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FORTRESS EUROPE

North Rhine - Westphalia, Rhineland Pfalz , Baden - Wurtemberg, Bavaria

The Jewish Museum Berlin The Jewish Museum Berlin opened in September 2001. Two years earlier, the empty new building by architect Daniel Libeskind was an unexpected visitor attraction. In this section, we present the building complex in image and text: The Old Building – the baroque Collegienhaus, the postmodern Libeskind Building and the new Glass Courtyard erected in 2007. The circumstances of the museum’s foundation, the collections it is based on, and the people who have directed its development can be found here as well as personalities of public life who are dedicated to intercultural understanding and have been honored with the Jewish Museum’s Prize for Understanding and Tolerance. Looking into the future, we invite all who want to become members of the museum to join one of our donor programs. Our historical permanent exhibition chooses an unusual perspective on the history of German-speaking countries. Two thousand years of German-Jewish history from the perspective of the Jewish minority says. This approach sets new priorities, known events can appear complex and presents personal stories alongside historical events. Special exhibitions shed light on individual topics of German-Jewish life. forced labor. The Germans, forced labor and the war shows the different forms of Nazi forced labor from 1933 to 1945. The exhibition Jewish Life in Argentina. Contributions to the 200-year anniversary presents the integration of the Jewish community in the Argentine society.

During the Second World War Germany exploited forced laborers in almost every construction site, every farm, every industrial operation and also in private households. There, as in the occupied territories they had more than 20 million men, women and children from all over Europe as “foreign workers, prisoners of war or concentration camp prisoners who were forced to work. The exhibition “forced labor.”

The Germans, forced labor and war, this is the first time the entire history of this crime and its consequences after 1945 are being told. The results presented in the exhibition of historical items and photographs will allow the racially defined relationship between Germans and force them to explore - with all the freedom of action, that is now offered to the people.

North Rhine-Westphalia is the westernmost, province of Germany and includes the entire Ruhr Valley. The capital city is Düsseldorf, and the largest city is Cologne (Köln). The following cities/towns have WW2 attractions/museums; Bonn/Bad Godesberg, Vossenack, Losheim, Wesel, Soest, Essen, Warburg, Dortmund, Siegen, Buren/Wewelsburg, Schleiden. Rhineland-Palatinate WWII venues are located in AbteiHerneskeil, Hinzert-Polert, Irrel, Koblenz, Osthofen, Remagen am Rhein, Speyer. Saarland is the smallest German state.The capital is Saarbrücken. The state borders France and did not exist before WWI. In 1933, a considerable number of communists and other political opponents of National Socialism fled to the Saar, as it was the only part of Germany that remained under foreign occupation following the First World War. see Dillingen Saar, Sinz and Schwalbach. Hessen WW2 attractions are located Edersee, Guxhagen and Frankfurt am Main. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country and WW2 sites to see are in Bietigheim/Bissingen, Gomadingen, Hadamar, Hartheim, Leonberg,

Kiel

Schleswig-Hols

Hamb

Bremen

Niedersachsen Hanover

Nordrhein-Westfalen Dusseldorf

Koln

Bonn Hessen Frankfurt Wiesbaden Mainz

Rhineland-Pfalz Saarland Saarbrucken

Stuttgart

Baden-Wurttemberg

stein

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Schwerin

burg

Berlin Potsdam

Brandenburg

Magdeburg

Saxony-Anhalt

Leipzig Dresden Erfurt

Sachsen

Thuringia

Nurnberg

Bayern

Munich

Heidelberg, Kochendorf, Dettenheim, Rastatt, Sinsheim, Stuttgart and Schwabisch Hall. Bavaria is located in the southeast of the country. The capital is Munich. Munich and Nuremberg became Nazi strongholds under the Third Reich. Thuringia is known as the “green heart of Germany”, due to the dense forest that covers the area; visit Arnstadt, Ohrdruf, Kahla, Merkers Kieselbach, Nordhausen and Weimar. In Sachsen see Dresden, Pirna, Augustusberg, Bautzen, Hohnstein and Colditz. Sachsen-Anhalt has three towns with WWII tourism, they are Bernburg, Langenstein and Prettin. In Niedersachsen visit Bremmerhaven, Emden, Guxhaven, Altenbruch, Sandbostel, Rekum, Munster, Oerbke, Lohheide, laatzen, Moringen and Wolfsburg. Schleswig-Holstein see Hamburg, Laboe and Ahrensbok. Mecklenburg is where Peenemunde is located.Brandenburg includes Berlin, Ravensbruck, Sachsenhausen, Wunsdorf and Carin Hall.

CONTENTS North Rhine - Westphalia Aachen 17

Essen 31

Cologne 19

Warburg 33

Bonn/Bad Godesberg 25

Dortmund 35

Vossenack 27

Siegen 36

Losheim 28

Buren-Wewelsburg 37

Wesel 29

Schleiden 41

Soest 30

Rhineland Pfalz Abtei-Hermeskeil 43

Koblenz 47

Hinzert-Polert 44

Osthofen 49

Irrel 45

Pirmasens 50

Saarland Dillingen Saar 55 Sinz 57 Schwalbach 58

Hessen Edersee 59

Frankfurt am Main 63

Gluxhagen 61

Baden - Wurtemberg Hadamar 71

Dettenheim 78

Hartheim 73

Rastatt 79

Leonberg 74

Sinsheim 81

Heidelberg 75

Stuttgart 83

Kochendorf 77

Schwabisch Hall 85

Bavaria Wurzburg 91

Moosburg 112

Stammheim 93

Oberschleisheim 113

Bamberg 94

Dachau 114

Coburg 95

Herbertshausen 115

Flossenburg 98

Munich 117

Schopf 99

Sonthofen 129

Nuremberg 101

Berchtesgaden 131

Pocking 111

Technical Museum Submarine, Wilhelm Bauer

The Technical Museum Submarine, Wilhelm Bauer” is a historical technological monument of international standing. It is the only still existing submarine of the type XXÍ in the entire world. It was built in 1943/44 as a pioneering innovation and revolutionized the construction of submarines. The submarine is located in the Museum Harbor across from the National German Maritime Museum. Opening hours 2010: - daily from March 20th to October 31st from 10 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.

Entrance fees 2010: - Adults € 3,00 - Children (aged 6-17) € 2,00 Technikmuseum U-Boot „Wilhelm Bauer” e.V. Hans-Scharoun-Platz 1 27568 Bremerhaven, Germany Tel: 0049 (0)471 482070 Fax: 0049 (0)471 4820755

DEUTSCHES PANZERMUSEUM MUNSTER

The German tank museum opened on 10 August. The exhibition “Myth lightning war, “ focuses on various facets of the war in Western Europe in the summer of 1940.

Hall 1: 1916-1945

End of Hall 1 and Hall 2: After 1945 Hall 3-5: After 1945 www.panzermuseum-munster.de

FORTRESS EUROPE GERMANY GUIDE 2024

Kiel

Schleswig-Holstein

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Schwerin

Hamburg

Bremen

Niedersachsen

Berlin Potsdam

Hanover

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,without the prior permission in writing of the copyright holder.

Brandenburg

Magdeburg

Saxony-Anhalt Nordrhein-Westfalen

Leipzig

Dusseldorf

Dresden Koln

Erfurt

Bonn

Sachsen

Thuringia Hessen Frankfurt Wiesbaden Mainz

Rhineland-Pfalz Saarland

Nurnberg

Saarbrucken

Bayern Stuttgart

Baden-Wurttemberg Munich

All efforts have been made to provide updated information regarding businesses included in this publication. Front Cover Photo:

Best, Christopher ISBN

Published and bound in China travelbackintimeguides.com Warfleet Press 1038 East 63rd Ave. Vancouver BC V5X2L1

Dear Readers! We hope you enjoy your adventure into the past with our Fortress Europe Guide on Germany. The guide is a memorial to all those who died and a reminder for the future, lest we forget. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, many city museums have opened up across Germany. These museums, Documentation Centres and memorials remember what happened in each locale during the years 1935 through 1945. Walk in the footsteps of the leaders of the Third Reich and follow the victorious Allies as they freed fortress Europe from the horror of the holocaust and the Nazi regime. www.travelbackintimeguides.com

At all times have been technical innovations not only civil but also military use. Very often even the military was the driving force that made many developments possible. Under the enormous pressure of military necessity has been made in these areas by the end of the Second World War in only a few months, progress that would have needed in times of peace many years. A museum that is dedicated to the task of representing the whole of the history of technology, must also give the military equipment to its rightful place. In the military history department of the Sinsheim Auto & Technik MUSEUM while the engine of the armed forces during the Second World War is the focus. Focuses on tanks, planes, trucks and tractors.

Tel: 07261-9299-0 www.sinsheim.technik-museum.de

The Museum Military History Museum Founded in 1934, military history museum is located since 1956 in Rastatt Palace and, with its collections and exhibitions of modern presentation of the leading military museums in Europe. The border situation with France, the city of Rastatt, in the past frequently put into focus the European-German policy and the resulting developing military conflicts. The focus of the museum is the relationship between state, society and the military - primarily in southwestern Germany. The military history are integrated into the social context and therefore not to be seen as a pure military history, but should be understood as a factor in the state constitution, the social and economic system and the history of technology.

www.wgm-rastatt.de

North Rhine-Westphalia

Aachen 17

Essen 31

Cologne 19

Warburg 33

Bonn/Bad Godesberg 25

Dortmund 35

Vossenack 27

Siegen 36

Losheim 28

Buren-Wewelsburg 37

Wesel 29

Schleiden 41

Soest 30

AACHEN

The Battle Of Aachen

Volksgrenadier Division in Aachen

Remains Pelzer-Tower

Merlepützweg Aachen

North Rhine-Westphalia

Aachen was heavily damaged during World War II. It was taken by the Allies on 21 October 1944; the first German city to be captured. Aachen was destroyed partially — and in some parts completely — during the fighting, mostly by American artillery fire and demolitions by Waffen-SS defenders. Damaged buildings included the mediæval churches of St. Foillan, St. Paul and St. Nicholas, and the Rathaus (city hall), although the Aachen Cathedral was largely unscathed. Only 4,000 inhabitants remained in the city; the rest had followed evacuation orders. Its first Allied-appointed mayor, Franz Oppenhoff, was murdered by an SS Field Marshal Model visiting the 246th commando unit.

The Battle of Aachen The Battle of Aachen was a battle in Aachen, Germany, which occurred between 2–21 October 1944. By September 1944, the Wehrmacht had been pushed into Germany proper, after being defeated in France by the Western Allies. During the campaigning in France, German commanders estimated that their total strength only amounted to that of 25 full strength divisions; at the time, the Wehrmacht operated 74 divisions in France. Despite these losses, the Germans were able to retreat to the Siegfried Line and partially rebuild their strength; they were able to bring the total number of combat personnel along the Western Front to roughly 230,000 troops. Although not necessarily well trained, nor well armed, these German defenders were substantially aided by the fortifications which composed the Siegfried Line. During the month of September the first fighting sprung up around Aachen and the city’s commander offered to surrender it to the advancing Americans. However, his letter of surrender was discovered by the SS during a raid in Aachen while the civilians were evacuating. Adolf Hitler ordered his immediate arrest and replaced him and his division with Gerhard Wilck’s 246th Volksgrenadier Division. The United States’ First Army would have to take the city by force. American commanders decided to envelop the city using the 1st and 30th Infantry divisions, aided by elements of others, and then take the city when it was fully encircled. The city’s defense was composed of the German LXXXI Corps, which included four infantry divisions and two understrength German tank formations. During the battle, German defenders would receive another 24,000 reinforcements in the form of a (Continued on page 23)

COLOGNE

A Military Area Command Headquarters

Nazism Documentation Center In 1934, the Nazis rented the building from jeweler Leopold Dahmen, and turned it into the headquarters of the secret police, the Gestapo. Surprisingly, the building survived the Allied bombing of Cologne during World War II, while 90% of the city was destroyed. After the bombings, the basements of the building, which had been used as prison cells and torture rooms for forced laborers and political enemies, were used to store wartime files and paperwork. Inscriptions made on the walls of the prison cells by inmates can still be viewed today. Appellhofplatz 23-25, 50667 Köln

0221/2212-6332 www.museenkoeln.de

North Rhine-Westphalia

During World War II, Cologne was a Military Area Command Headquarters (Militärbereichshauptkommandoquartier) for Military District (Wehrkreis) VI in Münster. Cologne was under the command of Lieutenant-General Freiherr Roeder von Diersburg, who was responsible for military operations at Bonn, Siegburg, Aachen, Jülich, Düren, and Monschau. Cologne was the Home Station for the 211th Infantry Regiment and the 26th Artillery Regiment. During the Bombing of Cologne in World War II, Cologne endured 262 air raids by the Western Allies, which Allies, which caused approximately 20,000 civilian casualties and almost completely wiped out the center of the city. During the night of 31 May 1942, Cologne was the site of “Operation Millennium,” the first 1,000 bomber raid by the Royal Air Force in World War II. 1,046 heavy bombers attacked their target with 1,455 tons of explosives. This raid lasted about 75 minutes, destroyed 600 acres (243 ha) of built-up area, killed 486 civilians and made 59,000 people homeless.

North Rhine-Westphalia

NORDRHEIN-WESTFALEN

E37

Biele

Munster

E37 E35

Ahlen E34 Hamm

Wesel E31

Soest

Lippstadt

E331

Dortmund

E34

Bril

Essen Olsberg

Dusseldorf

E40

B264

Aachen B399 Vossenack Schleiden

B265

Losheim

Koln

E40

Siegen

Bonn E31

E29 Jawne Museum at the Remembrance Place (Gedenkstätte) Löwenbrunnen in Cologne is dedicated to the history of the Jewish Jawne Gymnasium, displayed in the exhibition “Die Kinder auf dem Schulhof nebenan.” In 1939, Erich Klibansky managed to let emigrate

and therefor save the lives of 130 scolars. He and almost all other scolars were murdered in the Holocaust.

23 Loccum

(Continued from page 18 )

Minden

eleld

German Sports & Olympics Museum is dedicated to the history of German The

33 Paderborn Wewelsburg 44 Warburg

sports and sportspeople. There is special attention for sports during the Nazi-era, like the propaganda during the Olympic Games of 1936.

lon

German Sports & Olympics Museum

Im Zollhafen 1, Köln

Phone: 0221 / 33 609 - 0 www.sportmuseum.info

North Rhine-Westphalia

panzer division and a panzergrenadier division, as well as elements of the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. Although outnumbered by American forces, the defenders were able to make use of dozens of pillboxes and fortifications arrayed around the city.

