Oberschleißheim
Hitler visiting the airfield at Oberschleißheim, showing particular interest in the Udet U 12 Flamingo, an aerobatic sports plane and trainer aircraft developed in Germany in the mid-1920s. In February 1942 Hitler referred to his visit here in his Table Talk (273) when reminiscing about the chaos he found after the Great War:
Closer look at the damage
It was through Geoff Walden's site Third Reich in Ruins that inspired my first trip through Germany in 2007, and in particular his section on Oberschleissheim in which he shows the following photograph of his father- 2nd Lt. Delbert R. Walden, who was stationed at the Oberschleissheim Airfield with the 344th Bomb Group in 1946 after it was occupied by the U.S. Army Air Forces in April 1945- posing "in front of the adjacent Schleissheim Palace (which had suffered bomb damage during the war)." His outstanding site was originally based itself from the photos taken by his father whilst stationed in Germany as part of the Army of Occupation from December 1945 to July 1946.
I therefore went to Dachau with Goring. We had the impression we'd fallen into a bandits' lair. Their first concern was to ask us for the password. We were led into the presence of a woman. I remember her, for this was the first time I saw a woman with her hair dressed like a boy's. She was surrounded by a gang of individuals with gallows-birds' faces. This was Schäffer's wife. We drove the bargain, although not without my warning them that they wouldn't see the colour of my money until the weapons were in my possession. We also found, on the airfield at Schleissheim, thousands of rifles,mess-tins, haversacks, a pile of useless junk. But, after it had been repaired, there would be enough to equip a regiment.
Before the war and today from the front and rear of the palace. During the war the air base was heavily bombed, which also led to considerable damage in the area and the schloß. The Altes schloß
suffered severe damage during the war and was still in a ruinous state
decades after the end of the war. A restoration took place from 1970
onwards, but not all of the historical interiors have been restored, but
some of them have been modernised for museum use.
Himmler had been appointed assistant administrator in an artificial fertiliser factory, the Stickstoff-Land-GmbH, here in Schleissheim having benefited from family connections given that the brother of a former colleague of his father’s had a senior position in the factory. According to his biographer Peter Longerich, he remained at this job for just over a year, from September 1, 1922 until the end of September 1923. According to his reference from the firm, during his time he had "taken an active part particularly in the setting up and assessment of various basic fertilisation experiments." Just over a month after he left he experienced the event that was to influence his decision to make politics his profession- his participation in the Hitlerputsch of November 1923.
Closer look at the damage
Kubrick's 'Paths of Glory' with Kirk Douglas was shot at Oberschleißheim, with the schloß serving as the French Army Headquarters. On the occasion of Douglas's hundredth birthday in 2016, the legendary actor spoke of what he described his “peculiar” friendship with Kubrick stating how “[h]e was a bastard! But he was a talented, talented guy.” Their partnership began in 1955, when Douglas hired Kubrick to direct the film “Paths of Glory and it didn't take long for the two to begin clashing, a result of Kubrick having made major script rewrites without Douglas’ approval or knowledge. In the end, Douglas forced the director to use the original version. “Difficult? [Kubrick] invented the word,” Douglas complained.
Considered one of the best anti-war films ever, it in fact only casually discusses the cruelty and futility of the war. An anti-militarist film, above all it is a bitter parable on governance structures and a commitment against the death penalty. 
With this film Kubrick achieved the final international breakthrough. Kubrick initially struggled to find a production company for the project until Kirk Douglas agreed to star in and produce the film with his own company Bryna and support from United Artists.
With this film Kubrick achieved the final international breakthrough. Kubrick initially struggled to find a production company for the project until Kirk Douglas agreed to star in and produce the film with his own company Bryna and support from United Artists.
The film was made between March and May 1957 in the Bavaria Film Studios Geiselgasteig and here in Schloss Schleißheim with the battle scenes filmed in a field near Puchheim. It was during the filming that Kubrick met his future third wife Susanne Christiane Harlan, who sings he German folk song The Faithful Hussar in the final scene. At first, scriptwriter Jim Thompson had developed a softer, positive ending in which General Broulard pardoned Dax at the last second and punished the three soldiers with only thirty days imprisonment instead of execution. Kirk Douglas and the third scriptwriter Calder Willingham convinced Kubrick, however, to give the film a negative and thus commercially less promising, but more credible end. The soldiers were supplied by 9,733 conscripts who had been born in 1937. Although they could handle weapons, they sprang from the trenches far too cautiously and heroically. On September 18, 1957, the film premiered in Munich.
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| Drake Winston standing in for Kirk Douglas |
Whilst the movie was never officially banned, as similar massive protests were expected from military personnel and, on the other hand, students demonstrating against the Algerian war, as in Belgium (which often led to performance stops in Brussels), no attempt was made by the distributor to submit it to the censorship authority. The title sequence of the film is underlaid at the beginning with the Marseillaise. However, when the French government protested against the use of the national anthem, it was replaced by percussion instruments in countries considered particularly Francophile. In the French sector of Berlin, the responsible city commander issued in June 1958 a performance ban. He also threatened to withdraw the French festival contributions from the Berlin International Film Festival if Paths of Glory were to be shown in West Berlin cinemas during the festival. Governing Mayor Willy Brandt publicly described this as a "step back to 1948". After appeals by the Berlin Senate, United Artists finally took the film from the festival programme. Provided with an embarrassing preface stating how the incidents shown in the film were not to be considered representative of the army or the people of France, the film was allowed to finally premiere in November in the French sector.
In this scene one can see how Kubrick often creates a harsh dichotomy between the misery on the front to the luxury of baroque castles. The narrowness of the trenches is in contrast to the vastness of old castles. When shooting this scene Kubrick used high-key technology in which the lighting is surprisingly bright. On the checkerboard-like floor where the court martial is held, the actors act like playing pieces. In contrast the dark prison, filmed in the stable of the castle, was filmed with few bright hatches sharp contrasting contrasts. The judgment of the judges in the procedure is left out, instead a black aperture appears. This same ballroom later transforms after the trial into the place where General Broulard, together with other high-ranking people, celebrates a splendid ballnight. 
The Großer Saal before and after the war, heavily damaged, and today with the wife.
The room serves to glorify Max Emanuel as elector and victorious general against the Turks. On either side of the room are two paintings by Franz Joachim Beich showing the military exploits of Max Emanuel. The stucco decoration by Johann Baptist Zimmermann featuring draperies, weapons and trophies date from 1722. The ceiling is by Venetian Jacopo Amigoni showing the "Battle of Aeneas and Turnus for the hand of princess Lavinia" from which Aeneas emerges victorious- a metaphorical nod to Max Emanuel who too frequently found himself in exile. The room extends over two storeys in the middle of the main building and is flooded with window light from both sides. The stucco is by Johann Baptist Zimmermann based on the designs of Joseph Effner.
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| After its bombing and today |
The colossal ceiling fresco by Jacopo Amigoni and two paintings on the narrow sides by Franz Joachim Beich depict the acts of war by Max Emanuel. Between 1703 and 1704, two monumental paintings were created that were firmly installed in the Great Hall of the castle. With a size of 5.10 x 9.69 metres in size and a weight of about 1.5 tonnes, the Relief of Vienna 1683 and The Battle of Mohács 1687 are the largest paintings in Bavarian state property (and probably the largest in Germany). Outside the world of art the Elector Max Emanuel of Bavaria has been the victim of consistently bad press and he is perhaps best known to the English-speaking world as the German princeling who backed the wrong horse and was soundly defeated at the Battle of Blenheim, the most famous victory of John Churchill, 1st duke of Marlborough, whose most notable descendant and biographer would of course be Sir Winston Churchill. This view of Emanuel is epitomised by the dismissive statement in the Encyclopaedia Britannica that he "had a restless character and was full of schemes which were of little benefit to his country." Nevertheless, throughout the schloss one can see Emanuel constantly being likened to Æneas and celebrated as a successful military commander over the Ottomans and the Allies during the War of Spanish Succession.
