Moosburg
Münchenerstraße
during the Nazi era. The Nazi Party in Moosburg began in 1922
culminating on March 16, 1923, when a local group of the party was
founded in the city, the first in the entire district.
The Moosburg local group supported the founding of the local branch in
Freising and by 1928 the district management of the Nazi Party was for
the district in Moosburg.
In
September 1939, a prisoner of war camp Stalag VII-A was built to
accommodate ten thousands of prisoners. The General Command of the
Military District VII in Munich chose this site between the Isar and
Amper rivers along with the
General Command of the Wehrkreis VII in Munich. Within a fortnight the
camp was ready for the first prisoners who arrived on October 19, 1939.
They were initially housed in tents. In the hall of an adjacent
artificial fertiliser factory a delousing facility was built. Initially, the camp accommodated Polish and Ukrainian soldiers captured in 1939. From
1940 additional barracks were built so that by the summer of 1940, the
area of the camp had grown to 350,000 m². Thus after the Western
campaign in 1940, French soldiers (and members of the Polish armed
forces in France ) were increasingly deported to Moosburg. After the
invasion of the Soviet Union in mid-1941 there correspondingly followed a
large number of prisoners of the Red Army. By the end of the war, the
number of inmates grew to 80,000 (including increasingly Western allied
airmen who had been shot down in the bombing of Germany,
including roughly two hundred generals alone); they were used in
surrounding industries, agriculture and trade whilst Moosburg itself had only about 5,000 inhabitants. Tens of thousands of prisoners of war were housed in subcamps and labour detachments around the area. About
2,000 German guardsmen of the 512th Landesschützen battalion were
stationed in their own barracks area between Moosburg and the Stalag.
Due to the presence of the camp the entire surroundings were spared from
allied bombing. 
On April 29, 1945 the camp was liberated by a unit of the 14th Armoured Division of the American army under General Charles H. Karlstad, wherein the ordered transfer of the camp occurred almost without a fight.
The
site was converted into a detention centre for 12,000 German civilians
held accountable for their activities during the Nazi period- the "Civilian Internment Camp No. 6". The camp was
released by the Americans in 1948 and served to house German refugees
exiled from eastern areas. It became a new part of the town, named
Moosburg-Neustadt. Three remaining guard barracks were included in the
Bavarian monument list on February 15, 2013.
Moosburg
Stammlager VIIA, 1945. Pictures from Edward J. Paluch 780 Bomb
Squadron. From Fall 1944- Feb 1945 interned in Stalag Luft III. This town about 15 miles from where I live was the site of Stalag VII A,
a PoW camp covering an area of 85 acres which also served also as a
transit camp through which prisoners, including officers, were
processed on their way to another camp. At some time during the war
prisoners from every nation fighting against Germany passed through
it. By the time it had been liberated on April 29 1945, there were
130,000 prisoners from at least 26 nations on the camp roster. It was
thus the largest prisoner of war camp in Germany. Its size and scope provide a microcosmic glimpse into the larger military strategies employed during the conflict. It's essential to comprehend that the German war strategy was dependent not just on the force of arms but also on psychological warfare. Prisoners, especially officers, were often taken to extract crucial military intelligence and to potentially negotiate exchanges. Stalag VIIA, housing over 130,000 PoWs at its peak, was emblematic of this strategic approach. Herein, the camp served as a theatre for psychological warfare where the German High Command tried to influence Allied soldiers' morale and loyalty.
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The entrance to the camp and the site today. A.J.P. Taylor argued that Stalag VIIA was instrumental in revealing the systemic patterns of Nazi PoW policies, allowing for a better understanding of the complexities of the Third Reich's administration. Contrary to the expectations of an ordered and efficient German administrative system, the conditions and practices within Stalag VIIA reflected disorganisation, chaos, and the lack of a uniform policy regarding PoWs. More recently Kershaw's work on the administrative chaos within the Third Reich, characterised by competing power centres and conflicting directives, can be applied in the context of Stalag VIIA's chaotic and inconsistent policies which led to a range of living conditions and treatment of prisoners. This chaos also presented opportunities for resistance and survival among the prisoners, from maintaining morale through cultural activities to gathering intelligence that could be usedThis complexity challenges the traditional narrative of a 'totalitarian' Nazi state with a monolithic power structure. Closely associated with this aspect is the significance of Stalag VIIA in terms of military strategy. The existence of such a large PoW camp, situated deeply within German territory, served multiple purposes. As Evans argued, it functioned as a deterrent against potential uprisings in occupied territories. It also had the strategic benefit of forcing the Allies to divert significant resources, including manpower, for PoW rescue operations, which would otherwise have been utilised on the frontline. The experiences of those interned in Stalag VIIA were also reflective of the broader societal and cultural effects of the war. The narratives emerging from this camp highlight the intricacies of wartime experiences and provide an insight into the lived reality of the soldiers.
On the right and below on the other hand are Oberst Hans Nepf, Lagerkommandant
1939-1943, and his successor Oberst Otto Burger. The real-life
commandants were no video game villains- Nepf was said to have provided
decent accommodation for both German soldiers and prisoners of war, and
during his time it had been reported that Stalag VII A was "with its beautiful facilities the most exemplary prison camp in Germany". By the time he resigned in 1943, Nepf was said to have been
criticised by Munich-based Nazi authorities for being too decent towards
the prisoners. 
He would eventually die in September 1952 at the age of 73 years in Garmisch. Burger's time as commandant was certainly the most demanding and his courage at the end of the war acknowledged by all. He disregarded the express orders of April 27, 1945 when, at 20.30, Commander-in-Chief West issued the following order: “The hour of the decision has come. It's about the last resistance and victory. Mutineers and deserters must be dealt with ruthlessly. Everyone has a duty to remove failing officers in order to take the lead themselves." Instead, Burger followed his own conscience, explaining it to the prisoners on the morning of April 28. As Dominik Reither argues, "[i]n doing so, he refused an order in public and put his life in danger."
Not
only did the guards follow the colonel's
lead, but according to reports, citizens of Moosburg are also
starting to hide bazookas or render them unusable in order to sabotage
further fighting. He was also ordered to march south with the captured
officers who had probably been intended to be used as bargaining chips
in possible negotiations with the Allies. Such a march without either
prepared accommodation or food would have meant deadly hardships for the
prisoners. Whilst the crews were to remain in Moosburg, the camp
buildings were to be blown up so that no accommodations could fall into
enemy hands. Instead, both Major Koller and Colonel Burger decided to
hand over the city and the camp without a fight and prevented the
prisoners from being taken away.
He would eventually die in September 1952 at the age of 73 years in Garmisch. Burger's time as commandant was certainly the most demanding and his courage at the end of the war acknowledged by all. He disregarded the express orders of April 27, 1945 when, at 20.30, Commander-in-Chief West issued the following order: “The hour of the decision has come. It's about the last resistance and victory. Mutineers and deserters must be dealt with ruthlessly. Everyone has a duty to remove failing officers in order to take the lead themselves." Instead, Burger followed his own conscience, explaining it to the prisoners on the morning of April 28. As Dominik Reither argues, "[i]n doing so, he refused an order in public and put his life in danger."
Not
only did the guards follow the colonel's
lead, but according to reports, citizens of Moosburg are also
starting to hide bazookas or render them unusable in order to sabotage
further fighting. He was also ordered to march south with the captured
officers who had probably been intended to be used as bargaining chips
in possible negotiations with the Allies. Such a march without either
prepared accommodation or food would have meant deadly hardships for the
prisoners. Whilst the crews were to remain in Moosburg, the camp
buildings were to be blown up so that no accommodations could fall into
enemy hands. Instead, both Major Koller and Colonel Burger decided to
hand over the city and the camp without a fight and prevented the
prisoners from being taken away. Given
that the stalag was surrounded by fanatical Nazis officials, his
ability to save the lives of civilians, prisoners and soldiers on both
sides is remarkable and prevented Moosburg from being shelled. After the
war he and his family continued to live in Moosburg until 1957; his
wife worked as a teacher whilst his son Willy- now a lawyer and bank
director in Munich- attended elementary school in Moosburg and later
grammar school in Freising. In 1964 Burger died at the age of 76.