The Jawne Museum

Erich-Klibansky-Platz / Albertusstr. 26, Köln

Phone: 0151 / 25 184 988 www.jawne.de

City-Museum Cologne

This large museum is dedicated to the history of Cologne. The Nazi-era and the Second World War is widely displayed in the museum. Shown are debris from the bombardments, weapons, documents, pictures and other artefacts. Zeughausstraße 1-3, Köln

Phone: +49-221-221 25789 http://www.museenkoeln.de

BONN/ BAD GODESBERG

Hitler Visited About 50 Times On The Rhine North Rhine-Westphalia

During the Nazi regime Bad Godesberg, was a particularly popular place of the “leader” to be. Adolf Hitler stayed (1926-1945) about 50 times on the Rhine. His most spectacular performance was held here on 22/23, September 1938, when he was in Bad Godesberg with the British Prime Minister Arthur Neville Chamberlain who met with him in order to negotiate the Sudeten crisis. During this visit, just as they did during previous visits citizens lined numerous Bad Godesberg streets to see Hitler on his drive from the city center to Godesberg Rhine Hotel Dreesen cheering him along. During the Second World War, Bad Godesberg survived largely in tact. The city was largely spared from the air war as there were lots of wounded and elderly. Therefore the 6,000-strong defenders decided on the night of 8 March 1945 to retreat across the Rhine. Bad Godesberg was the first major German urban district to be transferred to Allied forces control without a battle.

26 Vice-Mayor Ditz handed the city by telephone over to the Americans, after Mayor Henry Alef on the right side of the Rhine did as well. This was Bad Godesberg, the first major city to fall to the Allies and not destroyed without a fight. After Bonn in 1949 became the provisional federal capital and because it was largely undamaged from the war, Bad Godesberg became the home of many embassies. Godesberg was given the nickname City of Diplomats, the B 9 to Bonn was the diplomatic track. The wine bar Maternus near the station, Konrad Adenauer ate lunch regularly, and it soon received the nickname “living room of the Republic” because there were so many diplomatic negotiations being completed. Bad Godesberg in 1969 was incorporated with Bonn. Since the seat of government moved from Bonn to Berlin, the population structure, in Bad Gotenberg has changed whereby social problems have increased among the heterogeneous populations.

Bonn Museums

The Bonn Museum Mile (Museumsmeile) stretches for several kilometres from the Südstadt to Bad Godesberg.

VOSSENACK

The Battle Of Hürtgenwald

Museum ‘Hürtgenwald 1944 und im Frieden’

Pfarrer-Dickmann-Straße 21 - 23, D-52393 Vossenack

02429/902613 www.huertgenwald.de

North Rhine-Westphalia

Site of the battle of Hürtgenwald, a 140 km ² forest plateau north-east of the Belgian-German border, south of the line Aachen-Düren and west of the Ruhr. It consists of the Merode, Wenau, Hürtgen and Roetgen Forests with dense forests, treeless hills, deep valleys and sparse populations. The fighting around the Hürtgenwald was among some of the fiercest battles of the Second World War. To this day every year, on average seven fallen soldiers from the floor of the former battlefield are recovered. There are still mines and other explosives in the fighting area. Since many of the German officers and soldiers who created the maps or possessed them fell, no records existed after the fighting about location and size of the minefields. Most recently on 26 September 2008, the mortal remains of John Farrell Jr. and Edward T. Jones Schmidt were found.

LOSHEIM

The Losheim Gap During 1940 when the Germans invaded Belgium and then France, Field Marshall Erwin Rommel’s division sped through the Losheim Gap to gain the Meuse River and then push on to the English Channel. Hitler held similar hopes for 1944. On the German side of the Siegfried Line, the Germans positioned their troops and armor near the village of Losheim. During their earlier retreat, the Germans had destroyed two key railroad overpasses. On December 16, 1944, for unknown reasons German engineers did not begin repairing the first of these until nearly noon, and the second was not repaired until December 17. The German advance never recovered from its initial delay, and the Sixth Panzer Army only got as far as La Grieze before its advance stalled out, advancing less than half-way to the River Meuse. The remaining soldiers were left to find their own way back to the east.

Museum Ars Tecnica

Prümerstraße 55, D-53940 Losheim

Phone: +49 (0) 6557-92 06 40 www.arstecnica.net

WESEL

Operation Varsity

Prussian Museum

An der Zitadelle 14-20, 46483 Wesel www.preussenmuseum.de/

North Rhine-Westphalia

During World War II, as a strategic depot, Wesel became a target of Allied bombing. On the 16, 17 and 19 February 1945, the town was attacked with impact and air-burst bombs, which destroyed 97% of the city. The Wehrmacht blew up bridges along the Rhine and Lippe to prevent Allied forces from advancing; among others, on 10 March, they destroyed the 1,950m-long railway bridge, the last Rhine bridge remaining in German hands. On 23 March, Wesel came under the fire of over 3,000 guns when it was bombarded anew, in preparation for Operation Plunder. That day 80 Lancasters from No. 3 Group RAF attacked Wesel.Then that night of 23/24 March, 195 Lancasters and 23 Mosquitos of RAF Bomber Command No. 5 Group aided in the softening up of the German defenders. 97% of the town was destroyed before it was finally taken by Allied troops.

SOEST

Biggest In The Reich The Nazi Party placed Soest in Gau Westphalia-South. During World War II Soest was the target of several allied bomber raids targeted at the marshalling yard, which was one of the biggest in the Reich, and the important battery factory Akku Hagen. Later Soest suffered major fighting in early April 1945, starting when Allied forces captured the town at the beginning of the month. They were soon evicted by a German counterattack. Destructive front-line combat raged in Soest and its environs through the first week of April until the Allies gained a permanent upper hand. (French: Forces belges en Allemagne or FBA, Dutch: Belgische strijdkrachten in Duitsland, BSD) was the name of the Belgian forces of occupation in West Germany after the Second World War. The occupation lasted between 1946 and 2002, when the last Belgian soldiers left the country.

Museum of the Belgian Forces in Germany

Burkhard Schnettler, Postfach 2122 Allemagne- 59481 Soest, 0049 / 2921 / 13171, http://www.museum-bsd.de

ESSEN

The Krupp Family

Villa Huegel

www.villahuegel.de

North Rhine-Westphalia

As a major industrial centre Essen was a target for allied bombing. Over 270 air raids were launched against the city, destroying 90% of the centre and 60% of the suburbs. On 5 March 1943 Essen was subjected to one of the heaviest air-raids of the war. 461 people were killed, 1,593 injured and a further 50,000 residents of Essen were made homeless. Essen WWII bombings attacked the Krupp factory as an industrial target, and Essen was a primary target designated for city bombing by the February 1942 British Area bombing directive.The Krupp family, a prominent 400 year old German dynasty from Essen, had become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. Having regrouped after the war, in 1999 it merged with Thyssen AG to form ThyssenKrupp AG, a large industrial conglomerate.Villa Huegel pictured below was the Krupp ancestral home and contains the Krupp Archive as well as an art gallery and museum.

Krupp in WW2 Krupp received its first order for 135 Panzer I tanks in 1933, and during WWII made tanks, artillery, naval guns, armor plate, munitions and other armaments for the German military. Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft shipyard launched the German cruiser Prinz Eugen, as well as many of Germany’s U-boats (130 between 1934 and 1945) using preassembled parts supplied by other Krupp factories in a process similar to the construction of the U.S. liberty ships. In the 1930s, Krupp developed two 800 mm railway guns, the Schwerer Gustav and the Dora. These guns were the largest artillery pieces ever fielded by an army during wartime, and weighed almost 1,344 tons. They could fire a 7-ton shell over a distance of 37 kilometers. More crucial to the operations of the German military was Krupp’s development of the famed 88 mm anti-aircraft cannon which found use as a notoriously effective anti-tank gun. In an address to the Hitler Youth, Adolf Hitler stated “In our eyes, the German boy of the future must be slim and slender, as fast as a greyhound, tough as leather and hard as Krupp steel.” Krupp Industries employed workers conscripted by the Nazi regime from across Europe. These workers were initially paid, but as Nazi fortunes declined they were kept as slave workers. They were abused, beaten, and starved by the thousands, as detailed in the book The Arms of Krupp. The Krupp Trial The Krupp trial was the tenth of twelve trials for war crimes that U.S. authorities held in their occupation zone at Nuremberg, Germany after the end of World War II. In the Krupp Trial, twelve former directors of the Krupp Group were accused of having enabled the armament of the German military forces and thus having actively participated in the Nazis’ preparations for an aggressive war, and also for having used slave laborers in their companies. The main defendant was Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, CEO of the Krupp Holding since 1943 and son of Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach who had been a defendant in the main Trial of the Major War Criminals before the IMT (where he was considered medically unfit for trial). The main defendant Alfried Krupp always denied any guilt. In 1947, he stated: “The economy needed a steady or growing development. Because of the rivalries between the many political parties in Germany and the general disorder there was no opportunity for prosperity. ... We thought that Hitler would give us such a healthy environment. Indeed he did do that. ... We Krupps never cared much about ideas. We only wanted a system that worked well and allowed us to work unhindered. Politics is not our business.”

WARBURG

“Warburg Wire Job”

RIGHT: Sydney Dowse in RAF service prior to becoming a POW

BELOW: Lining up of the prisoners on the parade ground. Flight Lieutenant Sydney Hastings Dowse MC (21 November 1918 – 10 April 2008) was a Royal Air Force pilot who became a prisoner of war and survived The Great Escape during the Second World War.

North Rhine-Westphalia

Oflag VI-B Dössel (Doessel) was a World War II German POW camp for officers located 5 km (3 miles) SW of the small town Dössel (now part of Warburg) in north-western Germany. In 1940 the camp was built on what had been originally intended to be an airfield. At first French and British officers were housed in the camp. In August 1942 the camp was the scene of the “Warburg Wire Job”, a mass escape by 41 prisoners who got over the fence on makeshift storming ladders. Three of them made home runs. In September 1942 the prisoners were transferred elsewhere and replaced with Polish officers. 1077 of them were brought from Romania, where they had been interned in September 1939. Another 1500 were transferred from other camps in Germany.

The Edelweiss Pirates - a forgotten movement of resistance against Hitler Did you ever hear about the “Edelweißpiraten” (edelweiss pirates)? They were loose bands of renegade youths during the Nazi era in Germany, who objected to the harsh drill of the Hitler youth. Some of them were outright Hilter-youth dropouts, others came from the so-called “Bündische Jugend” (a scout-like movement), which had been a melting pot for young people with very different backgrounds before Hitler took power. Those kids weren’t exactly left-wing or politically conscious resistance in any way, though most of them were working class kids. With conditions in German deteriorating through the war, they found more and more loopholes in the system, especially in the big cities alongside Rhine river. Living in bombed out houses, stealing and looting goods from freight trains and defending themselves against Gestapo, Hitler youth, and normal police with knives and guns they made a miserable yet nazi-free living. What you see with the edelweiss pirates is a strange mix of pre-Beat hippiedom, traits of an autonomous youth culture (they even styled a certain look to recognize each other!), political resistance and dare devil mentality. In the end, there must have been thousands of them. They had to pay heavily for their dissent. Many of them were tortured by the Gestapo, sent to concentration camp-like compounds, and even killed. On October 27, 1944 for instance, eleven of them were hanged by the nazis in Cologne, the youngest being 16. Normal people despised them as criminals, cranks, and they had very few friends besides their own kind. After the war this perception of the edelweiss pirates didn’t change substantially, and I know only of one small plaque in Cologne reminding of them (especially of the hanging). I think one reason why they’re looked upon with contempt and suspicion is because they made anyone else look so bad. They were only kids and yet they confronted people like Wilhelm Heinz Schmitz, the Gestapo Chief of Cologne, who for all the terror he inflicted on others was convicted to one year and seven months in prison of which he got spared five months in the end.

Kurt Piehl, former edelweiss pirate in Dortmund, around 1985

DORTMUND

Former Gestapo Prison

Memorial “Stone Guard” On 14.10.1992 in Dortmund the “Stone Guard” opened as a memorial. It is located in the old Dortmund Gestapo prison, where in 1933-1945 a total of 65,000 people were arrested. In the memorial there is a permanent exhibition “Resistance and Persecution in Dortmund 1933-1945” in the city archives Dortmund.

Steinstr. 50, 4417 Dortmund

TEL: 49 2 31 50 - 2 50 02

North Rhine-Westphalia

Steinwache served as a Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei) prison from 1933 until 1945. Before, it had been used as a regular police prison. During the Gestapo period the astounding number of 30.000 people, that had been marked enemies of the NAZIstate, were imprisoned here. Imprisonment in Steinwache meant more than the loss of freedom to move around. The conditions were poor and torture was the order of the day. Many of those that stayed here died. A unique point of this museum is the fact that it shows us how German opponents of the Nazis were taken out.

SIEGEN

A Museum To The Holocaust A museum which concerns the holocaust in Siegen has been established in a former bunker, built to protect people against air attacks. Before the bunker was constructed it was the site of a Synagogue which was however completely destroyed by the Nazis. On the outside wall of the bunker there is a 12 square meters’ photograph which depicts the original Synagogue of Siegen. A commemorative plaque memorizes the various purposes this site has served earlier. Next to that you will find on the wall of the blockhouse a memorial of the Israeli artist Dan Richter-Levin. The tour through the museum starts with the first establishment of Jews in this region in the early 19th century. It continues with the showing by means of videos, exposition cabinets and original attributes from the Second World War how the Jews from that area were diminished. Also a bunkersuitcase shows what people took along when they used the air raid shelter. Read about - The Siegen Copper Mine Repository - The Monuments Men, textmessage.blogs.archives.gov/2015/08/25/monuments-men-april-1945-siegen

Aktives Museum Südwestfalen An extension of the museum on 27th January 2001. It now includes the entire first floor of the air raid shelter (about 200 square meters). Minister of State ret Ilse Brusis said while others during the opening ceremony on Memorial Day for the Victims of National Socialism: “That’s probably what the work of the Assets Museum Südwestfalen so successful that: Here, the victims names and faces, even addresses, ie, they will place a particular assigned to the visitor know, since they have a relationship. This creates personal involvement, makes it clear that the crimes of the Nazis to ordinary people, the neighbors, the merchant at the corner, the doctor, the teachers were committed, people in our society have lived and ... thus working Museum also contrary to some people in connection with such anniversaries like today’s fear was: This is our remembrance of the ritual, the hollow form. Obergraben 10, 57072 Siegen

Phone: +49-27120100

BURENWEWELSBURG

“Reich SS Leadership School”

warehouse for an ideological-political schooling. Actual instruction never took place. The first SS commandant of the castle, Manfred von Knobelsdorff, envisioned a kind of Nordic academy. See the “Hall of SS Generals,” and the occult symbol of a “Black Sun” set into the marble floor.