The room also served as the office of Christoph Waltz's Cardinal Richelieu in The Three Musketeers (2011) .
Standing in the Viktoriensaal, adjacent to the Great Hall, looking towards Jacopo Amigoni's painting Max Emanuel Receiving the Turkish Ambassadors (1721-1722). The room's additional ten battle scenes of Max Emanuel during the Turkish Wars of 1683-88 by Beich were created between 1720-1725. Both their rich detail and Beich's conscientiousness- he even visited the scenes of battles- make the paintings a valuable source of military knowledge. Surrounding the room from above are sculpted Hercules busts designed by Robert de Cotte with putti reliefs by Dubut. Considered one of the most beautiful interior decorations of the Baroque period, its three narrow high wall cupboards, which are embedded in the eastern wall, used to contain Turkish flags captured at the time by the Elector. The Viktoriensaal also served as a dining room. Its ceiling fresco "Dido receives Aeneas" was also painted by Amigoni and shows Æneas exiled from burning Troy being received by Queen Dido of Carthage whilst in the sky Venus, accompanied by cupids, forges a love affair. It has been argued that Max Emanuel primarily commissioned these paintings as a means of whitewashing the political mistakes that he had made during the War of the Spanish Succession, instead strategically focusing his contemporaries' attention on his earlier conquests over the Turks and away from his former, scandalous alliance with the French, which had caused him to be banned from the Empire and forced him into exile in Belgium and France. Besides serving the Elector's propagandistic political aims, Amigoni's pictorial program equally expressed Max Emanuel's life-long dynastic goals of attaining Bavarian kingship and advancing the claims of the Wittelsbach House to the Imperial throne. Whilst the Elector's motivations in commissioning these paintings spoke to his own specific concerns, they broadly evolved alongside contemporary French and Austrian diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire.
The Great Gallery before the war and today, extensively renovated. The magnificent interior decoration was the work of well-known artists such as Johann Baptist Zimmermann, Cosmas Damian Asam and Jacopo Amigoni. The Gallery Rooms contain masterpieces from the European baroque era. For its 57 metre-long layout the garden side behind the Great Hall was also employed by Robert de Cotte. It has been restored to its original state as much as possible during recent renovations, although its most significant masterpieces are now exhibited in the Alte Pinakothek. The six gilded console tables with their tabletops from Tegernsee marble are masterpieces of the Munich court art under Elector Max Emanuel, who had them carved 1722-1725 by court sculptor Johann Adam Pichler to designs by the Schleißheimer palace architect Joseph Effner for the Great Gallery. In 1761 they were supplemented by another table pair. From the time of Max Emanuel's grandson Elector Maximilian III. Joseph also acquired the five monumental glass chandeliers, which are around 1.70 metres high, and have been acquired in Vienna. 
The wife above the main staircase, shown then and now. This is architecturally the most significant area of the schloß and owes its inspiration to Henrico Zuccalli who created a division of stairways and landings within a high wide hall, which was soon recognised as exemplary and which would inspire Balthasar Neumann when he designed the staircases for the palaces at Brühl and Würzburg. The dome fresco by Cosmas Damian Asam shows the representation of Venus in the Forge of Vulcan, in which the weapons are made for her son Aeneas. Again, Aeneas in the baroque pose with periwig bears unmistakable traits of Elector Max Emanuel. This presentation was the first secular theme painted by the famous Bavarian fresco painter Asam and finds its thematic continuation in the ceiling paintings with scenes from the Trojan War (according to Virgil's "Æneid") in the neighbouring ballrooms.
The movie also provided the setting for the enigmatic Last Year in Marienbad (1961)
The movie won the Golden Lion at the 1961 Venice film festival whilst at the same time decried as an "aimless disaster" by Pauline Kael. It has been included
in both Michael Medved’s "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (And How They
Got That Way)" and Steven Shneider’s “1001 Movies You Must See Before
You Die” which demonstrates how much the film has continued to divide contemporary critics and audiences. Schleissheim's castle and grounds helped create one of the most exquisite films of all time, fitting the opening monologue's description of the site which seems to foreshadow Kubrick's The Shining:Silent rooms where one’s footsteps are absorbed by carpets so thick, so heavy, that no sound reaches one’s ear, as if the very ear of him walks on… once again along those corridors, through these salons and galleries in this edifice of a bygone era, this sprawling, sumptuous, baroque, gloomy hotel, where one endless corridor follows another, silent empty corridors, heavy with cold, dark woodwork, stucco, moulded panelling, marble, black mirrors, dark-toned portraits, columns, sculpted door-frames, rows of doorways, galleries, side corridors, that in turn lead to empty salons, salons heavy with ornamentation of a bygone era…as if the ground were still sand or gravel or flagstones over which I walked once again…as if in search of you between walls laden with woodwork…among which even then I was waiting for you…far from this setting in which I now find myself standing before you waiting for the man who will not be coming now, who is not likely to come now to part us again, to tear you away from me. Will you come?
The staircase as it appears in Last Year in Marienbad and with the wife today.
The room also provided the set for the film's hotel lobby
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| 1971 and today |
The canal with the Lustheim behind, then and now.
The Lustheim was built by Enrico Zuccalli as a garden villa in Italian style in 1684-1688 for Maximilian II Emanuel and his first wife, the Austrian princess Maria Antonia. It lies on a circular island at the end of the baroque court garden. The interior is dominated by the large banqueting hall in the middle of the building. The frescoes were done by Johann Anton Gumpp, Francesco Rosa and Johann Andreas Trubillio. Since 1968 the palace has housed a grand collection of Meissen porcelain, only outranged by the Porzellansammlung in the Zwinger, Dresden. The palace once formed the centre point of a semicircle of round buildings. Two pavilions still exist: To the south of Lustheim Place the Renatus Chapel was erected in 1686 by Zuccalli in a pavilion. The northern pavilion houses the decorated stable which was built for the favourite horses of Elector Max Emanuel. The baroque court garden, laid out by Dominique Girard and others, is still largely in its original form.
The Lustheim was built by Enrico Zuccalli as a garden villa in Italian style in 1684-1688 for Maximilian II Emanuel and his first wife, the Austrian princess Maria Antonia. It lies on a circular island at the end of the baroque court garden. The interior is dominated by the large banqueting hall in the middle of the building. The frescoes were done by Johann Anton Gumpp, Francesco Rosa and Johann Andreas Trubillio. Since 1968 the palace has housed a grand collection of Meissen porcelain, only outranged by the Porzellansammlung in the Zwinger, Dresden. The palace once formed the centre point of a semicircle of round buildings. Two pavilions still exist: To the south of Lustheim Place the Renatus Chapel was erected in 1686 by Zuccalli in a pavilion. The northern pavilion houses the decorated stable which was built for the favourite horses of Elector Max Emanuel. The baroque court garden, laid out by Dominique Girard and others, is still largely in its original form.