On the left the funeral procession for two Russian prisoners of war who died on the day the camp was liberated. In
all probability this was a result of the PoWs finding the cellar in
which the Wehrmacht had stored 8,000 litres of wine. The Russian
soldiers in particular got drunk and, already physically weakened, the
consumption of alcohol became a lethal dose. The next day the military
government had to order forty coffins for those who did not survive the
binge. When the Americans closed the cellar, angry prisoners set it on
fire. A farmer's property also burned when he hesitated to surrender a
calf. At the same time, after the second day of the looting seventeen
rapes were reported. City pastors and chaplains then set up shelters for
women and girls in the rectory; it took eight days for the Americans to
contain the looting and another fortnight to stop it completely.
The GIF on the right shows by contrast former prisoners of war with recently
issued Red Cross food parcels following the liberation of the camp-
a number of buildings are still in use. The cases of Americans and
British Imperial troops were unique in several respects: their countries
were unoccupied by Germany, they held large numbers of German
servicemen in captivity, ensuring the attention of the German
government, and lastly, their status as 'legitimate' signatories to the
Geneva Convention was not called into doubt by Germany (unlike the
Soviet Union or, after 1939, Poland). The inspectors were not just
valued by the home governments as a source of information - their agents
usually argued forcefully for the improvement of conditions of their
charges directly with the Commandants of the camps, and noted in their
reports if their complaints were satisfactorily dealt with at that level
or whether further action would be required at a higher level of
authority.
The
cemetery of the camp was situated here in the south-western outskirts
of Moosburg, an area called Oberreit, among whom 22 or 23 buried were
British. From 1946- 1958 the mortal remains moved to central cemeteries
before finally being closed in 1958 when 866 bodies were exhumed and
reburied at the military cemetery in Schwabstadl near Landsberg. The
bodies of 33 Italians were reburied at the Italian Memorial Cemetery
near Munich. In 1982 the Moosburg City Council purchased a plot at the
site of the old Oberreit cemetery and erected a wooden cross with a
simple stone remembering the dead of Stalag VII A.
In
the autumn of 2014 on the 75th anniversary of the opening of the camp,
this historical marker was relocated at the site, its façade covered by
this bronze plaque but steel helmet remaining above.
Today the municipal authorities have seen fit to place a dog association right next to it...
...whilst in the town itself this memorial, the Heimatvertriebenen
from 1958, commemorates the Germans' suffering; by 1950 1,931 out of 8,677 Moosburg citizens were refugees fleeing the Soviets. On the right is the view
down the same road, Sudetenlandstraße, then and now. Whilst the layout
is recognisable, today all that remains physically is a single
dilapdiated prisoner barrack and three guard barracks.
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Some surviving vestiges of the original barracks being used, and along Schlesierstraße
For a site devoted entirely to Moosburg: Moosburg Online
Nearby
in front of St. Pius church on land devoted to serve as a memorial to
the prisoners of the stalag is this fountain, the Stalag Gedenkbrunnen,
which had been created by French prisoner Antoniucci Volti
in 1942 and set up in 1963. The reliefs are intended to represent the
four great rivers of France- the Garonne, Loire, Rhône and Seine. Volti
himself had been born in Albano, Italy, in 1915, before his family moved
to France in 1920. A book by art historian Christine Fößmeier, "Volti -
A major French artist in Stalag VII A Moosburg," is expected to be
published. Volti attended the École des Arts Décoratifs in Nice and
later went to Paris. After the war he returned to Paris, where his
studio and his works were destroyed shortly thereafter. Moosburg
therefore possesses, as Fößmeier's project description states, "a unique
excerpt from the work of Volti". He continued to work in Paris after
the war, where he died in 1989. Volti's works can be found in the Musée
National d'Art Moderne in Paris, the Musée de la Ville de Paris, Albi,
Menton, Nice and Honfleur. 
Soldiers of the Infanterie Ersatz-Bataillon 423 in front of today's
Anton-Vitzthum-Elementary School, shown arriving to eat in the school
yard. The division ended up operating in the Ukraine until January 1944
when the division was encircled near Zwiahel and relocated to the
Eastern Front after a loss-making break from the pocket. There the
division was promptly destroyed due to insufficient combat experience
and training. The survivors were then deployed among other divisions for
the formation of the 363rd Infantry Division and the 394th Field
Training Division which would take over the position of the division in
Ukraine.
The West and South entrances to St. Kastulus during the 1930s and today
Inside
the church during the Nazi era and today. In 1927 the church Oettingen
received a new organ and also a replacement for the bells that had
partially melted down during the First World War when 44 per cent of the bells in Germany alone were lost to support the war effort. As Sir Hew Strachan records at 0:12:32 in the episode 'Germany's Last Gamble' for his outstanding First World War series, such were the "signs
of the increasing scarcity of metal. In a small town near here, a sad
ceremony took place. The church bell, which had rung the people from
cradle to grave for 300 years, was requisitioned. The inhabitants
performed a funeral service for it. The bell was covered with wreaths
and flowers and handed over to the military authorities under tears and
protestations." In the end, these replacement bells themselves had to be
sacrificed in 1942 for armament purposes. It was not until 1954 that
today's seven bells found their place in the bell cage of the cathedral
tower. The interior was renovated in 1937 and 1938 and again in 1971-72.
At the foot of the Johannes tower on Thalbacher straße in a 1935 photograph and today. The rental office across the narrow passage from the tower was
demolished that year. On the right is the tower from the other side on
the High Street during the war and today. During the battle for the town
the Americans fired upon the Johannesturm, where ϟϟ
troops had established a position. The Moosburgers had already broken
off their Sunday service in the neighbouring church and fled to their
cellars. Given that ϟϟ
troops had no heavy weapons and bazookas had been made unusable in
Moosburg, the tanks were able to quickly break their resistance. The
Americans couldn't however prevent scattered ϟϟ men from blowing up the Isar Bridge but nevertheless conquered the city as summarised below,
apparently being greeted with flowers by the population. 
However
any calm quickly evaporated as American troops looted wedding rings and
watches and moved into quarters in private houses with the residents
usually only having an hour to pack their essentials before being
evicted. Soon groups of newly freed prisoners poured into the town and
looted shops such as a military shoe warehouse at the train station
which was entirely cleared out. Freed prisoners tore all the maps from
atlases out of a classroom at the children's detention centre that
provided some orientation for their return home. Farms and private homes
all around the surrounding area were targetted as well with food,
blankets, beds, jars and frying pans taken away. Already on the second
day of looting, seventeen cases of rape were reported as local priests
and chaplains set up shelters for women and girls in the vicarage.
Whilst thne Americans tried to prevent attacks and return stolen items,
they were only able to stem the looting after eight days; it took a
fortnight for the rampage to stop completely.
However
any calm quickly evaporated as American troops looted wedding rings and
watches and moved into quarters in private houses with the residents
usually only having an hour to pack their essentials before being
evicted. Soon groups of newly freed prisoners poured into the town and
looted shops such as a military shoe warehouse at the train station
which was entirely cleared out. Freed prisoners tore all the maps from
atlases out of a classroom at the children's detention centre that
provided some orientation for their return home. Farms and private homes
all around the surrounding area were targetted as well with food,
blankets, beds, jars and frying pans taken away. Already on the second
day of looting, seventeen cases of rape were reported as local priests
and chaplains set up shelters for women and girls in the vicarage.
Whilst thne Americans tried to prevent attacks and return stolen items,
they were only able to stem the looting after eight days; it took a
fortnight for the rampage to stop completely.