Wewelsburg 1933–1945 Memorial Museum History of the Schutzstaffel (SS) Wewelsburg 1933-1945 Memorial Museum presents the history of the Schutzstaffel´s activities in Wewelsburg within the broader context of the SS as a whole. At the same time, it´s a place to commemorate the victims of Wewelsburg-Niederhagen Concentration Camp and remember all victims of SS-violence. Burgwall 19 D-33142 Büren-Wewelsburg

Tel.: 0049-(0) 2955/ 7622-0 http://www.wewelsburg.de

North Rhine-Westphalia

Wewelsburg Castle after 1934 was used by the SS under Heinrich Himmler and was to be expanded to be the central SS-cult-site. After 1941 plans were developed to enlarge it to the so-called “Center of the World”. It was intended to renovate and redesign the castle as a “Reich SS Leadership School” (“Reichsführerschule SS”). In the planned school, besides physical training, a uniform ideological orientation of the leading cadre of the SS was to be realized. Courses for SS-officers in pre- and early history, mythology, archaeology, astronomy and art were intended as mental

38 The castle crew consisted of members of both SS branches, the “General SS” (“Allgemeine SS”) and the “Armed SS” (“Waffen SS”). Also working at the castle were proponents of a kind of SS esotericism consisting of Germanic mysticism, an ancestor cult, worship of runes, and racial doctrines: Himmler, for example, adapted the idea of the Grail to create a heathen mystery for the SS. No proof exists that Himmler wanted a Grail castle, but a redesign of the castle by the SS referred to certain characters in the legends of the Grail: for example, one of the arranged study rooms was named Gral (“Grail”), and others, König Artus (“King Arthur”), König Heinrich (“King Henry”), Heinrich der Löwe (“Henry the Lion”), Widukind, Christoph Kolumbus (“Christopher Columbus”), Arier (“Aryan”), Jahrlauf (“course of the seasons”), Runen (“runes”), Westfalen (“Westphalia”), Deutscher Orden (“Teutonic Order”), Reichsführerzimmer (“Room of the Empires Leader(s)”; “Reichsführer-SS”, or “the Empire’s Leader of the SS” was Himmler’s title), Fridericus (probably in reference to Frederick II of Prussia), tolle Christian (probably referring to Christian the Younger of Brunswick, Bishop of Halberstadt), and Deutsche Sprache (“German language”). In addition to these study rooms, the SS created guest rooms, dining room, auditorium, a canteen kitchen, and a photographic laboratory with an archive. Between 1939 and 1943 prisoners from the Sachsenhausen and Niederhagen concentration camps were used as labourers to perform much of the construction work on Wewelsburg, under the design of architect Hermann Bartels. Due to a decree of 13 January 1943 all building projects which were unimportant for the war—including the Wewelsburg—had to be stopped. In 1938 after the Reichskristallnacht 17 Jews from the 10 km away Salzkotten were shut in the dungeon in the basement of the west tower before their further transport to the Buchenwald concentration camp. In 1938 Himmler ordered the return of all

BELOW:“Reichsführer SS” Heinrich Himmler with Nazi-party-organizer Robert Ley in Almetal Valley below Wewelsburg Castle, 1937

North Rhine-Westphalia

dead SS-men and officers. They were to be stored in a chest in the castle. This was to symbolize the ongoing membership of the decedent in the SS-Order. The whereabouts of the approximately 11,500 rings after the Second World War is unclear. The monumental estate was never realized only detailed plans and models exist. Himmler reportedly imagined the castle as a locus for the rebirth of the Knights of the Round Table and appointed twelve SS officers as his followers, who would gather at various rooms throughout the castle and perform unknown rites. Quote of former SS-General Karl Wolff referring to the Obergruppenführersaal: “This was a part of the myth which was to be introduced here. These are the twelve compartments, they were created according to mystic-confused things with which Himmler liked to play, of the Round Table of King Arthur. In fact we were twelve main department leaders (Hauptamtchefs) who represented equally next to each other their service areas.

Niederhagen Concentration Camp Just offsite of Wewelsburg was the smallest German KZ, Niederhagen prison and labour camp. Begun on June 17, 1940, the camp was completed the following year and named after Niederhagen Forest, the name Himmler had given to the forest outside the castle several years earlier. It began with 480 prisoners from Sachsenhausen, and grew to 1200, consisting chiefly of Soviet POWs and captured foreign labourers shipped to Germany, although early in its life it was also a gathering point for Jehovah’s Witness prisoners. During the SS’s December 1942 Korherr Report it was reported to have only housed 12 Jews all of whom had died. Of the 3900 prisoners held during the camp’s existence, 1285 of them died and 56 were formally executed. In August 1942, the Allies began deciphering death tolls transmitted from the camps, Niederhagen had reported 21 deaths for that month.The camp was dissolved in 1943 with most of the prisoners resettled in Buchenwald, though several dozen prisoners remained behind, housed directly in Wewelsburg. Hauptsturmführer Adolf Haas, who had overseen the camp from its beginning, was transferred to a command position at Bergen-Belsen, while Schutzhaftlagerführer Wolfgang Plaul was transferred to Buchenwald. Untersturmführer Hermann Michl had last been recorded at the camp in 1942, and later appeared at the Riga ghetto. Very little is left of the camp. Today, the former camp kitchen houses the local fire station of the volunteer fire department and some apartments, the gatehouse is now a two-family house, while a residential estate was built over the rest of the former camp.

SCHLEIDEN

Best Example Of Third Reich Architecture

Ordensburg Vogelsang

Walberhof, 53937 Schleiden

Phone: +49 (0)24 44 91579-0 www.vogelsang-ip.de

North Rhine-Westphalia

Young men were molded into Nazi leaders of the future at Vogelsang Castle in the Rhineland. The complex is the best maintained example of Third Reich architecture in Germany, and since Jan. 1, 2006 it’s open to the public. Since the US Army occupied Burg Vogelsang, one of the Nazi’s four elite schools, in 1945 hardly a civilian has had a chance to see it. British and later Belgian soldiers used the building and its 33-square meter (21-square mile) exercise grounds for training. Vogelsang’s future took a new turn when the Eifel National Park was established there in 2004 and the Belgians evacuated and handed the lands to the public on Jan. 1, 2006.

MAP OF RHEINLANDPFALZ Felsennest Felsennest was the code name of a so called leader’s headquarters in Rodert, a district of Bad Münstereifel in the Eifel.

Remagen

R.R in he

Andernach

Neuweid

el R.

Koblenz

Lan n

Mos

61 1

Irrel

Mainz

257

Bad Kreuznach 1

Nieder-Olm 61

9 63 Osthofen

Hinzert-Polert

Idar-Oberstein Trier Abtei-Hermeskeil Hermeskeil

Worms

Zweibrucken

Pirmasens

Neustadt a.d. Weinstr.

Speyer

Landau R.

ein

Remagen am Rhein

Kaiserslautern

ABTEI-HERMESKEIL

Largest Private Air Museum In Europe

Taifun and several other airplanes and engines. Our large park-like exhibition grounds, the 76,000 square meters including through, as well as our four large exhibition halls contain over 100 original aircraft and helicopters of western and eastern origin, from the civil and military aviation history from the dawn of aviation to the jet age.

Hermeskeil Air Museum

Habersberg 1, 54411 Abtei, Hermeskeil

Phone: +49 (0) 65 03 76 93 www.flugausstellung.de

Rhineland-Palatinate

The Hermeskeil Air Museum is the largest private air museum in Europe, with over 100 aircraft. Most aircraft are post-war, but there are also several interesting aircraft from World War II like the Heinkel HE111, the Messerschmitt BF108

HINZERT-POLERT

Sporrenberg Was The Cruellest Of All This camp was already set up in 1939, as an independent camp. In 1944, it got another status. As from 21 November 1944 it became an “additional camp” of Buchenwald. This camp was initially set up for citizen workers who constructed the Westwall and the highways. Already in the early summer of ‘39 the first so called “work refusers” were brought to Hinzert to be “re-educated” in three weeks. Up to January ‘42 Hermann Pister was the commander of the camp. Pister left to become commander of camp Buchenwald. Pister was succeeded by Egon Zill who originated from Dachau. Zill stayed only for a short time and was succeeded by Paul Sporrenberg. He remained commander until the end of the war. Sporrenberg was the cruellest of all and under his regime most of the mass assassinations and executions took place.

Spezial SS-lager/ Konzentrationslager Hinzert

An der Gedenkstätte, 54421 Hinzert-Pölert

Phone: +49 6242910811 http://www.hinzert.de/

IRREL

The “Katzenkopf”

Westwall-museum Panzerwerk ‘Katzenkopf ‘

Auf’m Rothenhügel 18, D-54666 Irrel

Phone: 0049-6525/492 www.westwallmuseum-irrel.de/

Rhineland-Palatinate

The “Katzenkopf” (1937 - 1939) was the second largest and northernmost positioned fort of its kind and is today the one still visitable “B-Werk” of the entireline in Germany. Since 1979 in its preserved interior parts it hosts the “Westwallmuseum” with an interesting collection of World War II weapons and photos. During the French occupation in 1947 it was heavily damaged by dismantling actions. In 1976 a group of local volunteers of the fire service dug out the remnants and started its preservation. On the upright standing concrete remains of its former roof, a memorial stands dedicated to the 4,000 dead and missing soldiers of the 39th Füsilier-Regiment of Düsseldorf. All activities are voluntarily done by the members of the local fire service who spent about 58,000 hours of work by now.

Felsennest Felsennest was the code name of a so called leader’s headquarters in Rodert, a district of Bad Münstereifel in the Eifel. The “Rock Nest” was Hitler’s first fixed headquarters of the Second World War. In contrast to the later headquarters, the cities and villages were far away and the guarded complex, rocky nest was located on the edge of a village. It was originally a limited-developed Flak-Battery position of the “Air Defence Zone West” (abbreviated LVZ-West). On the Radbourne was built in 1939 four concrete gun emplacements, a device in the determination of surplus value, a position for a 2-cm antiaircraft gun for air defense, troop barracks and ammunition store. Slightly off from the battery position with 88 mm anti-aircraft guns was built on a ridge stands for the fire line surrounding the battery positions.kers were built It has expanded since February 1940 and was in the back of the Western Wall. The plant is the only one of its kind, the newcode name was not given, but the existing name of a topographic ridge - Felsennest - took over. Only in the 1970 map, the name was erased from the official topographic and “donkey mountain renamed. Hitler decided in late February 1940 for the rock nest. The fact of the Western campaign headquarters provided “eagle’s nest” in the Taunus (north of Frankfurt am Main), he rejected before. The rock nest was constructed by members of the Organisation Todt in a short time. The access road to Rodert expanded one. Mid-March 1940 came the first units of the battalion leaders accompanying Rodert to guard the plants into rock nest.

KOBLENZ

Location Of The Command Of Army Group B

Wehrtechnische Museum

Mayen’s Strasse 85-87, 56070 Koblenz

Tel: 0261/4001423 www.bwb.org

Rhineland-Palatinate

During World War II Koblenz was the location of the command of Army Group B and like many other German cities, it was heavily bombed and rebuilt afterwards. A huge monument to Kaiser Wilhelm 1 was erected in 1897 at the place known as the Deutsche Eck (literally “German Corner”) where the Rhine and the Moselle meet. (“Coblenz” derives from “confluence”). The statue was destroyed by US artillery fire in WW2. For many years thereafter a German flag was flown on the site, and in 1993 a local couple donated a copy of the monument, which stands there today. On several floors of an old barracks in the Wehrtechnische Museum is a collection of handguns and machine guns, artillery, and ammunition, (cont. next page)

48 missile technology, anti-tank weapons, wheeled and tracked vehicles, engineer equipment, aircraft and marine engineer ing, telecommunications, electronics and optical equipment and personal clothing and equipment. Here you can find such well-restored Tank Destroyer I, wasp, fire Panzer III M, StuG III G, T-34/85, M5A1 Stuart VI, FT-17 and a Panther G with infrared equipment. At the time of our first visit in July was also the RSO PAK 40 self-propelled gun on display at the second visit in October but this was unfortunately a section model Kanonenjagdpanzer the armed forces of the soft. The earlier in Koblenz shown Panzer IV is currently for overhaul in Meppen. The vehicles are all well-restored, historic errors are limited to small items. some of the vehicles, such as the M5A1 Stuart or the StuG III G are even capable of driving. In addition to the tracked vehicles also find gems such as Sd.Kfz. 231, a teilgepanzertes Sd.Kfz.7 / 1 with 2cm Flak and, of course, the range of wheeled vehicles from jeeps, to Krupp Protze towards the Opel Blitz. The wheeled vehicles are not just a delight, as they are herded like cattle confined to a room. Gems such as the Krupp Protze are also behind Plexiglass walls. The WTS was founded in 1962 and was originally for the training of technicians and engineers in federal, industry and of course the armed forces. In 1982 the study collection moved to Koblenz to the headquarters of the Federal Office of Defense Technology and Procurement (BWB) and it now covers an area of 7200 square meters - which belongs to the BWB WTS one of the largest technical museums in Germany.

OSTHOFEN

Nazi Documentation Center Rheinland-Pfalz

Concentration Camp Osthofen

Ziegelhüttenweg 38, 67574 Osthofen

TEL: 06242 - 910825 www.projektosthofen-gedenkstaette.de/

Rhineland-Palatinate

In the buildings of a former paper factory shortly after taking power the Nazi Party established concentration camp Osthofen where from spring 1933 to summer of 1934, for opponents of the Nazi regime, especially members of the KPD, the SPD and trade unionists, but also members of the center, Jews, witnesses Jehovah, Gypsies and others were imprisoned. While in the concentration camp of Osthofen in the 14 months of its existence, no inmate was killed, but the prisoners were treated inhu mane and ill-treated. Many of the detainees were monitored again after theclosure of the camp, and carried over into other prisons and camps and then killed later. The Nazi Documentation Center Rheinland-Pfalz is located in the concentration camp memorial Osthofen.

