Customs school Flensburg

The old customs school at the Reepschlägerbahn (photo 2015)

In 1950, the customs school moved to the north wing of the Mürwik Naval School , i.e. the left wing when looking at the building from the water. (Photo 2016)

The Flensburg Customs School (at times also: Flensburg Customs Border Guard School ) was founded in 1938. In 18 years a large number of customs officers were trained in Flensburg . With their green uniforms, the customs school students shaped the streetscape of the border town of Flensburg to a large extent during this time. In 1956 the customs school was closed and moved away from Flensburg. The school buildings in which the customs school was located are now among the cultural monuments of the city of Flensburg.

background

The customs school on the Museum Mountain

At the end of the 1930s, the Reichsfinanzverwaltung bought the old secondary school and agricultural school from the city of Flensburg , the predecessor of the Goethe school on the Museumberg at the Reepgschlägerbahn. The Flensburg customs school was then set up in the school. Flensburg offered various location advantages . The state border there consisted of a land border with railroad and road crossings and a water border. During the training it was therefore possible to combine theory and practice comprehensively. On January 5, 1938, the customs school was opened by State Secretary Fritz Reinhardt . In 1943 the school stopped teaching. The building was claimed as a hospital .

The reopening of the old customs school

Three years later, in 1946, the customs school started teaching again. The school, apparently also known as the Customs Border Guard School and the Frontier Control School in English, has been under British control since it opened. On July 5, 1946, the government councilor Dr. Grill appointed inspector of the customs border guard and head of the customs border guard school in Flensburg. The inspection of the customs border guard moved into the school building.

Alfred Vogt, who was born on November 2, 1896 in Riegersdorf, Strehlen district, in Silesia, was transferred in 1940 as head of the Flensburg-Bahnhof customs office . In October 1947 he was promoted to the Customs Council and took over the school on November 15, 1949. At the same time, the Japp customs council took over the management of the inspection. Since the zone border also had to be equipped with customs officers in the course of the new political development , a branch of the school in Eckernförde-Carlshöhe was temporarily set up in the summer of 1949 . How long this branch existed is unclear.

In 1950 British control of the school was to end. At that time, the city of Flensburg demanded the school building to be returned due to a severe shortage of classrooms. As a result, the building was leased to the city. The Flensburg inspection was moved to Lübeck on February 1, 1950 .

The Mürwiker customs school

Rear part of the northern wing of the Red Palace, invisible from the waterfront, in February 1989

On April 1, 1950, the Flensburg customs school moved to Flensburg- Mürwik , where it moved into the north wing of the Mürwik naval school . Apparently two other customs offices moved into the new school. Since the move, the Flensburg customs school has also been called the “Mürwiker customs school”. Between 1950 and 1956, 17th quarterly courses for customs assistants as well as a number of special courses lasting several weeks took place in Mürwik. Water customs officers, customs border inspectors, members of the Bonn Ministry of Finance and specialists in customs duties and operations visited the Mürwiker customs school. The training included measures to combat smuggling, learning how to handle the police, how to use firearms, pistols, carbines and submachine guns. These skills were practiced at the nearby shooting range in the Tremmerup forest . The teaching staff consisted of ten teachers who came from the customs area. In November 1951 Alfred Vogt was promoted to the government council, he kept the management of the school.

The end and remains of the Flensburg customs school

Customs canteen in the basement of the main building of the Naval School, with a picture of happily drinking customs officers from the 1950s above the door. (1989)

In 1956 the Flensburg Customs School, which was last located at the Mürwik Naval School, was moved out of Flensburg. The inner German border had gained in importance. The Cold War had started. At the end of March 1956, the Flensburg customs school was dissolved. On April 1, 1956, parts, presumably in the form of the files, were evidently moved to Bonn . There is also the claim that the Flensburg customs school was moved to Cuxhaven . There in Cuxhaven should also have existed a customs school at that time. It is also possible that everything else was moved to Bad Gandersheim , where a customs school was set up near the zone border after the war. The exact whereabouts of the Flensburg customs school is therefore not precisely documented and is unclear.

The navy needed the building on the fjord again and moved into it that same year. The Flensburger Tageblatt said goodbye to the customs school with the following words: “When the duty was over, then the green uniforms of the customs students were part of the streetscape of the border town for 18 years. There are many who mourn them. But there is a tram conductor on line 3 that goes to Mürwik, and he has a consolation from years of experience: "One uniform goes, the other will soon follow." Because the customs school has to vacate because the Federal Ministry of Defense has the old naval buildings for the new navy claimed. "

Approximately 9,000 course participants, who came from all over Germany, had attended the Mürwiker customs school in the five years. The total number of participants over the entire period of existence of the Flensburg Customs School is unknown.