The Schlosswirtschaft (palace restaurant) on April 1, 1937 during the commemoration of the air field's 25th anniversary with high-ranking Nazi officials and, as I later found out by chance, as it appeared in Paths of Glory. The Schloßwirtschaft Oberschleißheim Biergarten is located on the palace grounds, with seating for over a thousand guests. Its roots can be traced back to 1597, when the founder of the Hofbräuhaus brewery retired to a farm there. Following the building of the New Schleissheim Palace in the 17th century, the Schloßwirtschaft provided catering to its workers and servants and later supported a royal brewery followed which, along with the introduction of a railway link to Landshut, allowed the Schloßwirtschaft to gain popularity. With the establishment of the airfield in 1912 the Schloßwirtschaft became a regular meeting place amongst pilots although the brewery itself has since closed.
Nearby in the same grounds is this memorial to downed airmen of the Great War. Military aviation was a completely new discipline during the First World War, and Schleißheim was its centre in Bavaria. When the Great War broke out in 1914, the first motorised human flight was just eleven years old. In 1912 the Kingdom of Bavaria had still retained an independent army and entered military aviation. A "Luftschiffer- and Kraftfahrabteilung" of the army was formed and stationed by order of the war Ministry of March 15, 1912 with a "flying company" in Schleißheim. The first biplane landed on extensive areas of the state-owned Remonte depot, a training centre for military horses, on April 16. Three tents and rebuilt buildings of the Remonte depot formed the nucleus of the airfield. With Germany's mobilisation on August 1, Schleißheim found itself the only flier replacement section of the Bavarian Army with 44 officers, 52 NCOs and 239 men under the command of Hauptmann, later Major Friedrich Stempel. 
From the beginning of the war until the end of 1916, all flight personnel were trained here and all machines were serviced and sent to the front. From then until the end of the war, it remained the center and most important aviation location. As early as August 7, the first three aviation departments, together with sixteen aircraft, set off for Lorraine in support of infantry on the western front. The aircraft were disassembled in their home companies, stowed on railroad cars and transported to the front, where they were reassembled and placed in tents. Maintenance and repair then took place again in the aviation replacement departments. Aircraft were intended in the war strategy 1914 exclusively for reconnaissance. A pilot and an observer stared out of the air or shot photos, which were then sent to the High Command for strategic planning. Only during the course of the war were suitable armament systems developed, and thus the discipline of fighter flying established, which now produced with the "Avenger Assen"- a completely new type of modern war hero. Incidentally, one of the most famous, Ernst Udet, was rejected by the Bavarian Fliegerkompanie in Schleißheim for being too small; he had to join the Prussian flyers. 
In Schleißheim 900 pilots and 735 observers were trained during the World War. In average three-month courses, the pilots were trained and certified after a cross-country flight of at least 250 kilometres to completion as front-compatible. The observers, who had to be qualified given their strategic tasks in contrast to the pilots in the officer rank, had initially only the camera to use, but later also the on-board weapon, usually a mounted on the fuselage machine gun. As fast as the new war technology developed, the capacities in the flying company in Schleißheim had to keep pace feverishly. The first fortified building on the new airfield, a workshop building with guard and commandant, was built by 1913 and is now part of the German Museum. It included two wooden aircraft hangars. Even in peacetime, two team barracks, an officer's dorm, a pump house and a sewage treatment plant, a stable, a vehicle garage and two other aircraft hangars were built. By 1916, when the "Hindenburg Programme" expanded armaments and especially aviation exponentially, the strength of the Fliegerersatzabteilung in Schleißheim tripled. Gigantic expansion plans however were never fully implemented. The soldiers had to be quartered privately in the village; in inns, in the schoolhouse, and even in unused rooms of the castles. At the end of 1917, 245 officers were stationed in Schleißheim. In addition, 273 women provided auxiliary services as typists, travelling daily by train from Munich due to the lack of remaining accommodation in Schleissheim. From mid-1916, six other flying schools were built in Bavaria, end of 1917, a second flyer replacement department in Fürth. 
Observer training was reserved exclusively for Schleißheim and the airfield was now listed as MilFlSch (Military Aviation School), FlBeobSch (Fliegerbeobachterschule), FlFuSch (Fliegerfunkerschule) and Libist (Lichtbildstelle). The Observer School, the core of the Bavarian military flight training, received its own building on the west side of the Würm Canal in early 1917 with the increasing requirements imposed by the war. The showpiece was a state-of-the-art artillery and bomber classroom with a flight simulator, in which the flight attendants were able to practice shooting with on board machine guns. Crashes in and around the airfield were documented repeatedly. The exhibition halls of the museum were built around the historic Kommandantur, the oldest surviving relic of the airfield from the time of the Royal Bavarian Air Force. At the end of the war Schleißheim served as a location of a free corps in the process of eradicating the Munich Soviet Republic. In the plans of the government for the construction of a Reichswehr of the German Reich Schleißheim received the status of a Reichswehr pilot station. On January 10, 1920 however, the Treaty of Versailles came into force, which demanded the complete demobilisation of the German Air Force. On May 8, 1920, the Bavarian Air Force was dissolved. In Schleißheim airfield buildings were demolished or dismantled and delivered to France. The new shipyard, which was started in 1918 and was under construction until the end of the war, was completed, but then leased as a cattle shed following the ban of the Treaty of Versailles. Rudolf Hess was stationed here after the Great War, and his
Nearby in the same grounds is this memorial to downed airmen of the Great War. Military aviation was a completely new discipline during the First World War, and Schleißheim was its centre in Bavaria. When the Great War broke out in 1914, the first motorised human flight was just eleven years old. In 1912 the Kingdom of Bavaria had still retained an independent army and entered military aviation. A "Luftschiffer- and Kraftfahrabteilung" of the army was formed and stationed by order of the war Ministry of March 15, 1912 with a "flying company" in Schleißheim. The first biplane landed on extensive areas of the state-owned Remonte depot, a training centre for military horses, on April 16. Three tents and rebuilt buildings of the Remonte depot formed the nucleus of the airfield. With Germany's mobilisation on August 1, Schleißheim found itself the only flier replacement section of the Bavarian Army with 44 officers, 52 NCOs and 239 men under the command of Hauptmann, later Major Friedrich Stempel. 