PIRMASENS

50 Paintings Plundered By US Army On 15 March 1945 Pirmasens was captured by US troops, and the following year it became part of the newly founded Bundesland Rhineland-Palatinate. During the occupation on Sept. 19 the Museum of Pirmasens announced that about 50 paintings which had been stored in the air-raid shelter at Husterhoh School during the war have been plundered during the arrival of the American troops. After the fall of communism, and the reunification of East and West Germany, Pirmasens saw an influx of Russian immigrants (mainly from White Russia) claiming to be descendants of German soldiers caught behind the iron curtain after the second World War. Russian immigrants claiming German descendency were given permanent resident status.

Westwall Museum Festungswerk Gerstfeldhöhe

In der Litzelbach 2, D-66955 Pirmasens

+49 6331 46147 http://www.westwall-museum.de/

REMAGEN AM RHEIN

“Miracle of Remagen”

Peacemuseum Bridge of Remagen

An der Alten Rheinbrücke, 53424 Remagen am Rhein

Phone: (+49 2642) 2186 http://bruecke-remagen.de/

Rhineland-Palatinate

On 7 March 1945 an advance unit of the 9th US Armored Division, led by LT Karl H. Timmermann, an American of German descent, reached the last intact bridge, just after the German defenders twice failed in their demolition attempts. The capture of the bridge is known in the annals of the war as the “Miracle of Remagen”. General Eisenhower stated that “the bridge is worth its weight in gold”. In the days immediately following, the German High Command made desperate attempts to destroy the bridge by bombing and even employing frogmen. The Americans counted 367 different German Luftwaffe aircraft attacking the bridge over the next 10 days. Hitler irately convened a court-martial which condemned five officers to death, four of whom were actually executed in the Westerwald Forest. On 17 March 1945 the bridge collapsed. At least 30 American soldiers lost their lives.

The Bridge At Remagen The bridge at Remagen was built during the First World War at the urging of the German generals, so that more troops and war materials could be brought to the Western Front. The railway bridge was designed by Karl Wiener, an architect from Mannheim. It was 325 meters long, had a clearance of 14.80 m above the normal water level of the Rhine, and its highest point measured 29.25 m. The bridge carried two rail lines and a pedestrian walkway. It was considered one of the finest steel bridges over the Rhine.

The Idea of the Memorial Hans Peter Kürten, at that time Mayor of Remagen, had long busied himself with the idea of constructing a memorial. The negotiations with the German Federal Railway alone last ed seven years before the city could finally aquire the title to the formerrailroad land. Announcements sent to government officials concerning the intended preservation of the bridge towers and the construction of a Memorial to Peace stirred no interest. On 7 March 1980 the Memorial was opened to the public. The towers of the bridge were cleaned out, windows and doors installed, the walls white-washed and electricity installed. The towers contain an exhibition which recounts the history of the bridge. In a small video room a documentary done by the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst is shown. One is reminded of the bridge’s construction, its capture and the battles for the bridge involving German, American, Belgian and British soldiers.

SPEYER

Speyer Synagogue Was Burnt Down

Technik Museum Speyer

Geibstrasse 667346 Speyer

+49 (0) 6232/67 www.technik-museum.de

Rhineland-Palatinate

The seizure of power and the “Gleichschaltung” (forcing into line) by the Nazis in 1933 also took place in Speyer. The Speyer Synagogue was burnt down 9 November 1938 (on the night known as Kristallnacht) and totally removed soon after. With the beginning of the “Thousand Year Reich”, once again the Jewish population was expelled from Speyer and most of them were killed. Speyer escaped the great bombing raids of World War II; one of the few bombs falling on the town destroyed the train station. Speyer was taken by the American army, but not before the bridge over the Rhine was blown up by the retreating German army. Until the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949, Speyer was in the French occupation zone and once again became a garrison town of the French.

1st Armored Division Museum After a thorough check at the gates of the U.S. Army Base Baumholder (so don’t forget your passport) we arrived at the museum of the 1st Armored Division. At first sight we knew that it was a good choice to pay a visit to this museum. There were several vehicles outside drawing our attention and entering the museum we were ‘welcomed’ by the emblem of the division. Once inside the museum the visitor is taken on a tour along the impressive history of the 1st Armored Division. The chronological ‘tour’ starts at the home base of the division in Fort Knox. Following this you get a detailed description of the division’s activities during World War II. First, they served in Africa and then they went on to Italy where they liberated Rome. Next to this the division was part of the occupational force in Italy. After the Second World War and Vietnam they were present in Germany (because of the Cold War), the Gulf War and former Yugoslavia. This is all illustrated with lots of dioramas, pictures, background stories, personal belongings and weapons. Here, we should also mention the fact that, doing this, attention is also being given to the ‘other sides’ as you can also see in the pictures below. Altogether visiting this museum felt like walking through a history book. The city of Baumholder is situated south of the Hunsrück, approx. 10 km south of Idar-Oberstein. It is very well known as the location of one of the biggest U.S. Army garrisons, established in the 1950s. In 1939 Baumholder was a troop Training camp for the German Army. Address: US Army Base Baumholder, Baumholder Telephone:+49-(0)67836-6349 www.baumholder.army.mil/ museum/museum.htm

DILLINGEN SAAR

See Two Bunkers In Dillingen

RIGHT: Regelbau 107B Bunker

Bunker Museum Pachten

Annastraße 24, Dillingen/Saar www.bunker20.de

Saarland

Dillingen was the scene of heavy fighting in the end of 1944, as the U.S. troops were trying to establish a bridgehead across the Saar. Regelbau 107B Bunker has war damage from those fightings, including grenade impacts inflicted by a U.S. tank destroyer. It is a component of the Westwall (Siegried Line) and is constructed in order of the Aachen-Saar-Programm 1939. The other bunker in Dillingen is an underground bunker of the type Regelbau 114b as seen below and was part of the Westwall. It has been visited since 2006. American P-47 fighter bombers from the 356th Fighter Group attack and hit an ammunition train standing in the station Augusst 1944.

MAP OF SAARLAND 1

406

Sinz 62

Orscholz Mettlach L177 8 Merzig

Dillingen

Saarlouis

Neunkirchen 8

8 Schwalbach

Volkingen

FRANCE

620

Saarbrucken

6 8

320

As a result of World War I, in 1920 the Saargebiet was occupied by Britain and France under the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. The occupied area included portions of the Prussian Rhine Province and the Bavarian Rhenish Palatinate. In practice the region was administered by France. In 1920 this was formalized by a 15-year League of Nations mandate. In 1933, a considerable number of communists and other political opponents of National Socialism fled to the Saar, as it was the only part of Germany that remained under foreign occupation following the First World War. As a result, anti-Nazi groups agitated for the Saarland to remain under French administration. However, with most of the population being ethnically German and with strong local anti-French sentiments deeply entrenched, such views were considered suspect or even treasonable, and therefore found little support. German stamp on the plebiscite. When the original 15 year term was over, a plebiscite was held in the territory on 13 January 1935: 90.3% of those voting favored rejoining Germany.

SINZ

Sinz Was Almost Totally Destroyed

Westwallmuseum Sinz

Im Gärchen 6, 66706 Perl-Sinz www.westwallmuseum-sinz.de

Saarland

This museum exists of a restored Westwall-bunker “Gruppenunterstand Regelbau 501”. This bunker, No. 53, was build in 1940. On the outside of the bunker are impacts of grenades visible. They were from the fights in this region, when Sinz was almost totally destroyed. The bunker is used as bunker for fights, air raid shelter for the civil population and after the war, a family whose house was destroyed lived in it. This year in 2010, visitors can expect a special exhibition to the field life of U.S. soldiers in the 2nd World War.

SCHWALBACH

Known As The Siegfried-Line The Westwall, better known as Siegfried-line, was a defense-line that ran from Niederrhein to the Swiss border. The total length was 630 km, there were 17,800 bunkers and in 1940 there were 460 larger complexes build. In the Saarland part of the Western Wall accounted 4,100 bunker. A large number, especially of combat stands, and to recognize Völklingen between Merzig. In 1995, a museum started in this bunker (No. 650). Here we get, because the bunker is brought back in original state again and is decorated with original gear from the Second World War, a very good picture of life in and around these bunkers. Contractors Josef Ofer (right) from Schwalbach building the Western Wall

Westwallmuseum

Bildchenstr. 2, DE-6695 Schwalbach

+49 06331/46147 www.mitglied.lycos.de

EDERSEE

Operation Chastise - The Dambusters

Lock Wall Museum Edersee

34549 Edertal - Hemfurth in Northern Hesse - Waldeck E Dersee Forsthaus St. 2 (right on the road to Bringhausen Rehbach ildpark direction W)

0172-2787829 www.ausstellung-edersee.de/

Hessen

Operation Chastise was the official name for attacks carried out by Royal Air Force No. 617 Squadron - subsequently known as the Dambusters - on German dams on 16–17 May 1943, using a specially developed “bouncing bomb” invented and developed by Barnes Wallis. The Möhne and Eder dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr valley and the villages of the Eder valley, while the Sorpe dam sustained only minor damage. The purpose of the museum is to give an objective presentation of history and the memory of the victims of all parties. Despite the mission being a success, only 11 of the 19 Lancaster bombers returned. The 1955 film, The Dam Busters chronicled the British attack on the dam.

Operation Chastise - The Dambusters The

MAP OF HESSEN Bad Karlshafen

Möhne and Eder dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr L3086 valley and the villages of the Eder 252 valley, while the Frankenberg Sorpe dam sustained only minor damage.

Wolfhagen Kassel 485 Edersee Bad Wildungen

Guxhagen

Eschwege

7 Homberg

Bad Horsfield

Marburg Alsfeld Schlitz Lauterbach

Giessen

Hunfeld

Weilberg Friedberg Budingen

Schluchtern

Bad Homburg Bad Schwalbach

Geinhausen

Wiesbaden

Frankfurt am Rhein

Seligenstadt

Frankfurt

Darmstadt

Erbach Weinheim Hirschhorn

GUXHAGEN

They Learned Through Intimidation

Concentration Camp Breitenau

Brückenstraße 12, 34302 Guxhagen

+49 (0)5665/3533 www.gedenkstaette-breitenau.de/english.htm

Hessen

In June 1932, the national-socialists first established a correctional facility in the Benedictine monastery of Guxhagen. Political enemies were imprisoned here and they learned through intimidation the best way to live in Nazi-Germany. In 1933, an early concentration camp was added to the complex. In this new formed concentration camp, 470 political prisoners were detained between June 1933 till March 1934. In March 1934, the decision came to close KZ Breitenau. In 1940, Breitenau was reopened, which now was under supervision of the Gestapo. From 1940 till 1945, 8,500 internees stayed in the camp, of whom 6.500 foreigners and 2.000 Germans. The internees remained an average 56 days in KZ Breitenau. The camp was eventually closed in 1945 before the arrival of the US Army. Of the 8.500 internees, 1.800 were deported to other concentration camps. Since 1984, an permanent exhibit is held in one of the monastery buildings in remembrance of the Nazi period. The initiative was set up by the University of Kassel. In 1984, the Breitenau memorial was built in the former tithe barn of the Breitenau monastery.

FRANKFURT AM MAIN

Famous Medieval City Centre Destroyed

IG Farben Building

IG Farben subsequently became an indispensable part of the Nazi industrial base. The building was the headquarters for research projects for the development of wartime synthetic oil and rubber, as well as the production administration of magnesium, lubricating oil, explosives, methanol, and Zyklon B, the lethal gas used in concentration camps

Hessen

The city of Frankfurt was severely bombed in World War II (1939–1945). About 5,500 residents were killed during the raids, and the once famous medieval city centre, by that time the largest in Germany, was destroyed. Post-war reconstruction took place in a sometimes simple modern style, thus irrevocably changing the architectural face of Frankfurt. Only very few landmark buildings have been reconstructed historically, albeit in a simplified manner. The collection of historically significant Cairo Genizah documents of the Municipal Library was destroyed when the city was bombed. According to Arabist and Genizah scholar S.D. Goitein, “not even handlists indicating its contents have survived.” The Military Governor for the United States Zone (1945–1949) and the United States High Commissioner for Germany (HICOG) (1949–1952) had their headquarters in the IG Farben Building, intentionally left undamaged by the Allies’ wartime bombardment.

IG Farben Building During World War II, the surrounding neighbourhood was devastated, but the building itself was left largely intact (and inhabited by the homeless citizens of a bomb-ravaged Frankfurt). In March 1945, Allied troops occupied the area and the IG Farben Building became the American headquarters of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower’s office was where he received many important guests; including General de Gaulle, Field Marshal Zhukov. It was there that he signed the “Proclamation No. 2”, which determined which parts of the country would be within the American zone. Eisenhower vacated the building in December 1945 but his office was still used for special occasions: the constitution of the state of Hesse was signed there, the West German Ministerpräsident received his commission to compile the Grundgesetz (German constitution) and the administration of the Wirtschaftsrat der Bizone (Economic Council of the Bizone) was also located there.

I.G.Farben in Frankfurt The German war effort after 1939 is almost unthinkable without IG Farben. The Wehrmacht’s vehicles rode on its synthetic tyres, were powered by its synthetic fuels and fired shells filled with its explosives. More darkly, IG Farben developed an intimate relationship with the SS; consumed countless slave labourers in its plants; most infamously the Monowitz plant near Auschwitz, and in the process earned itself grim complicity in the Holocaust. Long before the phrase was coined, it was the original militaryindustrial complex.

BIETIGHEIMBISSINGEN

The Neckar-Enz-Stellung

The Neckar-Enz-Stellung was the last serious obstacle for the Americans in the south of Germany. The American advance in southern-Germany was halted for 12 days due to this line. Panzerwerk 346 has survived the war undamaged and is currently open to the general public.

Neckar-Enz-Stellung - Panzerwerk 346

Bietigheim-Bissingen

Phone: 07022/63088 www.westwall.elvamie.nl

Baden-Württemberg

The Neckar-Enz-Stellung was a German defence line built between 1935 and 1938. The line of bunkers (with a total lenght of 86km and consisted of no less than 450 bunkers) ran from Eberbach to Besigheim along the Neckar and from Besigheim to Enzweihingen along the Enz. The main task of this defence line was to stop a possible French advance in the inland of Germany.

GOMADINGEN

“major crimes division of labor” Grafeneck is a place for one of the “major crimes division of labor” of National Socialism. On the grounds of the castle from January to December 1940 10.654 people - men, women and children - were killed in a gas chamber. Grafeneck was the first place systematic industrial killing of people in Nazi Germany in general took place. The trail of the perpetrators as they developed techniques of killing at Grafeneck lead to the extermination camps in the East: Belzec, Treblinka, Sobibor and Auschwitz-Birkenau. These people, men, women and children of all ages, were killed in a gas chamber on the grounds of the castle with carbon monoxide. The victims included those people in the healing and nursing homes, which in the eyes of the perpetrators, were considered “unworthy of life”, these were mostly people in institutions, their working and performance were reduced they were “long-term patients’ allegedly loading the public finances of the country, counties and municipalities as well as people who were confined by Nazi courts as “criminals” in medical and nursing institutions. This was the beginning of the Euthanasia Programme.