Hitlerjugend on the left in 1937 and the site today
At the other end of the square is the war memorial and today, the Nazi flags being replaced by the red ensign. The images on the right show Bürgermeister Dr. Hermann Müller in front of the memorial on March 10, 1940. In
1935 there were plans in Moosburg to redesign Münsterplatz for
political rallies by introducing a wide flight of steps leading from
Leinbergerstraße to two "honour temples" and a Gemeinschaftshaus at the
choir of St. Kastulus which would be directly reminiscent of Munich's
Königsplatz although in the end it was never realised.
Moosburg railway station in 1935 sporting the Nazi flag and now
Landstraße
Photo developer Georg Reindl driving the first car in Moosburg- a Kolibri- in 1908 on Weingraben.
Here at Weingraben 17 Albert Kraaz ran a newspaper and magazine shop
until 1969. A sailor during the war, he had been denounced by his
colleagues in 1942 for listening to "enemy transmitters". He was
arrested and suffered physical abuse in Gdansk. He had been freed during
the death march towards Dachau around Altfraunhofen near Landshut; his
wife died in Auschwitz. After the war he denied his Jewish ancestry
having been categorised as a 'half Jew.' A subsequent medical report
written up upon his claim for compensation for suffering under the Nazi
regime almost led him to a psychiatric breakdown after his severe
suffering, describing him as a "[m]entally overwhelmed person, stubborn,
dissatisfied with everything, does what he likes, does not follow
dietary rules, leaves the hospital and comes when it suits him."
During
the Nazi era the Jewish merchant Alois Weiner operated a large
department store in Moosburg on am Gries until 1937 when he moved to
Munich. The GIF on the left shows Auf dem Gries in 1936 and during the 2016 Herbstshau; Alois Weiner's department store in the large building on the left.
He was first sentenced to forced labour in a flax factory for "racial
disgrace" (his partner Klara Brunner was "Aryan" according to the Nazis)
and, because of his Jewish descent, was then deported. In 1945 he was
able to return to Moosburg from the Theresienstadt camp after its
liberation and ran his department store again. He became a town and
district councillor as a member of the SPD since 1918, and was
temporarily the second mayor in Moosburg.
The GIF on the right is looking the other direction in a watercolour by Valentin Ott just before the war.
The chairman of the Jewish community from May 1946 to January 1948, Heinrich Kinas, lived with his wife Lazia at Weingraben 248 (now Münchner Strasse 1). He came from Breslau and was a dentist before being imprisoned in 1939, and sentenced to forced labour at
the Czestochowa concentration camp. When the camp was liberated on
January 17, 1945, Kinas fled to Buchenwald after the camp was closed
before the death march before coming to Moosburg with his family from
the Feldafing camp. In May 1951 he left Germany for the United States.
Mordcha
Zajf, the last chairman of the Jewish community in Moosburg, at
Weingraben 22 (today number 20) having come from Poland and had also
been employed as a slave labourer from September 1939. After liberation,
he spent a year in hospitals in Munich and Gauting for a year,
presumably suffering from tuberculosis, one of the most common diseases
of the camp. His wife Masza also survived the Holocaust, but their two
children obviously did not survive because they are nowhere mentioned.
One
of the oldest gable-topped houses in Germany shown in a colourised
photograph taken just after the war, and as depicted in a 1941 sketch by
a French prisoner of war interned in Stalag VII A.
My favourite Pub on
Herrnstraße, formerly a bakery, and looking the other way towards
Herrnstraße 293, the second building on the right, where the Jewish
administration was housed after the war from January 1946 to February
1951. In 1948, 248 Jews were living in the town, about 80 percent of
whom came from Poland. They had been through captivity, concentration
camps and death marches for which Moosburg was just a stopover - with
the aim of emigrating to other countries. In fact, persecution of Jews in Moosburg dates back as early as 1338 when Jewish residents were killed. In 1951 there were only 34 Jews left in the city and the community and the former sports club Hapoel Moosburg dissolved. The former property of Nazi official Alfred Heppner and his wife Centa on Herrnstraße 7,
now the site of a flower shop, was given to the Jewish Committee by the
American military government. A synagogue was set up there consisting
of a 41 square metre lounge and a 23 square metre prayer room, as well
as the municipal administration office, another lounge, an anteroom, a
small kitchen and two rooms. There were apartments on the upper floors, where Rabbi Hirsch Gornicky and his family lived in one room.
In 1948, the Heppners demanded the return of their property and brought
legal action against the town, but the Jewish community refused to
provide alternative accommodation. With the dissolution of the Jewish
community in 1950, the synagogue was also cleared. At the end of the
road is the town hall.
When
the Allied forces conquered Germany, they were able to liberate some
tens of thousands of Jewish prisoners. Between 1945 and 1950, however,
the former Third Reich became a temporary place of refuge for about
200,000 Shoah survivors. Besides the prisoners freed from the work and
death camps, these were people who had fled from the Nazis to Russia,
fought in Eastern Europe with the partisans, or in some other way
managed to survive underground. Starting in the fall of 1945, the American
military government set up special Displaced Persons (DP) camps for
them. For a short time, General Eisenhower had even considered
allowing the Jews to set up their own territory in Bavaria. This plan
had been proposed to him by David Ben-Gurion, who was travelling through
occupied Germany at that time. However, a Bavarian Jewish state was
never established. Nevertheless, the Americans conceded wide-ranging
rights of self-determination to the Shoah survivors. The British,
Russians, and French granted no such privileges. Supplies, too, were
more plentiful in the American zone, and so about 85% of all
Jewish DPs settled here, considering their residence, however, as but a
temporary measure. The overwhelming majority believed that their future
would only be guaranteed in a country of their own, convinced that “only
Eretz Israel will succeed in absorbing and healing them, help them
regain their national and human balance.” As the state of Israel would
not be established until 1948, some Jews dreamed also of a new life in
the USA, Canada or Australia.
When
the Allied forces conquered Germany, they were able to liberate some
tens of thousands of Jewish prisoners. Between 1945 and 1950, however,
the former Third Reich became a temporary place of refuge for about
200,000 Shoah survivors. Besides the prisoners freed from the work and
death camps, these were people who had fled from the Nazis to Russia,
fought in Eastern Europe with the partisans, or in some other way
managed to survive underground. Starting in the fall of 1945, the American
military government set up special Displaced Persons (DP) camps for
them. For a short time, General Eisenhower had even considered
allowing the Jews to set up their own territory in Bavaria. This plan
had been proposed to him by David Ben-Gurion, who was travelling through
occupied Germany at that time. However, a Bavarian Jewish state was
never established. Nevertheless, the Americans conceded wide-ranging
rights of self-determination to the Shoah survivors. The British,
Russians, and French granted no such privileges. Supplies, too, were
more plentiful in the American zone, and so about 85% of all
Jewish DPs settled here, considering their residence, however, as but a
temporary measure. The overwhelming majority believed that their future
would only be guaranteed in a country of their own, convinced that “only
Eretz Israel will succeed in absorbing and healing them, help them
regain their national and human balance.” As the state of Israel would
not be established until 1948, some Jews dreamed also of a new life in
the USA, Canada or Australia. 
The
birthplace of Josef Furtmeier, one of the mentors of the White Rose, especially Hans Scholl. Sophie Scholl
referred to him as "the philosopher."
From
the end of 1918 until May 1, 1919 he was a member of the Communist
Party, and in the spring of 1919 he took part in a communist
demonstration at the Justice Palace in Munich. This, and the fact that
he refused to use the Hitler salute nor joined any Nazi organisation,
led him to be fired in October 1933 on the basis of the law for the
restoration of the professional civil service. Up until 1945 he lived in
Moosburg and Munich, receiving a pension which was small compared to
his last salary. From mid-1941 Hans Scholl got in touch with Josef
Furtmeier about Carl Muth and Alfred von Martin. Sophie and Hans Scholl
met regularly with Furtmeier. Concerning a conversation on June 4, 1942
with Furtmeier, Sophie Scholl reported: "... a three-hour, uninterrupted
and exhausting conversation was held." After the arrest of the leading
members of the White Rose, Furtmeier was held by the Gestapo from
February 28 to March 20, 1943. Furtmeier stated after the war period
how he had talked with Hans Scholl about the legitimacy of the murder of
tyrants. In May 1945 he was appointed mayor of the city of Moosburg and
began investigations into former Nazi party members and against Nazi
divisions. At the commemorative ceremony for the victims of the White
Rose in 1945 in Munich, he gave a speech alongside Romano Guardini. In
1946 he joined the SPD. After 1949 he tried two times to obtain a
promotion as compensation for his dismissal in 1933. This was denied him
by the ministry which claimed that he had been already adequately
compensated. He's buried in the family grave at the cemetery in
Moosburg shown here on the left.