From the beginning of the war until the end of 1916, all flight personnel were trained here and all machines were serviced and sent to the front. From then until the end of the war, it remained the center and most important aviation location. As early as August 7, the first three aviation departments, together with sixteen aircraft, set off for Lorraine in support of infantry on the western front. The aircraft were disassembled in their home companies, stowed on railroad cars and transported to the front, where they were reassembled and placed in tents. Maintenance and repair then took place again in the aviation replacement departments. Aircraft were intended in the war strategy 1914 exclusively for reconnaissance. A pilot and an observer stared out of the air or shot photos, which were then sent to the High Command for strategic planning. Only during the course of the war were suitable armament systems developed, and thus the discipline of fighter flying established, which now produced with the "Avenger Assen"- a completely new type of modern war hero. Incidentally, one of the most famous, Ernst Udet, was rejected by the Bavarian Fliegerkompanie in Schleißheim for being too small; he had to join the Prussian flyers. In Schleißheim 900 pilots and 735 observers were trained during the World War. In average three-month courses, the pilots were trained and certified after a cross-country flight of at least 250 kilometres to completion as front-compatible. The observers, who had to be qualified given their strategic tasks in contrast to the pilots in the officer rank, had initially only the camera to use, but later also the on-board weapon, usually a mounted on the fuselage machine gun. As fast as the new war technology developed, the capacities in the flying company in Schleißheim had to keep pace feverishly. The first fortified building on the new airfield, a workshop building with guard and commandant, was built by 1913 and is now part of the German Museum. It included two wooden aircraft hangars. Even in peacetime, two team barracks, an officer's dorm, a pump house and a sewage treatment plant, a stable, a vehicle garage and two other aircraft hangars were built. By 1916, when the "Hindenburg Programme" expanded armaments and especially aviation exponentially, the strength of the Fliegerersatzabteilung in Schleißheim tripled. Gigantic expansion plans however were never fully implemented. The soldiers had to be quartered privately in the village; in inns, in the schoolhouse, and even in unused rooms of the castles. At the end of 1917, 245 officers were stationed in Schleißheim. In addition, 273 women provided auxiliary services as typists, travelling daily by train from Munich due to the lack of remaining accommodation in Schleissheim. From mid-1916, six other flying schools were built in Bavaria, end of 1917, a second flyer replacement department in Fürth. Observer training was reserved exclusively for Schleißheim and the airfield was now listed as MilFlSch (Military Aviation School), FlBeobSch (Fliegerbeobachterschule), FlFuSch (Fliegerfunkerschule) and Libist (Lichtbildstelle). The Observer School, the core of the Bavarian military flight training, received its own building on the west side of the Würm Canal in early 1917 with the increasing requirements imposed by the war. The showpiece was a state-of-the-art artillery and bomber classroom with a flight simulator, in which the flight attendants were able to practice shooting with on board machine guns. Crashes in and around the airfield were documented repeatedly. The exhibition halls of the museum were built around the historic Kommandantur, the oldest surviving relic of the airfield from the time of the Royal Bavarian Air Force. At the end of the war Schleißheim served as a location of a free corps in the process of eradicating the Munich Soviet Republic. In the plans of the government for the construction of a Reichswehr of the German Reich Schleißheim received the status of a Reichswehr pilot station. On January 10, 1920 however, the Treaty of Versailles came into force, which demanded the complete demobilisation of the German Air Force. On May 8, 1920, the Bavarian Air Force was dissolved. In Schleißheim airfield buildings were demolished or dismantled and delivered to France. The new shipyard, which was started in 1918 and was under construction until the end of the war, was completed, but then leased as a cattle shed following the ban of the Treaty of Versailles. Rudolf Hess was stationed here after the Great War, and hisarmy personnel file records that on 7 May he joined a volunteer unit of Epp’s Freikorps; left it on 15 October; was temporarily recruited by the local airfield at Schleissheim on 29 March 1920; flew an aeroplane to a Bavarian unit stationed in the Ruhr on 6 April; and finally resigned his commission in Munich on the last day of April 1920.Irving (8) Hess- The Missing Years
At the end of the 1920s the German commercial aviation school (founded in 1925 in Berlin) opened a branch in Oberschleissheim. Bypassing the Versailles Treaty, hundreds of flight students were specifically prepared for military use. Soon after the Nazis seized power when, in 1935, the rearmament of Germany was announced, Schleißheim became an air force base for the Luftwaffe and the German commercial aviation school became an official fighter pilot school. During the war Schleißheim became an important training centre, for example for fighter pilots, aviators, radio operators. Technical developments have now made "blind flight" possible; The "Night Hunting School" was founded in 1942. It was not until 1943 that a combat unit was stationed at Oberschleissheim airfield for the first time.
The images on the left show a Nazi ceremony commemorating the airfield's 25th anniversary on April 1, 1937 and the following day on Heldengedenktag, bottom. During the Third Reich the airfield facilities were continuously expanded. In 1934, for example, the “Junkershallen” were built, which still serve as hangars for the flying clubs based in Schleißheim. Later the runway was also fortified; before it had only consisted of grass. The war was also the darkest chapter in the history of Oberschleissheim airfield. Forced workers from the nearby Dachau concentration camp and Russian PoWs were used for construction and clearance work. When the Americans took over the site after the war they used the prisoner-of-war camp to intern former ϟϟ members. In the nearby Gut Hochmutting was a satellite camp of the Dachau concentration camp with eleven concentration camp prisoners from a bomb clearance command.
After
the Nazis came to power, it was expanded into a Luftwaffe air base in
the course of the Nazis' armament efforts. The construction work was
planned and supervised by the architects of the so-called post office
building school. This architectural style, which was unusual for the
Nazi era, is also known as "Bavarian Modernism". The flight control
building, designed by Robert Vorhoelzer in 1933-34 and demolished in
December 2007, was the archetype of this architectural direction in air
force construction. From 1938 the Schleißheim aviation school was built
in the southern part of the airfield. The accommodation area of the
school was used from 1945 to about 1953 as the Schleissheim DP camp
(Feldmoching). Under the code name Minotaur, a bunkered control centre
for day and night hunting in southern Germany was built in 1943. The
bunker was blown up in 1971. The airfield was repeatedly attacked by the Allies; the images on the right show the USAAF on a bombing run over Oberschleißheim and the resulting damage. On December 21, 1942, the first major attack by the British troops took place, which not only hit the airfield, but also large parts of the municipality of Oberschleissheim. Numerous other attacks should follow. In the post-war period, the American military initially took over the site and used the site, among other things, to train helicopter pilots for their use in the Vietnam War. French and German military units were also temporarily stationed at the airfield. The tower west of the airfield was built by the Americans and still bears witness to that time although it is only used for special events. The Americans left Schleißheim in 1973 and handed the place over to the Federal Republic of Germany. Military use ended in 1981.
In the district of Unterschleißheim is Lohhof, the nearest station to the Bavarian International School where I work. The population of Unterschleißheim itself exploded between 1933 when it had 753 inhabitants to 1939 with 1,737 inhabitants when the Nazis focused on housing construction in Lohhof. In 1937 a forced labour camp was set up in Lohhof near the train station to extract flax for the textile industry, called "flax roasting", in which hundreds of French and Polish women were used for forced labour. From 1941, Jewish women were also deployed, whilst at the same time deportations began from the Lohhof flax roastery until the camp was closed in 1942.
Behind the .50-cal. Machine Gunner on the Squad Halftrack from a series of photos by
Sergeant C.O. Witt (HQ Platoon, B CO., 65th AIB) showing the American
20th Armoured Division leaving Haimhausen travelling towards Lohhof on April 29, 1945. By
this time at least two thousand members of the Waffen-ϟϟ and a last
contingent of adolescent flak helpers and older men from the
"Volkssturm" had gathered for the defence of Munich. A bloodbath awaited
them all. First, several American tanks were destroyed. Flight support
was denied to the units due to fresh snow and fog. Only by around 9.30
did infantrymen from the Rainbow Division, an elite unit, come to the
rescue from Schleissheim airfield. Bulldozers simply rolled over the
trenches, with numerous German defenders buried. The nearby barracks
continued to fight hand to hand until 15.00. Besides Lohhof, the ϟϟ also
resisted in Feldmoching, Freimann and Schleißheim. In Planegg,
fanatical soldiers of the ϟϟ fought fiercely after the occupation.
During the "Battle of Lohhof" about an hundred were killed, forty of
whom were Americans. 
On the left is the site of the assault then and now. Lohhof's subsequent growth after the war can be seen here in the GIF showing the site on November 1, 1943 and today. Everything
looked peaceful from the Maisteig on what is now the B 13 as white
flags fluttered in Lohhof. However, units of an ϟϟ army corps had taken
up positions in Lohhof at night, hiding in the bushes on the railway
embankment, in houses in Hollern and in the flax roast in
Unterschleissheim. When the Americans advanced, the German soldiers
first let two tanks pass, then opened fire on the crew trucks behind
them. The tanks were almost on Kreuzstrasse before they were forced to
react leading to a bitter struggle. The tanks fired and the American
soldiers crawled up to the occupied houses, threw petrol cans into them
and fired on them to set them on fire. 