MEMORIAL Grafeneck

DOCUMENTATION CENTER

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Memorial Grafeneck eV, Grafeneck 3, D - 72 532 Gomadingen Tel + 49 (0) 7385 / 966 206 www.gedenkstaette-grafeneck.de

Baden - Wurtemberg Hadamar 71

Dettenheim 78

Hartheim 73

Rastatt 79

Leonberg 74

Sinsheim 81

Heidelberg 75

Stuttgart 83

Kochendorf 77

Schwabisch Hall 85

HADAMAR

15,000 People Were Murdered

Committee Children,” “Action 14f13” or “second death” phase) will be lost. Between fall 1939 and the end of the war in 1945 approximately 300,000 people under the Nazi rule lost their lives. One of the murders was the “Action T4”. In the gas chambers of six killing centers about 70,000 people were killed between January 1940 and August 1941. The last one of them established was the killing center Hadamar. The hospital continues to operate. It holds a memorial to the euthanasia murders as well as an exhibit about the Nazi programme.

Hadamar Extermination Institution

Mönchberg 8, 65589 Hadamar

Phone: 06433/917172 www.gedenkstaette-hadamar.de

Baden-Württemberg

By the summer of 1939 in Hitler’s entourage, the decision had been taken, that mentally handicapped and mentally ill people were to be destroyed “life unworthy of life”. By the perpetrators as “euthanasia” referred to murders were planned systematically. Under different murders (for example, “T4-action”, “National

MAP OF BADEN-WURTTEMBERG

Weinheim

5 HEIDELBERG

Schwetzingen

Kochendorf Sinsheim 27 Neckersulm

Dettenheim Bruchsal 5

HEIL BRONN

Schwabisch Hall

Crallheim

KARLSRUHE

Bietigheim Backnang Bissinger Ettlingen Ludwigsburg Rastatt Pforzheim 27 Waiblingen Schorndf Leonberg 81 Gaggenau STUTTGART

Aaien Schwabisch

Goppingen

Boblingen

Kehl

Herrenberg Nurtingen Tubingen 28 Reutlingen

Offenburg

Rottenburg Munsingen 313 L230

Lahr

Gomadinger 312

Geislingen 7

ULM

Balingen Albstadt Villingen

Biberach Schwenningen Tuttlingen

Singen Lorrach Weil

Rheinfelden

Radolfzelf Konstanz

Heidenheim

Kirchheim

Ravensburg Friedrichs hafen

HARTHEIM

A Euthanasia Institute

Castle Hartheim Extermination Institution

Schlossstr. 1, A 4072 Hartheim www.schloss-hartheim.at

Baden-Württemberg

In 1938/9, the palace was confiscated by the National Socialists and turned into a Euthanasia Institute. The farming section continued as before. The handicapped, who lived here, previously were transferred to other institutions, only to be murdered here at a later date. Between 1940 and 1944, some 30 000 people were murdered in Hartheim Palace, who were classified as “unworthy” by the National Socialists. In 1944/5, the interior of the Euthanasia Institute was dismantled and every attempt made to return the palace to its original state. After extensive refurbishing and renovation work was completed in the years 2002 and 2003, executed by Hartheim Ltd., and financed by the Provincial Administration of Upper Austria and the Federal Government, the palace now serves as an educational and memorial centre. It is home to the exhibition “THE VALUE OF LIFE”.

LEONBERG

“stamping Leonberg” From spring 1944 to April 1945 there was in the upper lake road an SS subcamp of Natzweiler (Alsace). It was secured with barbed wire and guard towers. In the barracks prisoners from 24 European countries, mainly from Poland, the USSR, France, Hungary, the Balkans and Germany were held. The prisoners worked almost exclusively for the “stamping Leonberg,” a partial operation of the Messerschmitt AG in Augsburg. In April 1945, the machines were removed and the camp cleared because of the approaching French troops. What remained was a mass grave in the Blosenberg because of the catastrophic prison and working conditions, and deaths, which took prisoners. Many Leonberger tried to ignore the existence of the camp and looked away when they met on the streets a Häftlingszug. A few helped the detainees and risked severe penalties.

Stadtmuseum Leonberg (Leonberg City Museum)

Pfarrstraße 1, Leonberg

Phone: 07152-9901422 www.kz-gedenkstaette-leonberg.de

HEIDELBERG

Amphitheatre, Called “Thingstätte”

were prepared already beforehand. This amphitheatre was constructed in the period 1933-1934 and officialy opened on 22 June 1935 by Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebels. It could hold about 20,000 visitors and was mainly in use from 1935 to 1939 for propaganda events.

Amphitheatre Heidelberg

Auf dem Heiligenberg 1, Heidelberg

Baden-Württemberg

During the Nazi regime (1933–1945), Heidelberg was a stronghold of the NSDAP, the strongest party in the elections before 1933. The NSDAP received approximately 50% of the votes in the last free elections before WWII. Non-Aryan university staff were discriminated against. By 1939, one-third of the university’s staff had been forced out due to racial and political reasons. The non-aryan professors were sent off in 1933, within one month of Hitler’s rise to power. The lists

Some historians suggest Heidelberg escaped bombing in WWII because the U.S. Army wanted to use the city as a garrison after the war. As Heidelberg was neither an industrial center nor a transport hub, it did not present a target of opportunity. Other notable university towns, such as Tübingen and Göttingen, were spared from bombing as well. Allied air raids focused extensively on the nearby industrial cities of Mannheim and Ludwigshafen. The U.S. Army likely chose Heidelberg as a garrison base due to its excellent infrastructure; including the Autobahn (freeway) Heidelberg-Mannheim, which connected to the Autobahn Mannheim-Darmstadt-Frankfurt, and the U.S. Army installations in Mannheim and Frankfurt.

Documentation Center One of the Centre’s tasks is to document the 600-year history of the Sinti and Roma in Germany, but its main focus remains the acts of genocide perpetrated by the National Socialists: acts that were repressed from public consciousness for several decades. Hence, ever since it was founded, the Centre has attached priority to interviewing surviving Holocaust victims and preserving their memories on tape and video.

Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma

Bremeneckgasse 2, 69117 Heidelberg

Telephon: (0049)-(0)6221-981102 www.sintiundroma.de

KOCHENDORF

40 Camps Along The River Neckar

Concentrationcamp Kochendorf

Riedweg, Kochendorf www.kz-kochendorf.de

Baden-Württemberg

Located in the Neckar valley, between Heilbronn and Heidelberg, is the town of Bad Friedrich-Kochendorf. From September 1944 to March 1945 in close proximity to the town center there was a salt mine in a concentration camp, which destroyed people through labor, starvation and torture. At least 447 prisoners were killed in the camp and on the subsequent death march. in 1944, There is cooking in a village in the valley between fields located in an area declared a forbidden area and fenced with electric barbed wire. Here is another satellite camp of the concentration camp Natzweiler-Struthof in Alsace. Throughout the Reich at the same time there are about 70 of these so-called external commands. Alone, some 40 of which are built along the river Neckar in Baden-Wuerttemberg.

DETTENHEIM

A Hospital-Bunker This bunker was a hospital-bunker, type Regelbau 32, and was built in 1938 as part of the Westwall. Of this type, 88 bunkers were built. Of these, only two are left. The other one is the bunker in Simonskall (Eifel). The bunker has a complete interior and is sometimes opened as a museum. For current visiting hours, please contact the museum. R32 The bunker was built between late 1938 and early 1939 as a medical bunker. However, it was covered in an emergency for injured soldiers to be supplied to the transport to hospitals here. The Reich Labour Service Reichsarbeitsdienst; RAD) was a major organisation established in Nazi Germany as an agency to help mitigate the effects of unemployment on the German economy, militarise the workforce and indoctrinate it with Nazi ideology.

Bunkermuseum Dettenheim

Ruchenstraße 9, Rußheim

Phone: (07 21) 55 24 93

RASTATT

Military Town Of Rastatt

Museum Westwallbunker Rastatt

Kehler Straße, Rastatt

Phone: (0 72 22) 3 55 67 www.hist-ver-rastatt.de

Baden-Württemberg

The German Schloss Rastatt and the Garden were built between 1700 and 1707 by the Italian master builder Domenico Egidio Rossi as ordered by Markgraf Louis William of Baden. During the 19th century the castle was used as headquarter of the fort. The castle was not damaged during World War II. Today the castle is home of two museums, the “Wehrgeschichtliche Museum” (military history) and Erinnerungsstätte für die Freiheitsbewegungen in der deutschen Geschichte (Memorial site for the German liberation movement).

Military History Museum

Founded in 1934, is located since 1956 in Rastatt Palace and, with its collections and exhibitions of modern presentation is one of the leading military museums in Europe. The city of Rastatt, in the past frequently put into focus the European-German policy and the resulting developing military conflicts with France. The focus of the museum is the relationship between state, society and the military - primarily in southwestern Germany. PHOTO: Von Mackensen Hitler’s favourite WWI Fieldmarshall wearing the the death head emblem and the Iron crosses. His uniform is on display in the military museum in Ratstatt.

Wehrgeschichtliches Museum Field Marshall von Mackensen was born at a time when there was no electricity, no phones, no cars, no airplanes, no trains, or battleships!! He was a witness at age 21 to the formation of “Germany”. Then he witnessed the German loss of the First World War, the ending of the German monarchy, the German loss of the Second World War, and the destruction of Germany. He witnessed the coming of the Jet age, and rocket age. His last action was chasing people off his farm in 1945 who were trying to steal his chickens. I think a film of what he saw in his lifetime would be great. It’s almost like going from the stoneage to the spaceage in one lifetime! His uniform is at the left in the museum. Mr Street 18 , 76437 Rastatt

Telephone (07222) 34244 www.wgm-rastatt.de/

SINSHEIM

The Technology of War

department of the Sinsheim Auto & Technik MUSEUM focuses on the engine of the armed forces during the Second World War, on tanks, planes, trucks and tractors. Often it is the military that is the driving force behind the development of new technology due to the necessity of war. Often in war great strides are made in technology as was the case during the second world war in Germany.

Auto & Technik Museum Sinsheim

Eberhard-Layher-Str. 2, D-74889 Sinsheim

Phone: +49(0)7261/9299-0 sinsheim.technik-museum.de

Baden-Württemberg

Situated on an area of over 30.000m² indoors, and in open-air grounds comprising in excess of 50.000m², the museum offers you more than 3.000 exhibits. Among them 300 vintage cars, 200 motorbikes, 40 race- and sports cars, 27 locomotives, 50 air planes, 150 tractors, steam engines and trucks. The military history

Ferry Porsche Ferry Porsche’s life was intimately connected with that of his father, Ferdinand Porsche, Sr, who began sharing his knowledge of mechanical engineering already in his childhood. With his father he opened a bureau of automobile design, in Stuttgart in 1931. They worked together to fulfill their country’s National Socialist regime’s needs and they met Adolf Hitler at many business events. The Volkswagen Beetle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche, Sr and a team of engineers (including Ferry Porsche). Porsche developed a relatively “amicable” relationship with Adolf Hitler, ever since the firm became involved in military projects. In fact, historical evidence points out that Porsche’s firm was probably Hitler’s favorite. Even though the “friendly” relationship with the Porsches seemed mutual to Hitler himself and others, in reality it was one-sided. The Porsche family was, in fact, somewhat pacifist and did not agree with Nazi ideals. In fact Porsche senior once assisted a Jewish employee to escape Germany. By those years, a newspaper expressed that “in the automobile world, the name Porsche deserves a monument.” Ferdinand Porsche’s old yearning had been to create a small compact car which may be conceived as such “from scratch” (instead of a version derived of an existing sedan). The Nazis accepted the project on 22 June 1934, interested in producing “an affordable car for the German family”. Originally, it was called Porsche (Model) 60 but it was soon officially renamed as the Kdf-Wagen or Volkswagen (people’s car). In their familiar garage at Stuttgart, three prototypes were built. In 1934, Ferdinand Porsche founded Volkswagen AG. His son was there, doing the road-tests. In 1939, when the Volkswagen factory opened in Wolfsburg, Porsche senior became its general manager (along with an officer from the Nazi party). During the war, the Porsche family was completely dedicated to designing motorized weaponry, like tanks, for the Germans. After World War II, while his father remained imprisoned in France being accused of war crimes, Ferry Porsche ran their company. Aided by the postwar Volkswagen enterprise, he created the first cars that were uniquely associated with the company. Despite the political-economical adversities of the postwar years, the company manufactured automobiles and, eventually, became a world powerhouse for producing sports cars.

STUTTGART

‘Jewish apartments’

Württemberg held in concentration camps survived. Be sure to see the North Station Memorial (Gedenkstätte am Nordbahnhof Stuttgart) in memory of the 2000 or so Jewish holocaust victims deported by the Nazis from the now disused North Station. The bombing of Stuttgart in World War II was a series of 53 air raids.

Albatros Flugmuseum

Several aircraft with among them the Messerschmitt Bf 108 can be seen here, together with many aircraft engines.

Besucherterrasse Flughafen Stuttgart, 70624 Stuttgart

Phone: 0711/9482737

Baden-Württemberg

Under the Nazi regime, Stuttgart began deportation of its Jewish inhabitants in 1939. Around sixty percent of the German Jewish population had fled by the time restrictions on their movement were imposed on 1 October 1941, at which point Jews living in Württemberg were forced to live in ‘Jewish apartments’ before being ‘concentrated’ on the former Trade Fair grounds in Killesberg. On 1 December 1941 the first deportation trains were organised to Riga. Only 180 Jews from

84 The Old Castle (German: Altes Schloss) is located in the centre of Stuttgart, the capital of the German State of Baden-Württemberg. It dates back to the 10th century. The first castle dated back to around 950 when Stuttgart was a settlement for breeding horses. In the 14th century it became the residence of the sovereign Counts of Württemberg. In the 16th century dukes Christopher and Ludwig ordered it to be converted into a Renaissance castle. Moats around the castle were removed in the 18th century. In 1931 the castle was severely damaged by a fire and before it could be reconstructed it was damaged by bombing in the Second World War. The castle was finally renovated in 1969. Today the Old Castle is home to the Württemberg State Museum. King Charles I of Württemberg and his wife Olga are buried beneath the castle church. The inner courtyard houses a monument to Eberhard I. The Old Castle stands adjacent to its replacement, the New Castle, which was built in the late 18th century. On the Karlsplatz side of the Old Castle is a museum dedicated to the memory of Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg a former resident of Stuttgart who attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler on 20 July 1944.