Also
buried in Moosburg (next to a memorial to those killed in the air
bombing) is Koloman Wagner, born April 15, 1905 in Sünzhausen. In 1943
he worked at the Driescher firm producing war materiel when Joseph
Goebbels gave his Sportpalast, or total war, speech to a large and
carefully-selected audience on February 18, 1943 calling for total war,
as the tide of the war had turned against Germany. His colleague, Maria
Huber, testified in court that following the speech Wagner repeated
Goebbels's question "Do you want your men to come to the front; do you
want the total war?" and responded with a sarcastic "yes" before stating
that this has "signed your men's death sentence." She went on to say in
her denunciation that the female workers were ashamed by his attitude,
especially given the number of prisoners of war working alongside them.
The Nazi mayor of Moosburg at the time, Dr. Hermann Müller (whose
portrait hangs today in the town hall) declared that "Wagner is, in my
opinion, a man who threatens public morale through his attitude and
lifestyle." Even after the supportive testimony of the company's
management which had testified how Wagner had been responsible for
labour-saving innovations, his fate was sealed. The Attorney General
reported to the minister of justice the enforcement of the judgement on
July 27, 1944: "The execution process lasted 53 seconds from leaving of
the cell; eight seconds from his handover to the executioner until the
fall of the axe. No other incidents or other events of importance
occurred."
Nearby
is the grave of Heinrich Hiermeier. An active member of the communist
party since 1931, he was first imprisoned by the Nazis and held under
'protective custody' in Moosburg from March 10 to May 3, 1933. He
remained an antifascist- it had been reported to district authorities in
January 1936 that although publicly Hiermeier had abandoned his earlier
attitude, it is clear to his work colleagues that he "does not agree
with the current system." By the end of that month he had been arrested
again and on June 23 appeared before the Higher Regional Court in Munich
for apparently planning a treasonous activity before being sentenced to
two years and four months at the penitentiary. It's not clear if was
released the end of his sentence on June 23 1938 but he is recorded as
having died in a camp, possibly one that had used 1000-1200 forced
labourers in the Obersalzberg to work on one of the gigantic
construction projects at the time. Nor is the nature of his death,
recorded on his grave as having been February 19, 1940, other than he
had supposedly been crushed by scaffolding which led to a skull
fracture, internal bleeding and fracture of neck vertebrae. 
The bridge that became the main strategic objective in the battle
between Patton and the German ϟϟ in Moosburg, led by the tanks of
Sergeants Claude Newton and William Summers and Lieutenants Hack and
Boucher. On the morning of April 28 ϟϟ formations arrived in Moosburg
with a regiment of the Nibelungen division taking up position in the
town supported by a combat group made up of members of the French 33rd
Waffen Grenadier Division of the ϟϟ Charlemagne. The ϟϟ commander was
initially determined to defend Moosburg "for the long term" but was
eventually dissuaded by Colonel Burger who instead sought to send a
negotiating delegation made up of Red Cross representatives and captured
officers to the Americans, who had already reached walls. By 15.30 the
delegation and the ϟϟ officer headed towards the front. The Germans
eventually bombed the bridge as Newton’s tank moved into the first span
in order to keep the American tanks from crossing it but by the evening
the 14th Armoured Division was established along the Isar. Behind it
were miles-long columns of German prisoners being marched to the rear
and the fields all around with two thousands of Germans prisoners
guarded under lights. Among them lay the burned out German vehicles
caught in the fight that morning with the German dead lying in grotesque
positions as Graves Registration Officers moved among them preparing
for burial and British ex-prisoners of war rode bicycles through the
towns. The bridge has recently been replaced by a new one seen here.
Next to the bridge is the Gasthof zur Länd, shown in 1941 and April 29, 1945 below. According to author Dominik Reither in his recent book "Zwischen Hakenkreuz und Sternenbanner - Kriegsende und Nachkriegszeit in Moosburg"
which focuses on the period between April 29, 1945, when the Americans
marched into Moosburg and the election to the first Bundestag on August
14, 1949, Moosburg, which had previously been spared major
bombardments, only suffered from them towards the end of the war, when
the front drew closer and low-flying aircraft attacks in the area
increased. Whilst city commander Major Rudolf Koller, camp commander
Colonel Otto Burger and Mayor Hermann Müller had decided not to defend
Moosburg and hand it over to the approaching Americans, ϟϟ units
resisted when the American Army took the city and liberated the camp. 
Reither
writes how there were no dead or wounded in Moosburg during the
invasion but chaotic days of looting, rape and arson by freed prisoners
followed. It
is believed that there were 70,000 to 80,000 people in the overcrowded
Stalag at the end and Reither describes how western prisoners of war
were brought home whilst those from the east remained as displaced
persons in the town as the city administration was rebuilt, a Jewish
community formed, expellees and refugees were taken in and the Neustadt
district came into being on the Stalag site. Reither also addresses
denazification, such as the case of ex-mayor Müller, who after three
years of internment ultimately received a mild sentence and was only
classified as a follower, even though he was a staunch Nazi. Reither's
book also provides insights into the "German Youth Activities"
programme, with which the Americans also got young people off the
streets in Moosburg and led them towards democracy. He describes how
cultural, sporting and leisure activities gained momentum again and
includes anecdotes such as those from the FC Bayern Munich visit, who
made two guest appearances at SpVgg Moosburg in September 1945.
Reither
writes how there were no dead or wounded in Moosburg during the
invasion but chaotic days of looting, rape and arson by freed prisoners
followed. It
is believed that there were 70,000 to 80,000 people in the overcrowded
Stalag at the end and Reither describes how western prisoners of war
were brought home whilst those from the east remained as displaced
persons in the town as the city administration was rebuilt, a Jewish
community formed, expellees and refugees were taken in and the Neustadt
district came into being on the Stalag site. Reither also addresses
denazification, such as the case of ex-mayor Müller, who after three
years of internment ultimately received a mild sentence and was only
classified as a follower, even though he was a staunch Nazi. Reither's
book also provides insights into the "German Youth Activities"
programme, with which the Americans also got young people off the
streets in Moosburg and led them towards democracy. He describes how
cultural, sporting and leisure activities gained momentum again and
includes anecdotes such as those from the FC Bayern Munich visit, who
made two guest appearances at SpVgg Moosburg in September 1945. 
Drake Winston with his FC Eichenfeld team after winning the 2019 Sparkasse Cup final in Moosburg against the home side.
Had taken considerable time to hunt down the site of a Roman villa that had
been excavated just about fifteen miles away back in 1987 before being
covered up again with only this photo giving me the clues as to its
actual location. It's just outside a little town called Mauern north of
Moosburg- the name could come from the Roman "ad murun", and sure enough
Roman bricks were found nearby in Alpersdorf in 2007 is not surprising.