The flax roast also burned and
the guesthouse beside the station ended up being badly damaged by
shelling. Whilst nearly on the German defenders were killed, on the
American side seven have been named, including the commander and his
driver along with forty dead and wounded. Apparently if the artillery
had not won the fight, aircraft would have been called to bomb
Unterschleissheim. As
it is, the fighting had continued into the early evening. The part of
the air base crew stationed in Unterschleissheim had surrendered without
a fight and were collected in the school yard for transport. The
Americans then searched the houses because they feared more ambushes.
Three young ϟϟ soldiers had fled and were hiding in the straw with a
farmer. The Americans stabbed the haystacks with pitchforks but didn't
find the three who were eventually rescued from the straw four days after the
Americans left - almost starved and thirsty.
The
Brauerei Gasthaus Lohhof today (where the wife and I first stayed when
we moved to Germany from China) and as it appeared April 29, 1945 with
the Americans after the battle for the town. On the right is how it
appeared three years later. Here the Americans celebrated their
victoryand "decimated the beer stores", as Christoph says. The group
advanced to Munich meeting resistance, in Hochbrück, in Neuherberg.
Fighting raged on the tank meadow and around the ϟϟ barracks in
Freimann, the Americans lost tanks there alone, 70 of their soldiers
died, and several were wounded. On the afternoon of April 30, the day
Hitler committed suicide, resistance in the barracks was broken. Munich
was occupied from May 1. The Nazis were then picked up by the
Americans in Unterschleissheim, Pötsch reports and then taken to a
camp in Moosburg.
Lohhof
was the site of a flax processing plant owned by the Lohhof Flax
Processing Company (Flachsröste Lohhof GmbH.) which was, in effect, a
forced labour camp. Located on what is now (possibly appropriately)
Siemensstraße, today it is the site of the refugee centre to which my
students at Bavarian International School visit as part of their service
commitments. Administratively, it was a satellite camp of Dachau. The
location was chosen due to its proximity to Munich and to the local
train station. The camp premises consisted of residential barracks,
barns, retting pits and an initial processing plant. The municipal
Aryanisation Department (Arisierungs-Dienststelle) of Munich instigated
and supervised the forced employment of three hundred Jews at the camp.
Among these, 110 were women and they worked at the plant; 68 of them
were sent from Lodz, and other women had to arrive each day from Munich,
primarily from the assembly site at the Berg am Laim monastery, and
return at night using trains and streetcars. Lohhof also served as an
assembly site where Jews from Munich were assembled prior to their
deportation. Additionally, during the war, over 100 foreign workers from
Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Russia, Poland and the Ukraine were
employed at the plant. When the mass deportations of German Jews began in
November 1941, the Jewish workers were sent away from Lohhof to the
Milbertshofen camp, and from there they were deported to Kaunas (Kowno),
Piaski, Theresienstadt (Terezin), and Auschwitz. The last Jewish women
who worked at the camp were transferred on October 23, 1942, and were in
all likelihood deported to Auschwitz on May 18, 1943. During the last
few weeks of the war, the plant was damaged; afterwards, it was rebuilt.
Of the 300 Jews who worked at Lohhof, only thirty survived the war.
The images on the left show a Nazi ceremony commemorating the airfield's 25th anniversary on April 1, 1937 and the following day on Heldengedenktag, bottom. During the Third Reich the airfield facilities were continuously expanded. In 1934, for example, the “Junkershallen” were built, which still serve as hangars for the flying clubs based in Schleißheim. Later the runway was also fortified; before it had only consisted of grass. The war was also the darkest chapter in the history of Oberschleissheim airfield. Forced workers from the nearby Dachau concentration camp and Russian PoWs were used for construction and clearance work. When the Americans took over the site after the war they used the prisoner-of-war camp to intern former ϟϟ members. In the nearby Gut Hochmutting was a satellite camp of the Dachau concentration camp with eleven concentration camp prisoners from a bomb clearance command.
After
the Nazis came to power, it was expanded into a Luftwaffe air base in
the course of the Nazis' armament efforts. The construction work was
planned and supervised by the architects of the so-called post office
building school. This architectural style, which was unusual for the
Nazi era, is also known as "Bavarian Modernism". The flight control
building, designed by Robert Vorhoelzer in 1933-34 and demolished in
December 2007, was the archetype of this architectural direction in air
force construction. From 1938 the Schleißheim aviation school was built
in the southern part of the airfield. The accommodation area of the
school was used from 1945 to about 1953 as the Schleissheim DP camp
(Feldmoching). Under the code name Minotaur, a bunkered control centre
for day and night hunting in southern Germany was built in 1943. The
bunker was blown up in 1971. The airfield was repeatedly attacked by the Allies; the images on the right show the USAAF on a bombing run over Oberschleißheim and the resulting damage. On December 21, 1942, the first major attack by the British troops took place, which not only hit the airfield, but also large parts of the municipality of Oberschleissheim. Numerous other attacks should follow. In the post-war period, the American military initially took over the site and used the site, among other things, to train helicopter pilots for their use in the Vietnam War. French and German military units were also temporarily stationed at the airfield. The tower west of the airfield was built by the Americans and still bears witness to that time although it is only used for special events. The Americans left Schleißheim in 1973 and handed the place over to the Federal Republic of Germany. Military use ended in 1981. In the district of Unterschleißheim is Lohhof, the nearest station to the Bavarian International School where I work. The population of Unterschleißheim itself exploded between 1933 when it had 753 inhabitants to 1939 with 1,737 inhabitants when the Nazis focused on housing construction in Lohhof. In 1937 a forced labour camp was set up in Lohhof near the train station to extract flax for the textile industry, called "flax roasting", in which hundreds of French and Polish women were used for forced labour. From 1941, Jewish women were also deployed, whilst at the same time deportations began from the Lohhof flax roastery until the camp was closed in 1942.
On the left is the site of the assault then and now. Lohhof's subsequent growth after the war can be seen here in the GIF showing the site on November 1, 1943 and today. Everything
looked peaceful from the Maisteig on what is now the B 13 as white
flags fluttered in Lohhof. However, units of an ϟϟ army corps had taken
up positions in Lohhof at night, hiding in the bushes on the railway
embankment, in houses in Hollern and in the flax roast in
Unterschleissheim. When the Americans advanced, the German soldiers
first let two tanks pass, then opened fire on the crew trucks behind
them. The tanks were almost on Kreuzstrasse before they were forced to
react leading to a bitter struggle. The tanks fired and the American
soldiers crawled up to the occupied houses, threw petrol cans into them
and fired on them to set them on fire. The flax roast also burned and
the guesthouse beside the station ended up being badly damaged by
shelling. Whilst nearly on the German defenders were killed, on the
American side seven have been named, including the commander and his
driver along with forty dead and wounded. Apparently if the artillery
had not won the fight, aircraft would have been called to bomb
Unterschleissheim. As
it is, the fighting had continued into the early evening. The part of
the air base crew stationed in Unterschleissheim had surrendered without
a fight and were collected in the school yard for transport. The
Americans then searched the houses because they feared more ambushes.
Three young ϟϟ soldiers had fled and were hiding in the straw with a
farmer. The Americans stabbed the haystacks with pitchforks but didn't
find the three who were eventually rescued from the straw four days after the
Americans left - almost starved and thirsty.