Old Castle (Stuttgart)

Altes Schloss, Schillerplatz 6 Stuttgart

SCHWABISCH HALL

1,000 Former Members Of The Leibstandarte Imprisoned

Hällisch-Fränkisches Museum The topical review of the museum extends from the salt production during the Celtic era, through the history of the city during the Middle Ages and late Middle Age piety, all the way to Napoleon power politics in Hall and the Second World War.

74523 Schwäbisch Hall

Phone 0791.751-360, -289

Baden-Württemberg

In 1934, the Hall was officially named Schwäbisch Hall. During the Third Reich a Luftwaffe air base was built at Hessental. In 1944 a concentration camp was established next to the train station Hall-Hessental. The train station at Hall was targeted by an American air raid on February 23, 1945, but the devastation was mostly limited to the suburbs of St. Katharina and Unterlimpurg. The town was occupied by US Army troops on April 17, 1945 without serious resistance; though several buildings were destroyed or damaged, the historical old town suffered comparatively little. About 40 Schwäbisch Hall Jews fell victim to the Holocaust. During the November 1938 program (Kristallnacht), the Jewish prayer room at the Herrengasse Steinbacher synagogue in Neustetterstraße 34 was looted and burned. Today there is memorial stone at the Haller marketplace, and a memorial plaque at the site of the Steinbacher synagogue. In the so-called “euthanasia” program of 1940 in the wake of the Action T4 directive 270 handicapped persons of the Deaconess Institute were largely murdered.

MAP OF BAVARIA

Bad Neustadt

Coburg 7

19 Wurzburg st2260

Kulmbach

Kolitzheim Stammheim

Lohr Aschaffenburg

Kronach

Bayreuth

Bamberg 73

Hochstadt

Flossenburg Weiden

Nurnberg

Neumarkt

Regensburg

Weissenburg

Moosburg 92 an der Isar

Dachau 8

MUNICH

Burghausen

94 Wasserburg

Kaufbeuren Schongau 19

Sonthofen

Oberstdorf

Weilheim

Bad Tolz 95

Fussen

Rosenheim 8 93

Pocking

Eggenfelden Simbach

Erding

Landsberg 96

Immenstadt

388

Herbertshausen Freising Oberschleissheim

Augsburg

Landau Passau Vilshoien

Landshut

Mindelheim

Lindau

Deggendorf 3 85

Ingolstadt

Donauworth Neuberg

Regen

Straubing

Eichstatt

Nordlingen

Cham

Gunzburg

Amberg

Schupf

7 Ansbach

st2166

Bad Reichenhall

Berchtesgaden

Bavaria Wurzburg 91

Moosburg 112

Stammheim 93

Oberschleisheim 113

Bamberg 94

Dachau 114

Coburg 95

Herbertshausen 115

Flossenburg 98

Munich 117

Schopf 99

Sonthofen 129

Nuremberg 101

Berchtesgaden 131

Pocking 111

WURZBURG

Trümmerfrauen (“rubble women”)

end of the war were mostly women – Trümmerfrauen “rubble women” – because the men were either dead or taken prisoner of war. In comparison, Würzburg was destroyed more totally than was Dresden in a firebombing the previous month. LEFT: Wurzburg

The Würzburg Residenz Museum

www.residenz-wuerzburg.de

Bavaria

On March 16, 1945, about 90% of the city full of civilians was destroyed in 17 minutes by 225 British Lancaster bombers during a World War II air raid. All of the city’s churches, cathedrals, and other monuments were heavily damaged or destroyed. The city center, which dated from medieval times, was totally destroyed in a firestorm in which 30,000 people, mostly older women and children perished. Over the next 20 years, the buildings of historical importance were painstakingly and accurately replicated. The citizens who rebuilt the city immediately after the

C1939 Wurzburg

KOLITZHEIM STAMMHEIM

Largest Private Museum Of Military And History

Museum Stammheim am Main

Waldweg 3, 97509 Kolitzheim-Stammheim

Phone: +0049 93819255 www.museum-stammheim.de

Bavaria

The museum shows a part of military history from the moment that Napoleon in 1800 occupied the region, through the First and Second World War, the allied occupation of the American forces in april 1945, to end at the current Bundeswehr. The military aspect is visible not only in letters, advertisements and images but also in various uniforms, flags, decorations and in a variety of weapons and vehicles, like the legendary Flak 8.8 in original state. The museum grounds covers17,000 m² and have over 250 wheel, chain, water, aircraft and large appliances make history come alive long past the day and makes it understandable. In the halls you see over 20,000 exhibits, pictures and documents from the jet up to many a historical curiosity, like the soldiers hair net or the sausage machine.

BAMBERG

A UNESCO World Heritage Site Bamberg is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed by World War II bombings because of a nearby Artillery Factory that prevented planes from getting near to Bamberg. Bamberg is home to nearly 7,000 foreign nationals, including over 4,100 members of the United States Army and their dependents. In February 1926 Bamberg served as the venue for the famous Bamberg Conference, convened by Adolf Hitler in his attempt to foster unity and to stifle dissent within the young NSDAP. Bamberg was chosen for its location in Upper Franconia, reasonably close to the residences of the members of the dissident northern Nazi faction but still within Bavaria. The Old Town of Bamberg is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage, primarily because of its authentic medieval appearance.

COBURG

The Coburg Badge

most prestigious party medals. Coburg was the first German town to elect a Nazi Mayor. Coburg was a beautiful city with a beautiful castle and two GI nightclubs called The Little Brown Derby and The Big Brown Derby. It also had an opera house that was very popular with the local people. They would dress up in very formal attire and attend it almost nightly.

Bavaria

In 1929, Coburg was the first German city in which the Nazi Party won the absolute majority of the popular votes during municipal elections. In 1922, Adolf Hitler led several hundred stormtroopers in a march through the city, fighting pitched street battles with leftists. During the Nazi era, the Coburg Badge was one of the

Scenes in Kronach, Bavaria, Germany in 1944

Bayreuth

Bavaria

Bayreuth became a stronghold of Nazi ideology. In 1933, it became the capital of the Nazi Gau of Bavarian Ostmark (Bayerische Ostmark, in 1943 Gau Bayreuth). Nazi leaders often visited the Wagner festival and tried to turn Bayreuth into a Nazi model town. It was one of several places in which town planning was administered directly from Berlin, due to Hitler’s special interest in the town and in the festival. Hitler loved the music of Richard Wagner, and he became a close friend of Winifred Wagner after she took over the festival. Hitler frequently attended Wagner performances in the Bayreuth Festival Hall. Under Nazi dictatorship the synaABOVE: Hitler often stayed at the gogue of the Jewish Community in renowned Hotel Bube in Bad Berneck, Münzgasse was desecrated and looted just north of Bayreuth when he came to on Kristallnacht but, due to its proximthe Bayreuth festival. The building ity to the Opera House it was not razed. remains virtually unchanged today. Inside the building, which is once again used by a Jewish community as a synagogue, a plaque next to the Torah Shrine recalls the persecution and murder of Jews in the Shoa, which cost the lives of at least 145 Jews in Bayreuth. During the Second World War a subcamp of the Flossenbürg concentration camp was based in the town, in which prisoners had to participate in physical experiments for the V2. Wieland Wagner, the grandson of the composer, Richard Wagner, was the deputy civilian director there from September 1944 to April 1945. Shortly before the war’s end branches of the People’s Court (Volksgerichtshof) were to have been set up in Bayreuth.

FLOSSENBURG

The National Socialistic Concentration Camp When the Nazi’s came to power on the 30th January 1933 the first steps to concentration camps were taken. After the Reichstag was set on fire well prepared sting operations were held to arrest opponents of the Nazi’s and to put them into prison. Such great numbers of people were arrested and taken into prison that the existing prisons were soon overcrowded and alternative places where prisoners could be held needed to be established. On the 21st March 1933 the first concentration camp was set up in an old gunpowder factory in Dachau (Bayern). It developed itself as the prototype of the National Socialistic concentration camp. In the beginning of 1938 in Flossenbürg, close to the present Czech border, a similar camp was set up. This camp was built by prisoners form Dachau. There were several reasons why Flossenbürg was chosen to house a concentration camp. For example because of the presence of large quantities of granite in this area and the availability of a railroad which one could use for the transport of granite, prisoners, troops and equipment.

Concentration Camp Flossenbürg

Gedächtnisallee 5-7, 92696 Flossenbürg

+49 9603921980 www.gedenkstaette-flossenbuerg.de

SCHUPF

German Professional Criminals

Concentrationcamp Hersbruck

Schupf, Schupf www.kz-hersbruck-info.de

Bavaria

The concentration camp Hersbruck was “only” a sub-camp of Flossenburg. But its size, structure and purpose of the establishment can be viewed as a separate stock. It was after Dachau and Flossenburg the third largest concentration camp in southern Germany. When Nazi Germany long ago, had lost the war they built a concentration camp for prisoners in the mountain Houbirg Happurg - an underground factory for engine fighters - safe from Allied bombing. In May 1944, work began. An empty barracks of the Reich Labor Service of the SS was used as accommodation and administrative buildings. There were seventeen built barracks for the prisoners. 2000-6000 prisoners were in the camp from August ‘44, mostly political prisoners and persecuted Jews. People from at least 23 nations were in the concentration camp Hersbruck. The Kapos were usually so-called German professional criminals who were interned after their imprisonment in concentration camps. In April 1945 the so-called death marches from Hersbruck to Dachau started, and the camp was evacuated by the Nazis with the approach of U.S. forces.

100

NUREMBERG

101

Great Significance During Nazi Germany

Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelände

Bayernstraße 110, Nürnberg

Phone: +49 (0)911 231 - 56 66 museums.nuremberg.de/documentation-centre/.html

Bavaria

Nuremberg held great significance during the Nazi Germany era. Because of the city’s relevance to the Holy Roman Empire and its position in the centre of Germany, the Nazi Party chose the city to be the site of huge Nazi Party conventions — the Nuremberg rallies. After Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 the Nuremberg rallies became huge Nazi propaganda events, a center of Nazi ideals. The 1934 rally was filmed by Leni Riefenstahl, and made into a propaganda film called Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will). At the 1935 rally, Hitler specifically ordered the Reichstag to convene at Nuremberg to pass the anti-Semitic Nuremberg Laws which revoked German citizenship for all Jews. A number of premises were constructed solely for these assemblies, some of which were not finished. Today many examples of Nazi architecture can still be seen in the city. The city was also the home of the Nazi propagandist Julius Streicher, the publisher of Der Stürmer. PHOTO Left: Nuremberg During World War II, Nuremberg was the headquarters of Wehrkreis (military district) XIII, and an important site for military production, (cont. next page).

102 including airplanes, submarines, and tank engines. A subcamp of Flossenbürg concentration camp was located here. Extensive use was made of slave labour. The city was severely damaged in Allied strategic bombing from 1943–45. On January 2, 1945, the medieval city centre was systematically bombed by the Royal Air Forces and about ninety percent of it was destroyed in only one hour, with 1,800 residents killed and roughly 100,000 displaced. In February 1945, additional attacks followed. In total, about 6,000 Nuremberg residents are estimated to have been killed in air raids. Despite this, the city was rebuilt after the war and was to some extent, restored to its pre-war appearance including the reconstruction of some of its medieval buildings. The Battle of Nuremberg was a blow to Nazi Germany as Nuremberg was a center of the Nazi regime.

World War II Art Bunker in the Castle Rock

Obere Schmiedgasse 52, 90403 Nuremberg

+49 (0)911 22 70 66 www.felsengaenge-nuernberg.de

103

Bavaria The congress hall is the largest preserved national socialist building. Contruction started in 1935 but was never finished. It was planned as a congress centre for the NSDAP with a self-supporting roof and should have provided 50,000 seats. The building reached a height of 39 meters (a maximum height of 70 metres was planned) and a diameter of 250 meters. The Great Road This long square was almost 2 kilometres long and 40 metres wide. It was intended to be a parade road for the Wehrmacht and the central axis of the Nazi Party Rally Grounds. The road was made of black and grey granite. The contruction work was finished in 1939 after being started in 1935 and the road was never used as a parade road, due to the breakout of the Second World War. The last rally was held in 1938. After the war, the road was used as a temporary airfield for the US Army.

104

LEFT: Hitler at his window in the Deutscher Hof Hotel in 1934. Note the lights below the window, which spelled out HEIL HITLER. While in Nürnberg, Hitler stayed at the Deutscher Hof Hotel, near the Bahnhof (train station). He had a large room on the first floor (second floor to Americans) with windows from which he could review marching columns. Hitler stayed on this side, which had a special Führer balcony. The building has changed a little but is still easily recognizable.

105

Bavaria

Along the main route for the marching columns to reach the center of town was the Fleischbrücke bridge. Notice the bull statue on the archway at left below.

106

ABOVE: Hitler salutes from his car, stopped in the Adolf Hitler Platz near the fountain, as his followers march by during the 1933 Parteitag rally. The old Rathaus (Town Hall) in the background was damaged by bombing during World War II, and was not rebuilt in the same style.

107

Bavaria

ABOVE: The Zeppelinfeld during a parade in 1937. The U.S. Army blew up the large swastika on the top of the Zeppelintribüne in 1945. The columns on either side of the grandstand were removed in 1967 because they were thought to be deteriorating and considered dangerous. This was another demonstration field designed by Albert Speer, the Zeppelinfeld, with its massive colonnaded Zeppelintribüne grandstand.

108

ABOVE: The Luitpoldhalle was badly damaged during wartime bombing attacks, and its ruins were removed after the war. A portion of the steps in front remain today. ( see photo on opposite page) BELOW: Panoramic view showing 150,000 SS and SA men in the Luitpold Arena; the Ehrenhalle is in the distance. (from “Deutschland erwacht - Werden, Kampf un Sieg der NSDAP,” Hamburg, 1933)

109

Bavaria ABOVE: This aerial view show the Luitpold Arena, with the Ehrenhalle at the lower left and the grandstand at center right. The long building at the upper left was the Luitpoldhalle, scene of the Nazi Party congresses. The Luitpoldhalle was a converted industrial exhibition building. It was badly damaged.