A small thermal bath and a kiln were excavated here. The thermal bath
had underfloor heating and was divided into typical rooms such as
changing room, cold bath, tepid bath and warm bath. Concentrated metal
objects were found in the heating shaft of the praefurnium that were
probably hidden there when the Alemanni plundered the area, but then no
longer picked up. Information about the excavations:
http://www.archaeologischer-verein-freising.de/index.php…
Around Freising
The radio station in Ismaning was taken over under the command of Lieutenant Ludwig Reiter with a hundred to 150 men and tanks, and from 6:00 the FAB was able to transmit within a radius of more than 100 kilometres, declaring that the FAB had "fought the power of government" and called for support from listeners. In Munich and elsewhere south of the Danube, 78 actions took place involving some 990 participants who responded to this FAB call for action. Governor Ritter von Epp (who had been involved in the Boxer rebellion in China and the first act of genocide in the 20th century against the Herero in German SW Africa, and Nazi member since 1928 when he got elected to parliament, later acting as Reichskommissar and Reichsstatthalter for Bavaria in 1933) had responded hesitantly and had been brought at night to Haidberghof, meeting Major Brown and several officers.
 |
| The 'CIA Safehouse' nearby |
Kloster
Wies during the Great War and today. Further down by about a kilometre
is the town Tüntenhausen. In its church cemetery is this grave to
victims of a death march near the end of the war which began on
April 25, 1945 when prisoners were marched south down the B 301
federal road. The prisoners, guarded by men of the Waffen ϟϟ, were on their way from Buchenwald, Herbruck and Flossenbürg to the concentration camp in
Dachau. Tüntenhausen's pastor Josef Schmid wrote
in his report to his bishop on July 15, 1945 that on April 27, shortly
after noon, around 850 Buchenwald concentration camp prisoners were
driven through the village with two other prisoners who died in Hospital
1004 on Freising's Domberg coming from the Straubing prison. 
They
had come from Zolling
towards the direction of Freising. The prisoners had suffered abuse
continuously on every occasion with footsteps, butts, and strokes. In a
courtyard near Erlau north of Freising there was a basket with fodder
potatoes on which some of the starving men rushed. There was a commotion
with the armed guards who were used by four inmates to escape. Two of
them were found starving to death in a barn days later and have recently been identified as Polish farmer Adolf Lodowski and Russian Sergei Petrow.
They were buried with six soldiers and two ϟϟ members who had fought
with American soldiers on April 29 at the Amper near Zolling.
An older Drake Winston beside the Hallbergmoos war memorial at Theresienstraße 7, one of the oldest of its kind in the Freising district. It consists today of a granite stele supporting an obelisk and two bronze lions, flanked by two inscribed steles. It was built by the Hallbergmoos Krieger- und Soldatenverein in 1873, the oldest association in the community. Not much is known about the association, because in the Third Reich all such warriors' associations were united at the Kyffhäuser Conference on May 7, 1933 in Berlin within the Kyffhäuser Bund, which sealed the end of all independent state associations. It was not until the Control Council Act of October 1945 that all Nazi organisations were dissolved and declared illegal, including the NS Reichskriegerbund. The memorial's ceremonial consecration took place on July 7, 1907 at the former location in front of the forester's house at the corner of Leopold-Theresienstraße. The old photo in the GIF shows the original monument, probably after the Great War, with the main teacher Lindermaier, the keynote speaker, together with his two sons. One of them bears the Iron Cross 2nd Class and the Bavarian Order of Military Merit. The cost of the memorial amounted to 945.42 Reichsmark and consisted of donations from Goldach of 208.50 Reichsmarks and Hallbergmoos of 174.60 Reichsmarks. The rest came from private individuals and other districts. The war memorial was extended to include the two columns decorated with lions for the fallen of the First World War; on June 10, 1923, the memorial with the two lions was inaugurated.
At the Ritterturnier held every year on the Pentecost weekend in June on the meadows at the Hausler Hof just outside Hallbergmoos where a knights' tournament is held. I've visited many and although small, this is a great event. The tournament course consists in the middle of a long, coloured railing which separates the two riding arenas. Seconds after the starting call, the horses gallop towards each other as the knights in the saddle have their lances at the ready and their sights on the enemy's shield. When the lance hits, it shatters loudly with a knight needing three points to win, unless the opponent falls off his horse beforehand. Throughout the weekend knights demonstrate their weapons and explain how knights-errant may have once lived. Of course, a family-friendly programme of music and juggling is part of the market activity on the meadows. Besides the large market, a stage programme involving acrobatics and music takes place,
and Viking ships circling the lake, offering free trips to visitors although they were cancelled when we went in 2023. A
handicraft and grocer's market with around fifty stalls accompanies the
events. The high point of both evenings will be the knights, who will put on a fire show on horseback on Saturday and Sunday at around 21.30.
Also
just outside Freising but to the east is the 'Naturfreunde' centre in
Hangenham overlooking the area which hosted the Nazis in 1933. The
Naturfreunde, or 'Friends of Nature', is an international movement
committed to the protection of nature. Founded in Austria in 1895, it
expanded to Germany shortly thereafter. By the early 20th century,
Naturfreunde centres were established throughout the country, becoming
popular hubs for nature enthusiasts, social reformers, and political
activists. However, with the rise of the Nazi regime, these centres were
faced with unique challenges and pressures. Under the Nazi regime, the
Naturfreunde centres underwent significant transformations. Steven B.
Bowman argues that these transformations were primarily driven by the
regime's intentions to manipulate public opinion and control societal
institutions. Naturfreunde centres, which had traditionally been known
for their politically left-leaning views and commitment to social and
environmental justice, were targeted for 'cleansing'. According to
Bowman, this was part of the wider Nazi policy of Gleichschaltung or
'coordination', which aimed at bringing all aspects of German life under
the control of the Nazi Party. Despite Bowman's argument seeming
comprehensive, Richard J. Evans maintains that while there were indeed
attempts at manipulating the Naturfreunde centres, it was not solely due
to the Gleichschaltung policy, instead contending that the Nazi regime
saw these centres as potential platforms for propagating its own
ideology about the significance of 'Blood and Soil' – a racially driven
environmental ethos, and the volkisch connection to the land. The
centres were seen as strategic platforms for indoctrinating the youth
and spreading Nazi ideology among the populace.
Despite
these transformations and pressures, Naturfreunde centres also served
as pockets of resistance against the Nazi regime. Marcus Funck's work,
'Naturfreunde in the Nazi Era', gives valuable insight into this aspect
by positing that the Naturfreunde centres, due to their historical
commitment to social and political reform, harboured dissenters and
acted as discreet nodes of the resistance movement. Evans corroborates
Funck's argument, asserting that Naturfreunde centres, due to their
historically egalitarian and left-leaning ethos, were likely to be
fertile ground for the resistance movement. However, Evans also points
out the danger in overstating the level of active resistance these
centres could offer, given the level of surveillance and repression by
the Gestapo and the fear of reprisals.
They
had come from Zolling
towards the direction of Freising. The prisoners had suffered abuse
continuously on every occasion with footsteps, butts, and strokes. In a
courtyard near Erlau north of Freising there was a basket with fodder
potatoes on which some of the starving men rushed. There was a commotion
with the armed guards who were used by four inmates to escape. Two of
them were found starving to death in a barn days later and have recently been identified as Polish farmer Adolf Lodowski and Russian Sergei Petrow.
They were buried with six soldiers and two ϟϟ members who had fought
with American soldiers on April 29 at the Amper near Zolling.
The
former site of the memorial to the west of Freising in this village
church of Hohenbachern shown left; no trace of it remains today.
Just
outside Hallbergmoos is this 1.20 metre high memorial on which is
written in bronze letters "In memory of the prisoners' march of April
29, 1945. Alberto Labro † May 8, 1945". It is intended to stand on the
path of the march, disturbing it as it commemorates the so-called death
march of around 300 concentration camp prisoners coming from Neufahrn
which ended in Hallbergmoos/Goldach. At the same time, a march of thirty
to 40 prisoners from the Straubing prison was underway. The escaped
Labro, formerly Mayor of Longwy in northern France, later died in the
Loibl estate, where he had found shelter. His body was eventually
exhumed in November 1946 and transferred to his hometown. He had been
sentenced to five years in prison for 'favouring the enemy' and was then
transferred from Brussels to Rheinbach and Kassel to Straubing. From
here, Labro had to start the march towards Dachau concentration camp on
April 24, 1945 together with around 3,000 other prisoners. On April 29,
Albert Labro gained freedom in Hallbergmoos - and died in a stable nine
days later. The fate of Albert Labro is described in detail by local
historian Karl-Heinz Zenker in his 120-page book "The Victims of the
Death Marches in the Freising District in Spring / Summer 1945" in
Collection Sheet 36 of the Heimat- und Traditionsverein Hallbergmoos in
which he also describes the fate of Dutch lawyer Johann
Backhuysen-Schuld who had escaped to schloss Erchingen on May 2, 1945
only to die in Freising hospital of general severe exhaustion and
circulatory paralysis.