Much of the information and images for the Battle for Lohhof come from Rich Mintz and his remarkable Facebook group 20th Armoured Division in World War II. The image on the left relates to colonel Newton W. Jones, Commander of Combat Command B (CC-B), who was the first casualty in the ambush in Lohhof, killed by a sniper as he led his troops whilst standing in his Jeep. The photograph and caption is from 1st Lieutenant Felix E. Mock, commander, 3rd Platoon, B CO, 65th AIB. That on the right is of 1st Lieutenant Samuel F. Barnes of 2nd Platoon, B CO, 65th AIB (Task Force 20), who too was killed in action in a German ambush April 29, 1945. The letter is the death notification to Mrs. Barnes from B CO. Commander, CPT George Jared, 65th AIB.
The
Brauerei Gasthaus Lohhof today (where the wife and I first stayed when
we moved to Germany from China) and as it appeared April 29, 1945 with
the Americans after the battle for the town. On the right is how it
appeared three years later. Here the Americans celebrated their
victoryand "decimated the beer stores", as Christoph says. The group
advanced to Munich meeting resistance, in Hochbrück, in Neuherberg.
Fighting raged on the tank meadow and around the ϟϟ barracks in
Freimann, the Americans lost tanks there alone, 70 of their soldiers
died, and several were wounded. On the afternoon of April 30, the day
Hitler committed suicide, resistance in the barracks was broken. Munich
was occupied from May 1. The Nazis were then picked up by the
Americans in Unterschleissheim, Pötsch reports and then taken to a
camp in Moosburg.Lohhof
was the site of a flax processing plant owned by the Lohhof Flax
Processing Company (Flachsröste Lohhof GmbH.) which was, in effect, a
forced labour camp. Located on what is now (possibly appropriately)
Siemensstraße, today it is the site of the refugee centre to which my
students at Bavarian International School visit as part of their service
commitments. Administratively, it was a satellite camp of Dachau. The
location was chosen due to its proximity to Munich and to the local
train station. The camp premises consisted of residential barracks,
barns, retting pits and an initial processing plant. The municipal
Aryanisation Department (Arisierungs-Dienststelle) of Munich instigated
and supervised the forced employment of three hundred Jews at the camp.
Among these, 110 were women and they worked at the plant; 68 of them
were sent from Lodz, and other women had to arrive each day from Munich,
primarily from the assembly site at the Berg am Laim monastery, and
return at night using trains and streetcars. Lohhof also served as an
assembly site where Jews from Munich were assembled prior to their
deportation. Additionally, during the war, over 100 foreign workers from
Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Russia, Poland and the Ukraine were
employed at the plant. When the mass deportations of German Jews began in
November 1941, the Jewish workers were sent away from Lohhof to the
Milbertshofen camp, and from there they were deported to Kaunas (Kowno),
Piaski, Theresienstadt (Terezin), and Auschwitz. The last Jewish women
who worked at the camp were transferred on October 23, 1942, and were in
all likelihood deported to Auschwitz on May 18, 1943. During the last
few weeks of the war, the plant was damaged; afterwards, it was rebuilt.
Of the 300 Jews who worked at Lohhof, only thirty survived the war. Max Strnad has researched the camps for Jews in Munich in some detail. A special case there was the Lohhof Jewish Labour Detachment (Jüdisches Arbeitskommando). The Lohhof camp was established in June 1941 on the orders of the Munich Aryanization Authority (Arisierungsstelle), a radical antisemitic office of the Munich/Upper Bavarian Regional Headquarters (Gauleitung) of the Nazi Party. This was the third residential and work camp for Jews established in Munich, after the Milbertshofen "Jewish Settlement" (Judensiedlung) and the Berg am Laim "Home Facility" (Heimanlage). The Aryanization Authority set up this camp system in 1941, as a multipurpose instrument of terror against the Jewish population. The camps served, apart from their central function of forced labor, to remove Jews from rental accommodation and put them into separate Jewish residences, for better supervision and also to assemble them ready for deportation. In Lohhof, mainly Jewish women between fourteen and forty-five years old were deployed there in June 1941, but later much older Jewish women and men were included. Until the fall of 1942, about 250 Jews were employed there altogether. The Jewish work force numbered on average about 110 people. Some seventy women were accommodated in barracks on the factory grounds, while the remainder had to travel daily from Munich. After Gauleiter Adolf Wagner's decree forbidding the use of trams by Jews in September 1941, the daily trip to Unterschleissheim became an exhausting journey lasting several hours. On November 20, 1941, sixty-three people, comprising more than half of the Jewish forced labourers, were deported to Kaunas in Lithuania. In the middle of December 1941, the Lohhof Flachsröste (flax factory) was sent sixty-eight young Jewish women, who had been working on other flax-roasting farms in Bavaria for several months, but who all originally came from the Łódź (Litzmannstadt) ghetto. These Polish Jewish women remained in Lohhof until the fall of 1942, when they were transferred to Augsburg, where they stayed as a group in another camp, before being deported to Auschwitz in 1943.
Simone Gigliotti, Hilary Earl (268) A Companion to the Holocaust
A short section devoted to my school- the Bavarian International School at schloss Haimhausen in kreis Dachau
Schloss Haimhausen then and now
In 1281 schloss Haimhausen was listed as a castle (castrum) in a gazetteer of Upper Bavaria. It was destroyed in the Thirty Years War and rebuilt in 1660 as an ornate Baroque structure by Andreas Wolff. In 1747 and ensuing years, Francois Cuvillies the Elder enlarged the villa by seven bays on each side and added two wings. The external form of the house, with the high roof typical of the region, has remained unchanged to this day. Cuvilliés was also responsible for such famous buildings as the Munich Residenz, the Residenz Theatre, the manor Amalienburg in the grounds of Schloss Nymphenburg, and rooms in Schloss Brühl, near Bonn. The ceiling murals in both the Golden Room and the Chapel were executed by the famous Augsburg artist, Johann Bergmüller in 1750.
Haimhausen schloss became the property of the family Butler v. Clonebough, after having been awarded to the Irish officer Walther Butler (known as the "Wallenstein murderer") in thanks for his fulfilling a contract to deliver Wallenstein "dead or alive" on February 25, 1634. Friedrich Schiller immortalised Wallenstein in the dramatic trilogy that bears his name (completed in 1799). He did not enjoy his success for long, passing away in 1635 after being wounded. The schloss was rebuilt in 1660 after a fire in the Thirty Years' War and has been expanded ever since. Under Reichsgraf Karl Ferdinand Maria von und zu Haimhausen, from 1743 to 1749 a major renovation was carried out by François de Cuvilliés the Elder. Since then, the late baroque chapel Salvator Mundi with stucco work and altars by the Flemish artist Egid Verhelst and his sons and the ceiling painting by Johann Georg Bergmüller, which was made in 1750, has been a special gem within the castle. 
The property was then passed from generation up until Theobald, who had a close relationship to Count Stauffenberg. Theobald, the last heir to the Butler von Clonebough line, was born in Shanghai on July 15, 1899. His father Arthur died when Theobald was not yet five years old. He was sent to Munich, he became a lieutenant in 1918 and studied mechanical engineering, where he also did his doctorate. In 1937 he married Irene Rosewsky in Riga with whom he had four children, one of whom died in 1941. The family lived in Neubrandenburg, north of Berlin. During the Second World War, Theobald had an important position in the armaments industry and by 1943 he lived alone in Kempten in the Allgäu. As early as 1944, he is said to have repeatedly urged his wife to move away from Neubrandenburg to join him in Kempten which was not allowed by the local Nazi district leader. In March 1945 Theobald left Kempten by car in an attempt to save his wife and children from the approaching Soviet troops. In the end he is said to have poisoned his wife and three children on April 29, 1945, then set the house on fire before shooting himself. So ended the line of the Counts of v. Clonebough gen. Haimhausen on April 29, 1945.
