploads/SEV/Expos%C3%A9_Malakoff_Fahrzeughof_final_m_Anlagen.pdf
  25. Köllner Stadtanzeiger, Wednesday July 31, 2019
  26. Mira Huppertz: Vogelsang IP in winter. In: Tourism Eifel. December 2, 2017, accessed February 10, 2020 .
  27. [5] Schelde troop camp holds 1,000 people
  28. Vogelsang: Refugees should not come until March. In: Aachener Zeitung . January 14, 2016, accessed February 11, 2016 .
  29. [6] Uses 2017
  30. [7] Motorhome Park

Coordinates: 50 ° 35 ′ 4 "  N , 6 ° 26 ′ 53"  E