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Miscellaneous Sites
Associated with the Third Reich
Part 5
The following sites can be found
on this page. Click these links to proceed directly to a particular site: DAF
Schule at Erwitte (Nordrhein-Westfalen), Amtsgericht, Volksschule, and
Siemens company building in
Erlangen (Bavaria), Reichsbank in Koblenz (Baden-Wurttemberg), SS Honor Castle at
Wewelsburg (Nordrhein-Westfalen), Luftwaffe test site at Rechlin
(Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), V-2 rocket development site at Peenemünde
(Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), NSKK Schule at Kochel am See
(Bavaria), Rathaus at Mittenwald (Bavaria), Hitler at
Walhalla (Bavaria), SS Lebensborn Home Steinhöring
(Bavaria), Forsthaus in Lohr am Main (Bavaria).
Erwitte
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1934-36 a school complex was built adjacent to the palace in Erwitte,
for the Deutsche Arbeits Front (DAF). This so-called Schulungsburg was
designed by Julius
Schulte-Frohlinde. Above is the Horst-Wessel-Halle (click here
to see close-up views of the eagle by Willy Meller). (Werner
Rittich, "Architektur und Bauplastik der Gegenwart," Berlin,
1938) (MapQuest
Map Link) |
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| Side
view of the Horst Wessel Hall. At the side of the building was a column
with an Eagle and Swastika, overlooking three memorial plaques - these
features no longer exist. (Werner Rittich, "Architektur und Bauplastik der
Gegenwart" (1938) |
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| This
building in the Erwitte complex is rarely recognized today as one of the
DAF Schulungsburg buildings, but it was one of the administration
buildings for the school (it serves today as a nursing home). ("Bauten
der Bewegung," Vol. 1, 1938) |
Erlangen
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| This
building located at Sieboltstraße
2 in Erlangen was the Amtsgericht, or court house. It still has a Nazi eagle
above the entry doorway (click here).
(MapQuest
Map Link) |
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| The
Friedrich-Rückert-Schule at the Ohmplatz on Memelstraße in Erlangen
was built as a Volksschule during the Third Reich period. It has a
decorated entry doorway, and a Nazi eagle over a side doorway (click
here). (MapQuest
Map Link) |
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| This
building in Erlangen was built as a headquarters building for the
Siemens company. |
Koblenz
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| The
Koblenz Reichsbankfiliale (national bank branch) was located at Neustadt 6.
The building featured Nazi eagles above the doorways (one
is still there), reliefs depicting workers, farmers, and figures
from Greek mythology, and sylized swastika motifs above the
windows. (MapQuest
Map Link) |
Wewelsburg
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| The Wewelsburg
castle in Nordrhein-Westfalen was built in the early 17th century. In
1934 the SS acquired the castle, because SS chief Heinrich Himmler
wanted to establish a school for the SS leadership. Later, Wewelsburg
was one of the primary focuses of Himmler's SS cult mythology. The
castle appears much as it did in the 1940s, despite attempts by the SS
to blow up the North Tower in 1945. (MapQuest
Map Link) |
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central focus of the SS castle was the North Tower. Here, Himmler had a
Crypt (Gruft) dug into the lower level (by slave labor from a nearby
concentration camp). This Crypt figured into Himmler's mythology, and
was probably meant to be his burial place. Himmler conceived of
Wewelsburg to be the "center of the world," and he made plans
for a vast construction of an SS cult center in concentric circles
around the North Tower, with the Crypt as the epicenter of all. |
Panoramic view of the Crypt (courtesy
Mike Davis)
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domed ceiling of the Crypt has a swastika in its center. The level above
the Crypt was the Obergruppenführersaal, or Supreme Leaders Hall.