The war memorial on the high street is flanked by two flag poles, neither of which can hoist any flag under which those commemorated died for. Further down the high street on the right is the memorial to both world wars.
During the turn of the century and as the Bavarian International School today
Showing the balcony erected in front of the chapel for owner Haniel's wife who had suffered an accident shown in 1939
Bavarian International School's chapel then and now. It owes its splendour to its ceiling painting, again by Bergmuller- the Salvator Mundi, dated 1750- as well as the delicate Rococo stucco work by Verhelst.
Directly above is this fascinating representation of the return of Christ on the throne 0f the Trinity; the largest Salvator Mundi of its kind in which God holds the Flaming Sword of Judgement and has the left hand on the empty seat to his right whilst in the centre a kneeling Christ with the cross rises over a world in flames, depicting the four continents known at that time. But what makes this painting remarkable is the representation of the Holy Spirit in human form. This is expressly forbidden by the Catholic Church, as Pope Benedict XIV declared in October 1745 just before this painting was created, and and today is only permitted in the form of a dove. As a Catholic colleague remarked upon entering, "God is not present," noting the lack of a sanctuary lamp.
On the right is a close-up during the 650,000 euro renovation of the chapel completed in 2010. An interesting touch on the ceiling is the expulsion from Paradise on the right, showing Adam and Eve being followed by a dog and snake hopping along, and at the other end above the altar Christ on the Mount of Olives, with the snake making a reappearance with apple in mouth.
On the right is a close-up during the 650,000 euro renovation of the chapel completed in 2010. An interesting touch on the ceiling is the expulsion from Paradise on the right, showing Adam and Eve being followed by a dog and snake hopping along, and at the other end above the altar Christ on the Mount of Olives, with the snake making a reappearance with apple in mouth.
During the 1944 bombing, the library's collection was distributed throughout 28 sites in Oberbayern. The photos above from 1949
show the thousands of books from the Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek
that were stored for safety in the Haimhauser Schlosskapelle in today's
Bavarian International School during the Second World War.
Moving the books postwar back to the Staatsbibliothek on Ludwigstraße showing the necessity for having relocated its collection. Between 1949 and 1975 the Schloss was used by the Bavarian Legal Aid School and later the Munich Police Academy. Between 1976 and 1986 the International Antiques Salon occupied all rooms with its period exhibits.
The role the schloss played in preserving our shared past and passing it on to future generations free from war and violence makes Bavarian International School's logo particularly resonant. In 1944 the Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek was bombed along with most of Munich’s centre. Fortunately, just before, it had distributed its collection of books to 28 different sites around Oberbayern. One of those sites was our Schloss chapel used today in the service of our students. I always felt it rather touching to think that the logo was a representation of this- that something vital and profound was preserved for future generations even after this country’s darkest period when none knew what would be left at null stunde when there was nothing left to believe in. And there it is- our Schloss, like Pandora’s box in stone, from which a single book is presented in hope and expectation to inspire success. What a lovely proud logo that was- it couldn’t have been designed for any other school on earth. Sadly, it was decided to replace it, at considerable expense, with the kind of thoughtless logo that any Grade 6 child could have designed in a single lesson shown in the centre. Fortunately the outcry was great enough that the old logo returned, albeit with the Mussoliniesque motto "Believe, Inspire, Succeed" only for it to be replaced yet again in 2021 with a styised 'B' which could represent anything.
In front of the Golden Room and inside today. This banqueting hall, with its ceiling painting of The Four Seasons by Bergmuller (dated
1750) and its two rare Nymphenburger porcelain stoves, forms the visual climax
of the state apartments of schloss Haimhausen.
At the start of the 2019 school
year I received the following remarkable email from Mr. Tim Gillespie of Oregon
whose father had been stationed at our schloss after the war before being in
charge of American forces in the Dachau camp, guarding ϟϟ prisoners before the
upcoming war crimes trials, charged with guarding the books from the state
library that were being protected from wartime bombing here in our school's
chapel:
A selection of extracts from his father's letters home relating to the schloss with assorted GIFs I made from the photographs he kindly donated to the school:In going through some long stored-away boxes of my parents after they passed away, I recently found some photographs of Schloss Heimhausen [sic].
My father, Claud Schmidt Gillespie (whose mother's family were Schmidts who emigrated from Germany to the United States in the late 1800s), was in the U.S. Army during World War II. After the war was over, he was in charge of a company of U.S. soldiers that was stationed there. In the box of photographs I found this note, hand-written by my father: "Schloss Heimhausen is in Germany--not too far from Munich--where I lived for awhile (with my rifle company) in 1945 after the war was over. Our mission was to protect hundreds of books stored in the schloss by the Germans to protect them, most from libraries in Munich. (We also kept an eye on the German civilians, especially the teenagers.)"I should also tell you that during that time my father was also put in charge of the U.S. Army's command of the Dachau concentration camp. After its survivors were liberated and taken away by the Red Cross, the Dachau camp was used as a temporary prison fo ϟϟ officers--many thousands of them--being tried in the postwar trials. My father was in charge of running the camp and guarding the ϟϟ prisoners. He came home in 1946. Needless to say, he had very powerful memories of his time in Germany during the war and after the war. In any case, in the box were over 40 photos (most less than a foot or 30 centimeters in length) of various indoor and outdoor scenes from Schloss Heimhausen. [sic] These were not war photos but appear to be formal photographs showing the Schloss in its glory days before the war, with ornate furniture and decorations---and no people shown at all. Though none of them are dated or labelled, they are quite remarkable and in pretty good condition.
In thinking of what to do with these old photos from 1945, I did not want to simply throw them away, so I did some research on Schloss Haimhausen and happily discovered that your school is now using the site. These were clearly photos that my father took to remind him of his time there, but he is long gone. The most appropriate place for them is to be returned to the site itself, I think. If you are interested, I would be very happy if you would like to become the custodians of these historic photos.
Sunday 30 Sept 1945
Dearest Phyl:
…Our new home, the Castle, is really
beginning to look better. Friday I told the boys to fix up the ballroom for our
“Day Room” where the boys can read + write. So the Sgt in charge put a Polish
GI on the job. Now this boy is one of those who looks + talks like a rather
rough character but he must have the soul of an interior decorator because it’s
the fanciest job I’ve ever seen. He took the rugs off all the stairways +
completely covered the floor. Then he found furniture - beautiful chairs,
settees + tables + little desks - all of which go beautifully with the way the
ballroom is decorated - and arranged them so it looks as grand as anything I
ever saw…It always amazes me the hidden talents that all men have if you happen
to give them a chance to show such talent…
You’d go nuts if you could see the things
still left in the castle - even after it seems that it has been looted. It’s
unbelievable how grand the place must have been. All the walls in the main room
are covered with very luscious cloth instead of paper or paint. And the
drapes are still hanging in many windows and though I know nothing of cloth etc
it’s not hard to see they’re almost priceless. And there are still about 20
paintings - all huge and most of them dated in the 1700s.
Some rooms have
murals on the walls - the ballrooms has one huge painting covering almost the
entire ceiling. And there are dozens of small, medium, + huge tables + cabinets
- hand carved, inlaid with mosaic, marble topped + very finely polished. Joe
Schroeder [a fellow officer and close friend] and I were looking around today +
found large supplies of fancy china, glassware (gold rimmed) and vases ’n
stuff. I found us 5 fancy metal “swizzle sticks” to mix our drinks. Much of the
stuff is too fancy to suit me but if it were possible to send you stuff we
could furnish about half our house without any trouble. I get socialistic ideas
when I see such evidence of wealth surrounded by many countryfolk who have so
little. For example the other day I took the chief electrician for the town…over
to see about repairs and he spotted a fancy fireplace screen which he claimed
was worth “fil” (many) dollars. [He meant “viel” in German.] In fact he
said thousands of dollars. And his weekly wage is about $7.00.