At the Ritterturnier held every year on the Pentecost weekend in June on the meadows at the Hausler Hof just outside Hallbergmoos where a knights' tournament is held. I've visited many and although small, this is a great event. The tournament course consists in the middle of a long, coloured railing which separates the two riding arenas. Seconds after the starting call, the horses gallop towards each other as the knights in the saddle have their lances at the ready and their sights on the enemy's shield. When the lance hits, it shatters loudly with a knight needing three points to win, unless the opponent falls off his horse beforehand. Throughout the weekend knights demonstrate their weapons and explain how knights-errant may have once lived. Of course, a family-friendly programme of music and juggling is part of the market activity on the meadows. Besides the large market, a stage programme involving acrobatics and music takes place,
and Viking ships circling the lake, offering free trips to visitors although they were cancelled when we went in 2023. A
handicraft and grocer's market with around fifty stalls accompanies the
events. The high point of both evenings will be the knights, who will put on a fire show on horseback on Saturday and Sunday at around 21.30.
Despite
these transformations and pressures, Naturfreunde centres also served
as pockets of resistance against the Nazi regime. Marcus Funck's work,
'Naturfreunde in the Nazi Era', gives valuable insight into this aspect
by positing that the Naturfreunde centres, due to their historical
commitment to social and political reform, harboured dissenters and
acted as discreet nodes of the resistance movement. Evans corroborates
Funck's argument, asserting that Naturfreunde centres, due to their
historically egalitarian and left-leaning ethos, were likely to be
fertile ground for the resistance movement. However, Evans also points
out the danger in overstating the level of active resistance these
centres could offer, given the level of surveillance and repression by
the Gestapo and the fear of reprisals.Regardless
of the levels of resistance, the Nazi regime's suppression of the
Naturfreunde centres was ultimately successful. According to Bowman, the
regime's strategy of suppression was two-pronged: infiltration and
violent repression. Agents from the Gestapo infiltrated the centres,
reporting any signs of resistance, while overt signs of dissent were
brutally crushed. Many Naturfreunde members were arrested, and the
centres were either repurposed or closed. Marcus Funck provides a more
detailed account of the suppression through accounts of specific
instances of arrests, closures and even the execution of some
Naturfreunde members. This intensifying repression forced the centres
into a grim struggle for survival, and many eventually went into
dormancy or complete dissolution.
Memorial
in Aign about twenty miles north of Freising to the murdered crew of an
American B24 bomber, the Gawgia Peach (42-52709), which
crash-landed
near Sillertshausen in the district of Freising on June 13, 1944 during a
bombing mission to the Milbertshofen Ordnance Depot in Munich, by
German ME 109s. Almost all members of the ten-man crew managed to rescue
themselves via parachute only to have three of them- Dennis Griggs,
Theoron O. Ivy and Robert Boynton- murdered by the Nazis. On the right
is a photo of the crew of the 831st Squadron- The second man in the
front Row is Boynton; Theoron Ivy is second to the right alongside
flight engineer Francis Winners. Griggs, the copilot, is third in the
back row next to pilot Herbert Frels who, in 1999, received the
Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism from then- Texas Governor George
W. Bush. At the time Frels had been loaded into an ambulance and taken
to the Freising hospital (where my son was born) where he would stay for
two months before going to a PoW camp. Boynton was murdered on the
ground
by Nazi officials, as was Griggs who was killed by enraged German
villagers after parachuting down to safety. It is believed that Ivy was
killed several days later by the same group of Nazis.
As Kevin Hall concludes in his study Luftgangster over Germany: The Lynching of American Airmen in the Shadow of the Air War, If the historiography is accurate that a similar number of British war crime trials investigated the mistreatment of a comparable number of downed British airmen, the occurrences of Lynchjustiz committed against downed British and American airmen in Germany conservatively exceeded 600. However, the American and British war crime trials that investigated Lynchjustiz focused largely on the occupied areas of West Germany. Accounting for a large dark figure, which includes cases of Lynchjustiz that occurred in what became the German Democratic Republic, it is likely that there were at least 1,000 cases of Lynchjustiz against Allied airmen within Germany’s postwar borders. However, hundreds of cases remain overlooked, especially those in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and Poland. Preliminary research on violence against American airmen in the aforementioned nations concluded that Lynchjustiz occurred most often in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. This is reasonable given the increased number of airmen shot downed over these countries, the presence of German military and security forces, ardent collaborators, as well as civilians affected by the radicalised air war (tens of thousands of pro-Allied civilians died in bombings during the war). Taking into consideration Lynchjustiz committed against all Allied airmen throughout Europe results in a conservative estimate of 3,000 cases of mistreatment. Considering this, along with accounting for airmen abused in PoW and concentration camps and during death marches at the end of the war, it is likely that roughly one out of every ten Allied airman that survived being shot down was mistreated.
The incident served as the subject of a documentary by Marcus Siebler
Neufahrn bei Freising
Neufahrn was the site of a satellite camp men's camp where, on April 10 1945, exactly 500 prisoners from the Dachau concentration camp were brought where they occupied
a total of twelve residential barracks. No further barracks that had
already been built on the other side of the street were occupied until
the end of the war. There were also three functional barracks and
outside the camp barracks for the guards. The camp was surrounded by a
high fence and was illuminated by tall light poles. Within the enclosed
area the prisoners were expected to create a 1700-metre-long runway between Dietersheim and Eching for airplanes linked to the airbase at Schleissheim. They
also had to dig cover holes for the guards - tiny dots on aerial
photos taken by the USAAF. The inmates had to work with pickaxes and shovels, but eight of
them were also harnessed to wide leveling shovels. Aerial
photos from April 1945 documents where the Dachau subcamp was located
in Neufahrn, one of which is attached to the new memorial at
Dietersheimer Strasse 56 which was officially inaugurated on April 29,
2017, exactly 72 years after the liberation of the camp. These photos
show the visible traces that the war left in Neufahrn, shown above
superimposed with how Neufahrn looks today from a satellite map. 
On
Samweg shown on the left, for example, the spot where an American
military plane crashed right next to a residential building can be
discerned. One local, Andreas Stegschuster, still remembers the event
when, as a seven-year-old, he was at home with his siblings in his
parents' knitting factory on today's Samweg when suddenly an American
plane crashed right next to the house, and the children saw the burned
body of the pilot. According to him, "[h]e had a wedding ring on one
finger, but when we came back later, the finger and the ring were gone."
Further down Dietersheimer Strasse there were other barracks in the immediate
vicinity of the subcamp, but they were no longer occupied.
On
Samweg shown on the left, for example, the spot where an American
military plane crashed right next to a residential building can be
discerned. One local, Andreas Stegschuster, still remembers the event
when, as a seven-year-old, he was at home with his siblings in his
parents' knitting factory on today's Samweg when suddenly an American
plane crashed right next to the house, and the children saw the burned
body of the pilot. According to him, "[h]e had a wedding ring on one
finger, but when we came back later, the finger and the ring were gone."
Further down Dietersheimer Strasse there were other barracks in the immediate
vicinity of the subcamp, but they were no longer occupied. 