Himmler envisioned this as a sort of "Round Table" for his
twelve principal SS leaders. In the center of the floor is a Sonnenrad
(sun wheel) symbol with twelve Siegrunen (victory runes). |
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| A guard
position just outside the castle still shows partially effaced but recognizable
SS runes above the doorway. |
Rechlin
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| The
Luftwaffe maintained a test area and proving grounds near the airfield
at Rechlin-Lärz, north of Berlin. Various weapons and bomb protection
measures were tested here. Ruins of several of these features remain in
the woods, including this large bunker, whose purpose is unknown. The
roof of the bunker has been collapsed by demolition at some point,
likely by the Soviets after the war. (MapQuest
Map Link to this bunker - other WW2 ruins are in the woods west of Qualzow,
which is east of Rechlin, on the other side of the lake) |
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front of the bunker was manufactured with a large opening. It is unknown
whether this bunker was meant for aircraft storage, or weapons testing,
or some other function. Russian graffiti appear on the bunker, relics of
the postwar period when Rechlin was used by the Soviet military. |
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Peenemünde
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| In
1936 a rocket development and test area was established at Peenemünde
on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom. Here Dr. Werner von Braun and other
scientists developed the A-4 rocket, which would later be known as the
V-2. On 3 October 1942 the first successful test flight took place, when
an A-4 rocket was launched into space from Launch Pad VII. The Allies
were aware of the Peenemünde works, and made bombing attacks in August
1943 and in early 1944. Following these attacks, production of the V-2
rocket was moved to the Mittelwerk
underground rocket factory near Nordhausen. The photos above show the
original power plant, which now houses the Peenemünde HTI
(Historic-Technic Information Center) museum. (MapQuest Map
Link) For further info - www.peenemuende.de
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| The
crane at the left supplied coal for the Peenemünde power plant -
transferring coal from ships in the harbor to belts that carried it to
the boiler furnaces. On the right can be seen the ruins of the liquid
oxygen plant, located in the town of Peenemünde itself. |
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| Period
views of one of the A-4/V-2 launch sites at Peenemünde. (Bundesarchiv) |
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| This
bunker was part of the control center for the power plant. It also
served as a Luftschutz shelter during the Allied bombing attacks. Today
it is the entrance to the museum, with an A-4 rocket displayed outside. |
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| On the
left, a closer view of the A-4 rocket on display. On the right, an
original A-4 combustion chamber on display in the museum. |
NSKK
School, Kochel am See
Mittenwald
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| The
Rathaus (town hall) of the alpine town of Mittenwald was built in 1939.
The building still serves as the town hall today, although it has been
changed by the addition of another story (and the swastikas are long
gone). (Gerdy Troost, "Das Bauen im neuen Reich"
(Vol. 1, 1942 ed.) (MapQuest
Map Link) |
Hitler
at Walhalla, Regensburg
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| Adolf
Hitler visited the Walhalla memorial outside Regensburg on 6 June 1937
to honor the memory of composer Anton Bruckner. The comparison photo was
actually taken one section in front of where Hitler stood, because that
is where Bruckner's bust is located today (in the center on the lower
shelf). (Bundesarchiv) (MapQuest Map
Link) |
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| The
Walhalla memorial was built in the style of a Greek temple, overlooking
the Danube River valley east of Regensburg, by King Ludwig I in 1842.
Hundreds of busts and inscriptions honor historical figures from
Germanic history. Some more recent honorees have been added lately - on
the right is a bust of Sophie Scholl, co-leader (with her brother Hans)
of the White Rose resistance movement against the Nazis in Munich (the
Scholls were executed by the Gestapo in 1944). The plaque honors the
memory of all those who resisted the terror of the Third Reich. |
SS
Lebensborn Home Steinhöring
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| The SS
established a Lebensborn home at Steinhöring, east of Munich.
These homes were provided primarily for unwed mothers of children by SS
fathers, and also for young children from Germanic provinces who were
waiting adoption. The Third Reich period sculpture below of a mother
nursing her child can be found today on the grounds of the Steinhöring
home. (MapQuest
Map Link) |
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Forsthaus,
Lohr am Main
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| This Forstverwaltung
building (Forestry Service administration) was built in Lohr am Main in
1937-38, and used mainly as a forestry school. It had a Reichsadler
national insignia of an eagle taking flight (the swastika was removed
post-war). Click here
to see photos of the fighting in and around Lohr in April 1945.
(Fritz Wächtler, "Die Neue Heimat," Munich, 1940) (MapQuest Map
Link) |
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Continue to Part 6
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