110

The Nuremberg Trials

The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the main victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany. The trials were held in the city of Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany, in 1945-46, at the Palace of Justice. The first and best known of these trials was the Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (IMT), which tried 22 of the most important captured leaders of Nazi Germany. It was held from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946. The second set of trials of lesser war criminals was conducted under Control Council Law No. 10 at the US Nuremberg Military Tribunals (NMT); among them included the Doctors’ Trial and the Judges’ Trial. This article primarily deals with the IMT; see the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials for details on those trials. The International Military Tribunal was opened on October 18, 1945, in the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg. The first session was presided over by the Soviet judge, Nikitchenko. The prosecution entered indictments against 24 major war criminals and six criminal organizations – the leadership of the Nazi party, the Schutzstaffel (SS) and Sicherheitsdienst (SD), the Gestapo, the Sturmabteilung (SA) and the “General Staff and High Command,” comprising several categories of senior military officers. The indictments were for: *Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of a crime against peace. *Planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression and other crimes against peace. *War crimes *Crimes against humanity

POCKING

111

Sidecar Zündapp KS 750

Rottauer Museum

Rottau 11a, D-94060 Pocking

Tel. 08531-32900 www.rottauer-museum.de

Bavaria

The impetus for the creation of the museum Rottauer was the discovery of the sidecar Zündapp KS 750, built in 1943, on the former Yugoslav island of Korcula in 1982. This was the initial impetus for a large gathering who created during the time the museum Rottauer of vehicles, military technology and history. More than 25 years later the museum offers many unique and special exhibits in which the material clearly shows the exceptional situation of that time: First, the high-tech material from the Second World War and on the other hand, the prolonged state of siege after May 8, 1945. During the period of National Socialism there was in Pocking a satellite camp of the concentration camp Flossenburg. After the Second World War, 1945 the camp site was a DP camp set up for socalled Jewish “Displaced Persons”. With a total of up to 7645 residents in 1946 camp Pocking was the second largest DP camp in Germany next to Bergen-Belsen. Camp Pocking was dissolved in February 1949. There were eight concentration camps in the area of Passau- three in town, five in the countryside. https://www. goodreads.com/book/show/1104076.Out_of_Passau

112

MOOSBURG an der ISAR

War Camp Stalag VII A In September 1939, shortly after the beginning of World War II, POW Camp Stalag VII A was built North of Moosburg. It was built for 10.000 prisoners of war, but at the end of the war 80.000 allied soldiers were kept here. The 80.000 prisoners of war were mainly French and Russian soldiers. In 1945 the American forces occupied Moosburg and liberated the prisoners of war. Afterwards Stalag VII A served as a internment camp (Camp No. 6) for 12.000 German prisoners who were accused of participation in the Nazi regime. From 1948 the camp was used as a relief camp for people who lost there house during the war. About 1,000 prisoners died at the camp, over 800 of them Soviets. Today a few barracks and a monument on the former prisoner cemetery remember what once took place here.

Moosburg Museum

Sudetenlandstraße, Moosburg a.d. Isar

08761-68420 www.moosburg.org

OBERSCHLEISHEIM

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Became A Training Base During The War

RIGHT: Aviation Secretary E. milk (middle) and Air Force Colonel Ernst Udet (left) with the commander of the flight school Gert von Massow, 11 Nov. 1935

Deutsches Museum Flugwerft Schleißheim

Effnerstraße 18, 85764 Oberschleißheim

089 31 57 14 0 www.deutsches-museum.de

Bavaria

This is an air and space museum. It’s the satellite of the Deutsches Museum at Munich. It has a big collection of aircraft and aero engines. The museum also tells the story of the history of the airfield. The new exhibition hall is dominated by the Heinkel He 111 and Douglas DC-3. The Heinkel He 111 was the standard bomber of the Luftwaffe, the DC-3 was a transport aircraft of the Allies. After the takeover by the Nazis it became part of the armament and preparation for war, and an accelerated expansion to an “air base” of the Air Force. The base continued to serve Schleißheim. Fighter and destroyer crews were trained here 1943 and the night fighter training began.

114

DACHAU

The Notorious Concentration Camp Even sixty years after the collapse of the Third Reich the name of the city of Dachau still recalls the memory of the notorious concentration camp (Konzentrationslager (KZ) Dachau) which was established here during the period 1933-1945. Prisoners of more than thirty different nationalities were housed in this camp. Many died owing to the bad living conditions. Also a large number of Dutch were housed in the camp because they had committed acts of resistance against the German occupier. In September 1948 the concentration camp was handed over to the Bayern authorities. The camp was then used as a refugee camp for a considerable time. The SS-barracks remained in use by the American army up to 1972 and ware later used as a police station. In 1960 the crematory building was set up as a provisional museum and five years later the concentration camp was appointed as Gedenkstätte or memory centre. A new museum was opened at the same time. Dachau was the first Nazi concentration camp, opened in 1933.

Dachau Concentration Camp

Alte Römerstraße 75, D - 85221 Dachau

+49(0)8131 - 669970 www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/

HERBERTSHAUSEN

115

Shooting Range Built For The SS

SS-Shooting Range Hebertshausen

Freisinger Straße, Hebertshausen (Dachau) www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/

Bavaria

Located at Hebertshausen, a municipality adjoining Dachau, is a shooting range that was built for the SS. Apparently in 1937 a facility with two short shooting lanes between three bulwarks was set up. The shooting lanes were enclosed with a bunker that served as a bullet catch. Adjacent to this are a row of five long shooting lanes, which were connected to one another by a protected walkway at one end. Some 4,000 imprisoned Soviet soldiers were executed there between 1941 and 1945. These murders were a clear violation of the provisions laid down in the Geneva Convention for prisoners of war. The SS used the cynical term “special treatment” for these criminal executions. The first executions of the Soviet prisoners of war at the Hebertshausen shooting range took place on November 25 1941.The prisoners brought to Dachau for execution were not recorded in the concentration camp files. Today, an arduous evaluation of the lists and statistics from the prisoner camps at Hammelburg in the Rhone, Nuremberg-Langwasser, and Moosburg on the Isar is trying to obtain a complete record.

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Augsburg Augsburg was historically a militarily important city due to strategic locale. During the German re-armament prior to World War Two, the Wehrmacht enlarged Augsburg’s one original Kaserne (barracks) to three: Somme Kaserne ((housing Wehrmacht Artillerie-Regiment 27)); Arras Kaserne ((housing Wehrmacht Infanterie Regiment 27)) and Panzerjäger Kaserne (housing Panzerabwehr-Abteilung 27 (later Panzerjäger-Abteilung 27). Wehrmacht Panzerjäger-Abteilung 27 was later moved to Füssen. Reichswehr Infanterie Regiment 19 were located in Augsburg and became the base unit for the Wehrmacht Infanterie Regiment 40, a subset of the Wehrmacht Infanterie Division 27 (which later became Wehrmacht Panzerdivision 17). Elements of Wehrmacht II Battalion of Gebirgs-Jäger-Regiment 99 (especially Wehrmacht Panzerjäger Kompanie 14) was composed of parts of the Wehrmacht Infanterie Division 27. Infanterie Regiment 40 remained in Augsburg until the end of the war surrendering to the United States. The three Kaserne changed hands confusingly between the American and Germans, finally ending in US hands for the duration of the Cold War. During World War II, one subcamp of the Dachau concentration camp was located outside Augsburg, supplying approximately 1300 forced labourers to local military-related industry, most especially the Messerschmitt AG military aircraft firm headquartered in Augsburg. In 1941 Rudolf Hess without Hitler’s permission secretly took off from a local airport and flew to Scotland to meet the Duke of Hamilton, and crashed in Eaglesham in an attempt to mediate the end of the European front of World War II and join sides for the upcoming Russian Campaign. He was taken prisoner and eventually convicted of crimes against peace, serving a life sentence until his suicide. In 1945, the U.S. Army occupied the heavily bombed and damaged city.

Augsburg concentration camp

MUNICH

117

“Capital of the Movement”

BELOW: BMW World

BMW Museum

Petuelring 130, 80788 München www.bmw-museum.com

Bavaria

In 1923 Hitler and his supporters, who were then concentrated in Munich, staged the Beer Hall Putsch, an attempt to overthrow the Weimar Republic and seize power. The revolt failed, resulting in Hitler’s arrest and the temporary crippling of the Nazi Party, which was virtually unknown outside Munich. The city would once again become a Nazi stronghold when the National Socialists took power in Germany in 1933. The National Socialist Workers Party created the first concentration camp at Dachau, 10 miles (16 km) north-west of the city. Because of of its importance to the rise of National Socialism, Munich was referred to as the Hauptstadt der Bewegung (“Capital of the Movement”). The city was hit by 71 air raids over a period of six years.

118 The NSDAP headquarters were in Munich and many Führerbauten (“Führerbuildings”) were built around the Königsplatz, some of which have survived to this day. The city is known as the site of the culmination of the policy of appeasement employed by Britain and France leading up to World War II. It was in Munich that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain assented to the annexation of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland region into Greater Germany in the hopes of sating the desires of Hitler’s Third Reich. Munich was the base of the White Rose, a group of students that formed a resistance movement from June 1942 to February 1943. The core members were arrested and executed.

Polizeipräsidium / Police Headquarters In this building, the persecution by the Nazis started. Heinrich Himmler became in 1933 head of the police on this location and Reinhard Heydrich also worked here. Several weeks after Hitler came to power, the police prison here became overcrowded. For this reason, the Nazis opened on 20 March 1933 their first concentration camp, in Dachau near Munich. (See page 102)

Hofbräuhaus In this building, the German Worker’s Party (soon the NSDAP) held their first mass-meeting where Hitler declared his 25-pointparty programme to an audience of about 2,000 people. This meeting is considered the founding session of the Nazi-movement. On the ceilings, the Bavarian flag was painted in a swastica-motive. After the war the paintings were camouflaged a bit. Hofbrauhaus is also where Hiltler publicly denounced the Jews and gave his infamous “Why We Are Antisemites” speech. In fact, Hofbrauhaus played a such central role in Hilter’s rise to power that they would celebrate the founding of the Nazi party here every year on it’s anniversary.

119

Bavaria

Jüdisches Museum München

St.-Jakobs-Platz 16, 80331 München

+49-89-233-96096 www.juedisches-museum-muenchen.de

120 The Munich City Museum contains a permanent exhibition about the Nazi-era in Munich. The museum is partly located on the area of a former Jewish company which was destroyed by the Nazis. The museum also refers to this company on the outside.

Deportation Camp Knorrstraße In the Knorrstraße was a deportation camp, from where the Jews of München were transported to concentration- and extermination camps. It was a satellite camp of Dachau concentration camp.

Munich City Museum

St.-Jakobs-Platz 1, München

089-233 22370 www.stadtmuseum-online.de/

121

Bavaria The Deutscher Arbeiterpartei (DAP - German Workers Party) was founded in the Hotel Fürstenfelder Hof in Munich on 5 January 1919. When the Party reorganized as the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter Partei (NSDAP - National Socialist German Workers Party), it had offices in the Sterneckerbräu brewery at Tal 54, near the city center (the address on the street side is now Tal 38). The Party had its offices here from 1 January 1920 until 31 October 1921. The official Party platform was formulated here on 24 February 1920, and Adolf Hitler (who had joined the previous autumn) outlined the Party program to the public in the famous Hofbräuhaus beer hall that same evening. (National Archives, RG 242-HB)

122

Hitler’s all-time favorite, which he continued to patronize even after the beginning of World War II, was the Osteria Bavaria (above), located at the corner of Schellingstraße and Schraudolfstraße, near the Nazi Party offices . Changes have been minimal, although the name is now Osteria Italiana, and it is one of the best Italian restaurants in Munich. Hitler’s favorite seating areas were the back room on the right (as you walk in), and a table facing the front windows.

123

Bavaria In 1929 Hitler purchased a luxury apartment at Prinzregentenplatz 16. It was in this apartment that Hitler’s niece Geli Raubal, whom some say was the only woman he ever loved, reportedly committed suicide in 1931. Hitler’s apartment was on the second floor above the ground level. This floor now houses the regional Police headquarters, and is not open to the public.

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Hitler’s mistress Eva Braun was provided with a small house in the fashionable Bogenhausen district, not too far from Hitler’s Prinzregentenplatz apartment. Eva’s younger sister Gretl also lived in the house. This house served as their primary residence when Hitler was at the front during the war, or otherwise not living in his home on the Obersalzberg. The street address was Wasserburgerstraße 12, now it is Delpstraße 12.

ABOVE: Eva Braun’s house in 2015 before it was demolished.

125

Bavaria The Odeonsplatz in front of the Feldherrnhalle served as a parade field for the SS, who often staged nighttime rallies there. New SS recruits took their oath of loyalty to Hitler during these formations. Above, the SA parade on the Odeonsplatz in 1938. Below the Odeonsplatz today.

126

ABOVE: Hitler’s bodyguard unit “Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler” parade through the Königsplatz, in front of the Propyläen. Below is the Konigsplatz today.

127

Bavaria The Führerbau was the scene of the climactic meetings that capped the so-called Munich Accords (Munich Agreement, Munich Pact) of late September 1938. In this pact, the British and French governments agreed to Hitler’s demands that Czechoslovakia should cede the Sudetenland, the border area with Germany that had been settled by ethnic Germans for decades, to Germany. The pact was signed in the early morning hours of 30 September 1938, and the Germans immediately annexed the Sudetenland. Above - the south building entrance is decorated with the flags of Nazi Germany and Italy, for the arrival of Hitler and Benito Mussolini (who was a partner to the negotiations). The pact was signed in the balcony office, just below the eagle (Hitler’s office). Afterwards, Hitler leads Mussolini, Ciano, Göring, and others down the steps, as the SS-Leibstandarte guards present arms. These doorways are blocked today.

128 The Haus der Deutschen Kunst (House of German Art) was built in 1933-37 to replace the Munich Art Gallery (Glass Palace) which had burned in 1931. Designed by architect Paul Ludwig Troost in the neo-classical Third Reich style, the building still serves Munich today as an art museum (Haus der Kunst). The Haus der Deutschen Kunst was officially opened by Adolf Hitler on 18 July 1937, with the opening of the first Greater German Art Exhibition.

Comparison views of the top of the front entrance, then and now. Above, Hitler speaks during the opening of the Greater German Art Exhibition in 1939.