Where the local school is currently located on Fürholzer Weg there were
bunkers and barracks for air force helpers and the ϟϟ. Meanwhile the
impacts of emergency drops can be seen in southern Neufahrn - near the
gravel pit that later became a football field and is now a residential
area. The nearly 500 prisoners in the Dachau subcamp were liberated by
the Americans. During the last weeks of the war they were supposed to
build a runway for Nazi planes near the road. Neufahrn
historian Ernest Lang interviewed witnesses who related how two farmers
had thrown potatoes over the fence for the starving prisoners and were
then threatened by guards. An enlargement of the aerial photograph
attached to the monument shows twelve symmetrically arranged barracks
for the prisoners and to the south of them functional barracks as well
as outside the fence accommodation for the guards and next to them cover
holes, similar to those in the heather. Until recently, there were
remains of the building's foundations which had been discovered during
the excavation for the new building area. 
During
his research, Lang came across a letter with which the municipality had
raised an objection to the construction of the runway, asking for it to
be moved one kilometre south or else "the best potato-growing areas
would be destroyed" and the site would be at risk if the nearby runway
were targeted by attacks. The runway was never finished; on the aerial
photo, only a 350-metre-long, partially paved strip of earth can be
seen. The further course was already marked out when the Americans
occupied Neufahrn. After the liberation, the prisoners were looked after
by the local farmers, the youngest being 18 years old. Eventually the
prisoners left the place although the camp elder, Josef von der Bank,
stayed, starting a family in Neufahrn and was a founding member of FC
Neufahrn. The situation in nearby Dietersheim was much worse
given the many ϟϟ men present and the heavy guns from the flak batteries
ready to fire. At 2.30 in the morning an American infantry division
approached from Eching on the road and across the heath. A machine gun
was set up at the crossroads in the middle of the village and was firing
as fighting took place on the outskirts of the village. Eventually
around an hundred German soldiers were taken prisoner and six ϟϟ soldiers
killed. The
parish was plundered by Russians, Poles and the concentration camp
prisoners who were housed in Neufahrn with looting continuing in the
weeks after the invasion and even up to August, especially in the
farmhouses with Dietersheim especially suffering. Apparently American
soldiers also acted violently in some houses and forced people to
deliver food with bicycle theft a common occurence. Pigs were stolen
from several farmers a branch of the Oberpollinger company in Munich was
completely looted.
During
his research, Lang came across a letter with which the municipality had
raised an objection to the construction of the runway, asking for it to
be moved one kilometre south or else "the best potato-growing areas
would be destroyed" and the site would be at risk if the nearby runway
were targeted by attacks. The runway was never finished; on the aerial
photo, only a 350-metre-long, partially paved strip of earth can be
seen. The further course was already marked out when the Americans
occupied Neufahrn. After the liberation, the prisoners were looked after
by the local farmers, the youngest being 18 years old. Eventually the
prisoners left the place although the camp elder, Josef von der Bank,
stayed, starting a family in Neufahrn and was a founding member of FC
Neufahrn. The situation in nearby Dietersheim was much worse
given the many ϟϟ men present and the heavy guns from the flak batteries
ready to fire. At 2.30 in the morning an American infantry division
approached from Eching on the road and across the heath. A machine gun
was set up at the crossroads in the middle of the village and was firing
as fighting took place on the outskirts of the village. Eventually
around an hundred German soldiers were taken prisoner and six ϟϟ soldiers
killed. The
parish was plundered by Russians, Poles and the concentration camp
prisoners who were housed in Neufahrn with looting continuing in the
weeks after the invasion and even up to August, especially in the
farmhouses with Dietersheim especially suffering. Apparently American
soldiers also acted violently in some houses and forced people to
deliver food with bicycle theft a common occurence. Pigs were stolen
from several farmers a branch of the Oberpollinger company in Munich was
completely looted. 
The
prisoners at Neufahrn were also supposed to build another airfield at
Garchinger Heide, but it was never finished although they did manage to
remove the soil for the slope. It's at Garchinger Heide that a
remarkable archaeological site in Eching is located- these bronze age
burial mounds dating between 1800- 1000 BCE. Thirteen of the more than
fifty barrows were opened which contained nine skeletons as well as
jewelery, weapons and ceramics which are now in the archive of the
Prehistoric Collection in Munich.
Hohenkammer
Schloss
Hohenkammer in kreis Freising, flying the Nazi flag. The influence of
the Nazis on the residents of the almost five hundred
inhabitants of the village was considerable. When the rural communities
in kreis Freising were brought into line in April 1933, the estate
inspector of the castle estate and provisional base manager of the Nazi Party
in Hohenkammer, Josef Münsterer, became a member of the town council
and its second mayor. The Nazi Party and SA had moved into the castle with
the swastika flag hoisted above, becoming the most important employer in
the village. Those who did not go to the party had to worry about being
hired. On July 29, 1945, the Seidenberger Spiritual Council reported
how "[i]n recent years, the NSDAP has exerted a strong influence on
Hohenkammer and the surrounding area, particularly in terms of school,
the growing youth, and all those who were associated with Hohenkammer
Castle: Workers, women, and so on. All Hitler laws were strictly
implemented, especially at school. Even worse was the party's influence
on the continuing education school, which was used for party political
events. The castle authorities exerted enormous pressure on the
population…. "
The church as it appeared in a Nazi-era postcard franked in 1942.
A
recent exhibition titled "Hohenkammer in the Nazi era, names instead of
numbers - life stories from the village resistance" held in the Alte
Gaststube on the grounds of the castle celebrated the reistance of three
school boys from Hohenkammer, Korbinian Geisenhofer, Thomas and Anton
Held and Thomas Groß, who refused to submit to the Nazis in 1933.
Geisenhofer and the Held brothers were declared opponents of the Nazis.
Whether Thomas Groß came to the Nazi authorities because of his own
political convictions or because of his friendship with Geisenhofer and
the others isn't clear, but even
before the Nazis came to power in Bavaria, boys from Hohenkammer
had split into opponents and supporters of the Nazis.
On the morning of June 30, 1933, Groß, together with Geisenhofer and Thomas Held, were arrested by the village constable Friedrich Stoller and taken to the Freising District Court Prison. That day, the three were transferred to the Dachau concentration camp as “protective prisoners”. The night before, from June 28th to 29th, a solstice celebration had taken place in Hohenkammer. As in many other places, it was organised by the SA, Nazi Party and Hitler Youth to celebrate the success of the Nazis to win over the youth. The day after the celebration in Hohenkammer, Münsterer wrote to Special Commissioner Lechner in Freising: “Everyone is thrilled with the beautiful course of the celebration. Only a red opposition group has been working against us for weeks by all means. This morning, to our greatest surprise, we were able to find the KPD's sickle and hammer on the concrete road in the middle of town, painted with red oil paint. The same signs were also found on a pillar at the garden entrance of a member of the party. We could not determine who the perpetrators were, but we ask the following people, known as ringleaders, to move in.” The names of the three boys then followed. It is uncertain whether the three really had anything to do with any graffiti as they always denied the accusations of the Nazi authorities that they were communists, and no evidence was presented.
Nevertheless,
even after they were released from Dachau months later, they made no
secret of their opposition and in 1934 got into a fight with members of
the SA and ϟϟ at the sports school that had been set up in the
schloß, followng a parish dance organised at the Riesch inn In
Unterwohlbach by
boys from Hohenkammer who had not joined the party or the SA. When the
ball was over, a delegation from the military sports school was waiting
for the boys resulting in a fight as a result of which Anton and Thomas
Held and Geisenhofer were arrested and sent to the concentration camp
for the second time. Unlike his friends, Thomas Groß was lucky enough
to be released after a few days in prison as stated in a letter from the
political police to the commandant of the concentration camp from July
3, 1933 stating that he had left the same evening Has been released in
protective custody. Although the district office of Freising tried on
July 18 to prevent his release, Groß was able to return home, no doubt
due to his brother-in-law, Johann Neugebauer, serving as an ϟϟ troop
leader in Munich. The day after the arrest, he had written a letter to
the commander of the political police in Munich and Himmler himself,
asking for Thomas Groß to be released n his letter, emphasising that
Groß had never been a KPD member but in fact had even expressed a
wish"to join the SA." The brother-in-law confirmed the close friendship
with Geisenhofer, but claimed that political motives had not played a
role citing Groß's family's links with the Nazis Party as evidence and
how in 1932 Groß would occasionally hand out leaflets that Neugebauer
had sent him during the election campaign. On April 29, 1938, Groß died
at the age of 26 in the hospital in Pfaffenhofen due to stomach
complications and was buried in his father's grave.