Alfred Vogt lived with his family for a few more years at the school. The school building on the Museumsberg is now one of the cultural monuments of the Friesischer Berg district . The school building in Mürwik is now one of the cultural monuments of the Mürwik district . The customs canteen in the Mürwik Naval School is still reminiscent of the former Mürwik customs school.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m Flensburger Tageblatt : Zollschule "died" quietly , 1956
^ Writings of the Society for Flensburg City History (ed.): Flensburg in history and present . Flensburg 1972, p. 409
^ Peter Kall: Customs in Flensburg and in the German-Danish border area. Flensburg 1978, page 82 f.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Peter Kall: Customs in Flensburg and in the German-Danish border area. Flensburg 1978, page 83
^ Peter Kall: Customs in Flensburg and in the German-Danish border area. Flensburg 1978, pages 96 and 83
↑ Carlshöhe-Eckernförde, Carlshöhe yesterday & today , accessed on: September 30, 2016
↑ Flensburger Tageblatt : 100 Years of the Naval School: History of the School , dated: August 11, 2010, accessed on: February 6, 2016
^ Peter Kall: Customs in Flensburg and in the German-Danish border area. Flensburg 1978, page 96
^ ^A ^b Writings of the Society for Flensburg City History (Hrsg.): Flensburg in history and present . Flensburg 1972, p. 411
↑ There was a customs school in Bonn in the early 1950s. In 1956, as mentioned, parts of the Flensburg customs school are said to have been relocated to Bonn. But apparently the Bonn customs school no longer existed there after 1955. There is apparently a publication on the subject of the Bonn customs school with the title “Chronicle of the Bonn customs school 1950-55” which was “self-published”; see. there . The publication in question obviously relates to the period 1950 to 1955. Probably the period in which the school existed. In the Federal Archives there is also archive material on the process: Housing of the Federal Ministry of Defense. Expansion of the former customs school in Bonn 1956–1958 , accessed on: February 13, 2016; Accordingly, a real relocation should not have been possible with the entire staff. The note in the books on the history of the city of Flensburg must therefore refer to the files and the like.
↑ Customs border protection. Customs School Flensburg , accessed on February 13, 2016
↑ See also: Federal Archives : Chief Inspectorate of Customs Border Guard or there , accessed on: February 13, 2016
↑ In the following source there is talk of a “preliminary examination course at the customs border school in Cuxhaven”. See BDZ. German Customs and Finance Union. 60 years of reports. Photos. Encounters. , Page 113; Retrieved on: February 13, 2016
^ Andreas Oeding, Broder Schwensen, Michael Sturm: Flexikon. 725 aha experiences from Flensburg! Flensburg 2009, article Marinschule Mürwik

Web links

Commons : Zollschule Flensburg - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

[A-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m Flensburger Tageblatt : Zollschule "died" quietly , 1956

[2] Writings of the Society for Flensburg City History (ed.): Flensburg in history and present . Flensburg 1972, p. 409

[3] Peter Kall: Customs in Flensburg and in the German-Danish border area. Flensburg 1978, page 82 f.

[B-4] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Peter Kall: Customs in Flensburg and in the German-Danish border area. Flensburg 1978, page 83

[5] Peter Kall: Customs in Flensburg and in the German-Danish border area. Flensburg 1978, pages 96 and 83

[6] Carlshöhe-Eckernförde, Carlshöhe yesterday & today , accessed on: September 30, 2016

[7] Flensburger Tageblatt : 100 Years of the Naval School: History of the School , dated: August 11, 2010, accessed on: February 6, 2016

[8] Peter Kall: Customs in Flensburg and in the German-Danish border area. Flensburg 1978, page 96

[C-9] A ^b Writings of the Society for Flensburg City History (Hrsg.): Flensburg in history and present . Flensburg 1972, p. 411

[10] There was a customs school in Bonn in the early 1950s. In 1956, as mentioned, parts of the Flensburg customs school are said to have been relocated to Bonn. But apparently the Bonn customs school no longer existed there after 1955. There is apparently a publication on the subject of the Bonn customs school with the title “Chronicle of the Bonn customs school 1950-55” which was “self-published”; see. there . The publication in question obviously relates to the period 1950 to 1955. Probably the period in which the school existed. In the Federal Archives there is also archive material on the process: Housing of the Federal Ministry of Defense. Expansion of the former customs school in Bonn 1956–1958 , accessed on: February 13, 2016; Accordingly, a real relocation should not have been possible with the entire staff. The note in the books on the history of the city of Flensburg must therefore refer to the files and the like.

[11] Customs border protection. Customs School Flensburg , accessed on February 13, 2016

[12] See also: Federal Archives : Chief Inspectorate of Customs Border Guard or there , accessed on: February 13, 2016

[13] In the following source there is talk of a “preliminary examination course at the customs border school in Cuxhaven”. See BDZ. German Customs and Finance Union. 60 years of reports. Photos. Encounters. , Page 113; Retrieved on: February 13, 2016

[14] Andreas Oeding, Broder Schwensen, Michael Sturm: Flexikon. 725 aha experiences from Flensburg! Flensburg 2009, article Marinschule Mürwik