SONTHOFEN

129

General Ludwig Beck

Germany, which educated party cadres. It served as sickbay in the last war month for sick and wounded German soldiers. After the war NS-Ordensburg Sonthofen was used by the French and U.S. army as accomodation and training facility. In 1956, it was acquired by the Bundeswehr and was named after the member of resistance and former chief of the general staff of the army General Ludwig Beck. It is currently still in use by the German Army. Beck had grave misgivings regarding the Nazi demand that all German officers swear an oath of fealty to the person of Hitler in 1934,

Generaloberst Beck Barracks

Vordere Burgauffahrt Sonthofen

Bavaria

This complex was built in 1934 by the Deutsche Arbeitsfront for the NSDAP. NS-Ordensburg Sonthofen was one of the three prominent schools in Nazi

130

Bad Tolz In 1937 a SS-Junkerschule (SS Officer Candidate School) was established at Bad Tölz which operated until the end of World War II in 1945. As well, a subcamp of the Dachau concentration camp was located in the town. It provided labour for the SS-Junkerschule and the Zentralbauleitung (Central Administration Building). The former SS-Junkerschule was the base of the U.S. Army’s 1st Battalion,

Junker was a paramilitary Nazi rank that was used by the Schutzstaffel (SS) between the years of 1933 and 1945.

10th Special Forces Group until 1991. Bad Tölz is about 30 miles south of Munich and the location was seemingly chosen because it had both good transport links and was in an inspiring location. The design and construction of the school was intended to impress the staff, students, visitors and passers-by; it succeeded in 1940 and is still impressive today.

The whole complex is now being turned into a commercial centre and houses many small businesses from bakers to solicitors, even the parade ground is being built upon. Many of the people who now work here have little, or no idea of its past, or the events which the school helped shape.

BERCHTESGADEN

131

Outpost Of The German Reichskanzlei Office

Dokumentation Obersalzberg

Salzbergstrasse 41, D-83471 Berchtesgaden +49 (0) 8652 / 947960 www.obersalzberg.de

Bavaria

The area of Obersalzberg was purchased by the Nazis in the 1920s for their senior leaders to enjoy. Hitler’s mountain residence, the Berghof, was located here. Berchtesgaden and its environs (Stanggass) were fitted to serve as an outpost of the German Reichskanzlei office (Imperial Chancellery), which sealed the area’s fate as a strategic objective for Allied forces in World War II. Some typical Third Reich buildings in Berchtesgaden include the railway station, that had a reception area for Hitler and his guests, and the post office next to the railway station. The Berchtesgadener Hof Hotel was a hotel where famous visitors stayed, such as Eva Braun, Erwin Rommel, Joseph Goebbels, and Heinrich Himmler, as well as Neville Chamberlain and David Lloyd George. The hotel was torn down in 2006. There is a museum on the spot now, called Haus der Berge.

132 The Obersalzberg

A number of other relics of the Nazi era can still be found in the area, although only few of them are still well preserved. There is the Kehlsteinhaus (nicknamed “Eagle’s Nest” by a French diplomat), which was built as a present for Hitler’s 50th birthday in 1939. The remnants of homes of former Nazi leaders—such as Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring, and Martin Bormann—were all demolished in the early postwar years. The Platterhof was retained and served as a holiday, recreation, and vacation retreat (Armed Forces Recreation Centers) for the American military. It was known as the General Walker Hotel. It was demolished in 2000. The only remaining fully intact buildings are the former SS HQ at Hotel Zum Türken, Albert Speer’s house and the Kehlsteinhaus. A small part of the Platterhof is also still there. The information centre on the mountain is the former guesthouse Höher Göll. It has an entrance to the Obersalzberg bunker system. After the war, Obersalzberg became a military zone and most of its buildings were recquisitioned by the US Army. Hotel Platterhof was rebuilt and renamed the General Walker Hotel in 1952. It served as an integral part of the US Armed Forces Recreation Centers (AFRC) for the duration of the Cold War and beyond.

Tunnels below Hotel “Zum Türken”

Hintereck 2, 83471 Berchtesgaden www.hotel-zum-tuerken.de

133

removed in 1996 to make room for a new bus station serving the bus line to the Kehlsteinhaus and a for the new InterContinental Hotel Resort. The former guest house “Hoher Goell” now serves as a new documentation centre. It is the first German museum of its kind to chronicle the entire span of World War II in one spot. RIGHT: Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun with their dogs at the Berghof.

Salt Mine Berchtesgaden Dressed in miner’s clothing, the visitor enjoys rides on a train, a funicular, a raft and down slides through the Salt Mine in Berchtesgaden. In former times only privileged dignitaries were allowed to visit Berchtesgaden’s salt mines, in operation since 1517. Today, this fascinating underground world can be visited by all thanks to continuous guided tours. Dressed in miner’s clothing, the visitor enjoys rides on a train, a funicular, a raft and down slides! They also learn about mining history and techniques thanks to a new film featuring our mascot “Pauli” and numerous exhibits with a recorded commentary. + 49 (0) 86 52-60 02-0 www.berchtesgaden.de

Bavaria

The Berghof was demolished in 1953. In 1995, 50 years after the end of World War II and five years after German reunification, the AFRC Berchtesgaden was turned over to Bavarian authorities to facilitate military spending reductions mandated within the Base Realignment and Closure programme by the United States Congress and the Pentagon during the administration of US President Bill Clinton. The General Walker Hotel was demolished shortly thereafter. Its ruins, along with the remnants of the Berghof, were

134

Obersalzberg In the 19th century Germans began using the area as a vacation retreat in both winter and summer. The beautiful area with its sweeping mountain views first attracted Hitler in 1923 just before his imprisonment in Landsberg Prison. He became so fond of the area that by 1928 he began renting a small chalet called Haus Wachenfeld. The Obersalzberg was also where Hitler dictated part two of Mein Kampf. Several months after Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor of Germany in 1933 he purchased the home and began making three important renovations. The first included window shutters and a small office, followed a year later by a winter garden and stone and finally the third and most dramatic came in 1935-1936 when Haus Wachenfeld was transformed into the sprawling landhaus known as the Berghof. By 1935-36 all local residents of Obersalzberg were either bought out or evicted, and three security zones were installed that encompassed the entire area. The so-called Führersperrgebiet not only protected Hitler and his staff from public access, but secured the estates of important Nazi leaders such as Hermann Göring and Martin Bormann. Hitler and Eva Braun spent much time at Obersalzberg in the 1930s, with Hitler’s last known visit in July 1944. There were two other security zones which protected the heavily expanded SS military installations, support staff, hotels, underground bunkers and air raid shelters. The RAF bombed the area on April 25, 1945, damaging the buildings extensively. Obersalzberg was captured by US forces on May 4, 1945 and was declared restricted area through 1949. Obersalzberg was returned to Bavarian domain in 1949, however most of the area was used by the US military as part of the US Armed Forces Recreation Center (AFRC) until 1996. Based on an agreement between the Bavarian State government and the American occupational forces, the ruins of the Berghof, the houses of Göring and Bormann, the nursery, the SS barracks, the so-called Kamphäusl, and Hitler’s teahouse were blown up on April 30, 1952. The nearby Platterhof hotel was restored by the US Army and renamed the General Walker Hotel. It was demolished in 2000 after the US military vacated the area. It was replaced by a new 5-star hotel, InterContinental Resort Berchtesgaden which was built nearby on the former site of Hermann Göring’s chalet. The museum, Dokumentationszentrum Obersalzberg, was built on the foundations of the Gästehauses “Hoher Göll” chronicling the history of Obersalzberg and the Nazi dictatorship..

Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle’s Nest)

135

Bavaria Since 1960, the Eagle’s Nest has been managed by the Berchtesgaden tourist board and run by a local concessionaire as a mountain top restaurant. The impressive edifice with its meter thick walls is situated atop the Kehlstein mountain offering guests a breathtaking view over the Berchtesgaden area. The theatrical aspects of the project are already encountered with the 124 m (406 ft) marble-like stone tunnel that leads to a splendid brass elevator. In only 41 seconds, the lift travels another 124 meters into the Eagle’s Nest building itself. www.eagles-nest.de The Eagle’s Nest was designed as a birthday present for Adolf Hitler’s 50th birthday by Martin Bormann on behalf of the NSDAP (Nazi Party). Hitler in fact seldom visited the Eagle’s Nest. The allied bombing of World War II did not damage the Eagle’s Nest and thanks to the intervention of former Governor Jacob, the Eagle’s Nest was spared being blown up after the war. Today the Eagle’s Nest remains in its original state. In 1960, on the occasion of the 150th celebration of Berchtesgaden’s incorporation into Bavaria, the Bavarian government relinquished its control of the building to a trust that ensures that the proceeds are used for charitable purposes.

136

The Adolf Hitler Jugendherberge (Youth Hostel) was built in Strub from 1935-1938. It was designed by architect Georg Zimmermann. The building still serves as a youth activities center today. (from Werner Rittich, “Architektur und Bauplastik der Gegenwart,” Berlin, 1938 (author’s collection) Hitler visited his name-sake Jugendherberge in October 1936, as seen in this photo from the Illustrierter Beobachter newspaper of 29 October 1936. The same building today is seen below.

137

Index Symbols

A ABTEI-HERMESKEIL 43 Adolf Hitler 25 Aktives Museum Südwestfalen 36 Albatros Flugmuseum 83 Amphitheatre Heidelberg 75 Augsburg 116 Auto & Technik Museum Sinsheim 81

B Baden - Wurtemberg 69 Bad Tolz 130 BAMBERG 94 BAVARIA 86 Bayreuth 97 BERCHTESGADEN 131 BIETIGHEIM-BISSINGEN 65 BMW Museum 117 BONN/BAD GODESBERG 25 Bonn Museums 26 Bunkermuseum Dettenheim 78 Bunker Museum Pachten 55 BUREN-WEWELSBURG 37

DACHAU 114 Dachau Concentration Camp 114 DETTENHEIM 78 Deutsches Museum Flugwerft Schleißheim 113 DEUTSCHESPANZERMUSEUMMUNSTER 9 DILLINGEN SAAR 55 Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma 76 Dokumentation Obersalzberg 131 Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelände 101 DORTMUND 35

E EDERSEE 59 ESSEN 31

F Felsennest 46 Ferry Porsche 82 FLOSSENBURG 98 FRANKFURT AM MAIN 63

G Generaloberst Beck Barracks 129 German Sports & Olympics Museum 23 GOMADINGEN 66 GUXHAGEN 61

Castle Hartheim Extermination Institution 73 City-Museum Cologne 24 COBURG 95 COLOGNE 19 Concentration Camp Breitenau 61 Concentration Camp Flossenbürg 98 Concentrationcamp Hersbruck 99 Concentrationcamp Kochendorf 77 Concentration Camp Osthofen 49

HADAMAR 71 Hadamar Extermination Institution 71 Hällisch-Fränkisches Museum 85 HARTHEIM 73 HEIDELBERG 75 Heinrich Himmler 39 Hermeskeil Air Museum 43 HESSEN 60 HINZERT-POLERT 44 Holocaust 36

Bavaria

1st Armored Division Museum 54 9th US Armored Division 51

138 I IG Farben Building 63, 64 IRREL 45

J Jawne Museum 22 Jewish Museum Berlin 1 Jüdisches Museum München 119

K Kehlsteinhaus (Eagles Nest) 135 KOBLENZ 47 KOCHENDORF 77 KOLITZHEIM -STAMMHEIM 93 Krupp in WW2 32 Krupp Trial 32

L LEONBERG 74 Lock Wall Museum Edersee 59 LOSHEIM 28

M Memorial “Stone Guard” 35 MEMORIAL GrafeneckDOCUMENTATION CENTER 66 Memorial Stone Guard 35 Military History Museum 80 MOOSBURG an der ISAR 112 Moosburg Museum 112 MUNICH 117 Munich City Museum 120 Museum ‘Hürtgenwald 1944 und im Frieden’ 27 Museum Ars Tecnica 28 Museum Hürtgenwald 1944 und im Frieden’ 27 Museum of the Belgian Forces in Germany 30 Museum Rastatt 12 Museum Stammheim am Main 93 Museum Westwallbunker Rastatt 79

N Nazi Documentation Center Rheinland-Pfalz 49 Nazism Documentation Center 19 Neckar-Enz-Stellung - Panzerwerk 346 65 Niederhagen Concentration Camp 40

North Rhine-Westphalia 15 NUREMBERG 101

O Obersalzberg 134 OBERSCHLEISHEIM 113 Old Castle (Stuttgart) 84 Operation Chastise 59 Operation Varsity 29 Ordensburg Vogelsang 41 OSTHOFEN 49

P Peacemuseum Bridge of Remagen 51 Pelzer-Tower 17 PIRMASENS 50 POCKING 111 Prussian Museum 29

R RASTATT 79 REMAGEN AM RHEIN 51 RHEINLANDPFALZ 42 Rock Nest 46 Rottauer Museum 111

S SAARLAND 56 Salt Mine Berchtesgaden 133 SCHLEIDEN 41 SCHUPF 99 SCHWABISCH HALL 85 SCHWALBACH 58 SIEGEN 36 SINSHEIM 81 Sinsheim Auto & Technik MUSEUM 11 SINZ 57 SOEST 30 SONTHOFEN 129 SPEYER 53 Spezial SS-lager/Konzentrationslager Hinzert 44 Sporrenberg 44 SS-Shooting Range Hebertshausen 115 Stadtmuseum Leonberg 74

139 Stalag VII A 112 STUTTGART 83

U Untersturmführer Hermann Michl 40

V Villa Huegel 31 VOSSENACK 27

W WARBURG 33 Wehrgeschichtliches Museum 80 Wehrtechnische Museum 47 WESEL 29 Westwall-museum Panzerwerk Katzenkopf 45 Westwallmuseum 58 Westwall Museum Festungswerk Gerstfeldhöhe 50 Westwallmuseum Sinz 57 Wewelsburg 1933–1945 Memorial Museum 37 World War II Art Bunker in the Castle Rock 102 WURZBURG 91

Bavaria

Technical Museum Submarine, Wilhelm Bauer 8 Technik Museum Speyer 53 The Battle Of Aachen 17 The Battle of Aachen 18 The Bridge At Remagen 52 The Coburg Badge 95 The Dambusters 59 The Edelweiss Pirates 34 The Jawne Museum 24 The Jewish Museum Berlin 1 The Katzenkopf 45 The Krupp Family 31 The Losheim Gap 28 The Nuremberg Trials 110 The Obersalzberg 132 The Reich Labour Service 78 The Siegfried-Line 58 The Würzburg Residenz Museum 91 Trümmerfrauen 91 Tunnels below Hotel Zum Türken 132

Tel: 07261-9299-0 www.sinsheim.technik-museum.de