On the morning of June 30, 1933, Groß, together with Geisenhofer and Thomas Held, were arrested by the village constable Friedrich Stoller and taken to the Freising District Court Prison. That day, the three were transferred to the Dachau concentration camp as “protective prisoners”. The night before, from June 28th to 29th, a solstice celebration had taken place in Hohenkammer. As in many other places, it was organised by the SA, Nazi Party and Hitler Youth to celebrate the success of the Nazis to win over the youth. The day after the celebration in Hohenkammer, Münsterer wrote to Special Commissioner Lechner in Freising: “Everyone is thrilled with the beautiful course of the celebration. Only a red opposition group has been working against us for weeks by all means. This morning, to our greatest surprise, we were able to find the KPD's sickle and hammer on the concrete road in the middle of town, painted with red oil paint. The same signs were also found on a pillar at the garden entrance of a member of the party. We could not determine who the perpetrators were, but we ask the following people, known as ringleaders, to move in.” The names of the three boys then followed. It is uncertain whether the three really had anything to do with any graffiti as they always denied the accusations of the Nazi authorities that they were communists, and no evidence was presented.
Nevertheless,
even after they were released from Dachau months later, they made no
secret of their opposition and in 1934 got into a fight with members of
the SA and ϟϟ at the sports school that had been set up in the
schloß, followng a parish dance organised at the Riesch inn In
Unterwohlbach by
boys from Hohenkammer who had not joined the party or the SA. When the
ball was over, a delegation from the military sports school was waiting
for the boys resulting in a fight as a result of which Anton and Thomas
Held and Geisenhofer were arrested and sent to the concentration camp
for the second time. Unlike his friends, Thomas Groß was lucky enough
to be released after a few days in prison as stated in a letter from the
political police to the commandant of the concentration camp from July
3, 1933 stating that he had left the same evening Has been released in
protective custody. Although the district office of Freising tried on
July 18 to prevent his release, Groß was able to return home, no doubt
due to his brother-in-law, Johann Neugebauer, serving as an ϟϟ troop
leader in Munich. The day after the arrest, he had written a letter to
the commander of the political police in Munich and Himmler himself,
asking for Thomas Groß to be released n his letter, emphasising that
Groß had never been a KPD member but in fact had even expressed a
wish"to join the SA." The brother-in-law confirmed the close friendship
with Geisenhofer, but claimed that political motives had not played a
role citing Groß's family's links with the Nazis Party as evidence and
how in 1932 Groß would occasionally hand out leaflets that Neugebauer
had sent him during the election campaign. On April 29, 1938, Groß died
at the age of 26 in the hospital in Pfaffenhofen due to stomach
complications and was buried in his father's grave.
Allershausen
For
Allershausen the war ended suddenly in quick succession starting at
8.15 when the 17th ϟϟ Panzer Grenadier Division "Götz von Berlichingen"
departed the area followed twenty minutes later by the sight of white
flag on the church tower. This was particularly dangerous given that a
member of the division shot and killed the mayor of Burgthann, twenty
kilometres southeast of Nuremberg, shortly before on April 17 after he
had raised white flags as a sign of surrender. Mayor Andreas Fischer,
who had been in office since 1935, was ordered to remove the flags
again. When he refused, he was shot by a soldier from the division. In
fact, a later trial against the soldier was discontinued in 1958 because
he had acted according to the law applicable at the time, the so-called
flag order which had been issued in April by Himmler, according to
which every male person from a house on which a white flag was hung was
to be shot immediately. This allowed members of the Wehrmacht and ϟϟ to
simply execute civilians without a court martial and in arbitrary
vigilante justice although already by 8.45 American tanks were entering
the town.
Drake
Winston investigating wartime ruins along the Isarweg bicycle route
towards Munich at Mintraching (Grüneck) bei Neufahrn. It was a few yards
away on April 29 that, whilst around 30 to 40 inmates of the Straubing
penitentiary moved through Goldach towards Mintraching in the
afternoon, machine gun fire in front of the Isar bridge occurred.
According to reports from pastor Franz Josef Roßberger from Eching and
Dr. Joachim
Birkner from Goldach, at around 2:30 p.m. a
single armoured car from the American Army freed a group of about 250
prisoners
from the Straubing prison, which had been moving on the road from
Freising to
Munich, and brought it to Eching. This group had also been observed by
Ludwig
Gilch from Mintraching. Another thirty to forty inmates of the
Straubing penitentiary moved through Goldach towards Mintraching that
afternoon. After the machine gun fire,
the group disbanded, the guards disappeared and the prisoners were
housed in the surrounding farms.
Zolling
Nazi-era
postcard of the town showing how much has been developed since the war
when American troops moved from Zolling on April 29, 1945 to Freising.
Such development can also be seen in the area around the war memorial,
again shown during the Nazi era and today.
Attenkirchen
A few miles north of the Amper
Memorial
to Kurt Willi Schmidt, born on July 15, 1924 in Gera, Thuringia. The
non-commissioned officer died at this point in the municipality of
Fürholzen near Neufahrn bei Freising, with his ME 109 G6 fighter plane
was shot down during a dogfight with an Allied bomber group. He had four
siblings; one of his brothers died of war injuries, the other committed
suicide after the war ended. Kurt's fate remained with his mother and
long unknown to his sisters, since the father kept the news of Kurt's
death secret, to the mother's hopes that at least one of her sons would
go to war had survived not to destroy. Kurt died on April 24, 1944, at
just 19 years of age in Fürholzen in the district of Freising. The young
non-commissioned officer flew a Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6 on that day to
intercept an American bomber squadron moving to Munich, where he was
shot down. He probably died already in the air, as there are no
eyewitnesses when the burning fighter plane crashes Watched the
parachute rise. The plane wreck was finally found 69 years after the
crash by local historians under the direction of Marco Grätz and Ernst
Keller who managed to identify Kurt Schmidt as a pilot using the
nameplate of the aircraft. His surviving sisters learned about the
discovery only after the investigators appealed to a local newspaper to
contact them. A memorial stone was erected at the crash site on the
occasion of Kurt's 70th anniversary of death, erected by the Krieger-
und Soldatenverein Massenhausen/Fürholzen/Hetzenhausen. His
final resting place is in the war cemetery at Schönau near
Berchtesgaden.
Two miles south of Niederhummel are the remains of a Roman road.
Memorial
to Kurt Willi Schmidt, born on July 15, 1924 in Gera, Thuringia. The
non-commissioned officer died at this point in the municipality of
Fürholzen near Neufahrn bei Freising, with his ME 109 G6 fighter plane
was shot down during a dogfight with an Allied bomber group. He had four
siblings; one of his brothers died of war injuries, the other committed
suicide after the war ended. Kurt's fate remained with his mother and
long unknown to his sisters, since the father kept the news of Kurt's
death secret, to the mother's hopes that at least one of her sons would
go to war had survived not to destroy. Kurt died on April 24, 1944, at
just 19 years of age in Fürholzen in the district of Freising. The young
non-commissioned officer flew a Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6 on that day to
intercept an American bomber squadron moving to Munich, where he was
shot down. He probably died already in the air, as there are no
eyewitnesses when the burning fighter plane crashes Watched the
parachute rise. The plane wreck was finally found 69 years after the
crash by local historians under the direction of Marco Grätz and Ernst
Keller who managed to identify Kurt Schmidt as a pilot using the
nameplate of the aircraft. His surviving sisters learned about the
discovery only after the investigators appealed to a local newspaper to
contact them. A memorial stone was erected at the crash site on the
occasion of Kurt's 70th anniversary of death, erected by the Krieger-
und Soldatenverein Massenhausen/Fürholzen/Hetzenhausen. His
final resting place is in the war cemetery at Schönau near
Berchtesgaden. 