Some rooms have
murals on the walls - the ballrooms has one huge painting covering almost the
entire ceiling. And there are dozens of small, medium, + huge tables + cabinets
- hand carved, inlaid with mosaic, marble topped + very finely polished. Joe
Schroeder [a fellow officer and close friend] and I were looking around today +
found large supplies of fancy china, glassware (gold rimmed) and vases ’n
stuff. I found us 5 fancy metal “swizzle sticks” to mix our drinks. Much of the
stuff is too fancy to suit me but if it were possible to send you stuff we
could furnish about half our house without any trouble. I get socialistic ideas
when I see such evidence of wealth surrounded by many countryfolk who have so
little. For example the other day I took the chief electrician for the town…over
to see about repairs and he spotted a fancy fireplace screen which he claimed
was worth “fil” (many) dollars. [He meant “viel” in German.] In fact he
said thousands of dollars. And his weekly wage is about $7.00.
Still
have the problem of getting the water + heat fixed but they’re doing pretty good considering that
the place is over 800 years old + has had much alteration + repair. Had to dig
one main water pipe out of walls which were about 4 feet thick - there was a
leak. Guess I told you we had a fire that burned out about 25 feet of roof -
defective chimney…
Oct. 6 1945
…Made a trip to our castle this p.m. +
things are going pretty good. Look like we might get our water system working
OK + we now have most of the parts to fix the heating system. Big problem now
is to find a cable to run from a power house for our electricity. Pretty hard
to find - the big stuff - about 1 inch,
I think, + we need about 600 yards of it. Have the roof almost completely repaired
now where we had the fire. And our officers quarters are shaping up
beautifully. Wish you could see some of the fancy china + glassware we located
+ may use to throw a party some day. Have some scouts out now to try and get
some coffee cups + some silverware…
It’s just 7 p.m. + the radio program has
changed to a hillbilly program (like the Saturday Barn Dance program) and it’s coming from the Hofbrau Keller in
Munich (of all places - that’s where Hitler planned his original “putsch” - +
and it is now made over into a Red Cross club). Podden me whilst I change to
another station. You’d be amazed at the dozens of stations you can get over
here now. It seems so strange at times to tune in on some good American music +
then when the record stops to hear some Kraut announcer talk in German…I can get programs in English, German, Italian,
French, Spanish, Polish, Russian, and one which sounds like Chinese or
Japanese. The Krauts play a lot of waltzes and what sound like Polkas + Schottischen. Have seen some of these dances +
they look like they’d be fun - slapping their knees + feet ’n stuff. Right now
they’re playing something and some Kraut is talking like he was calling a
square dance…
I’m still looking for lace but it’s
kinda hard now. Except in large places, outside of Germany, you don’t see
anything like that. May be able to arrange to have the local natives make me
some. We cannot buy at stores here, and except for foodstuffs I’ve seen no
stores anyway. I suppose it’s hared to imagine towns or cities without things
like department stores but that’s the way it is. In places large enough to have
such stores the bombing has destroyed most of them…
[Later] As I write this I’m listening to the 5th game of
the World Series coming by short wave from the States…
…Today and yesterday have been beautiful
days - clear and sunny- and very welcome after two weeks of almost continuous
rain and cold. Sunday and Monday night we had very heavy frosts which have
quickly changed the leafed trees into huge masses of red, gold, and brown. It
is comparatively warm yet there is a crispness in the air. It reminds me of the
fall football days back in Nebraska.
Thursday
11 Oct 1945
…Today and yesterday have been beautiful
days - clear and sunny- and very welcome after two weeks of almost continuous
rain and cold. Sunday and Monday night we had very heavy frosts which have
quickly changed the leafed trees into huge masses of red, gold, and brown. It
is comparatively warm yet there is a crispness in the air. It reminds me of the
fall football days back in Nebraska.
…This week has included the usual daily
training and more intense work on the new castle. There sure is a lot of work
necessary to do on that place just to get the facilities - light heat +
plumbing - in order. Today I made a trip down near Munich to try and pick up my
cable for the electricity but got stymied. I had an order from General Ladd but
they wouldn’t come through as they claimed that they had orders from General
Ike himself to let nothing go out of the place. It was formerly the Bavarian
Motor Works [BMW] (made good cars) and in spite of much bombing there is
still a tremendous amount of material there - much of it underground. So
tomorrow I’m going to try a place near Augsburg as our Ba Cmdr says we will
move in next week - lights or not. Wish me luck, Bub.
…Did I tell you that our castle has an
organ? It’s in a huge and very beautiful chapel. Unfortunately the organ does
not work and the chapel is now full of thousands of books from the Munich
libraries…
The
grounds on our estate have not been damaged nor has the building. Only damage
was caused by vandals + looters who broke in here and there and tried to burn
it in one place…
Sunday 14 October
…this p.m. went to Dachau to arrange to
get two trucks to pick up a big electric cable tomorrow.
That’s about the last thing we need to
complete repairs on our castle as they now have most of the plumbing fixed.
Tomorrow they try the central heating system + keep your fingers crossed for
me, honey. Yesterday they pumped water into the system (it’s hot water type
heat) and about a dozen leaks sprung out + almost flooded the place. The
plumber got those fixed but left the pressure on + this p.m. another leak
started and partially flooded all three floors but now he thinks he has that
fixed too. All this has been with cold water + tomorrow they put heat on
+ then - holy mother, I hope it works! In any event, we move Wednesday because
a week from today we start on maneuvers [sic] for one week + must be moved before
then.
Saturday 20 Oct 1945
..How
do you like this for stationery? [Letter written on quality blue paper with embossed initials FH under
a little crown and Haimhausen München at the top] The former
owner of the castle placed this at my disposal recently. Ho-hum! -wonder what
the poor people are doing today…
Haimhausen
Monday night 29 Oct 1945
Monday night 29 Oct 1945
…Our town of Haimhausen is just about 4
miles closer to Dachau than we were before. We’re about 15 miles from Munich. [Draws
map]
Sunday Nov 4 1945
Sunday Nov 4 1945
…We’ve been trying to get settled in the
castle since we returned from maneuvers a week ago. Wed it was announced that
we would have to take over the area of the 3rd Battalion while they went on
maneuvers. So yesterday I took about 95 of my men to Freising - about 45
minutes northeast of here + set them up to guard a couple of DP camps - mostly Polish people. I’ve been tearing over there and back
here trying to keep both places running…
Honey,
I miss you so much it gets under my skin at time. And I have a fairly tough
hide. Soon it will be our 11 month anniversary [since he proposed just before he left for his
overseas duty]. Irv +
I were talking about how long it has seemed + we both agreed that we probably
shouldn’t kick too much as so many of our buddies will never go back…
Freising
is a large place - about 25000 + they have 2 movies [theaters?] which the boys
really go for. They also have “fil”
(many) [viel] frauleins and polsky which in plain language means that
the German + Polish gals are plentiful + very good looking + the boys also go
for that. They spaziren (walk) + dance with the gals although I personally can’t
see most of them - they are all mostly interested in seeing how much food or
cigarettes they can chisel…as for me I’ll take any American gal in preference
but mainly one in particular - guess who?…
You
should see the desk I am writing on. It’s another little number they had around here and
shows much work + probably cost a young fortune. It has very fancy metalwork on
inlaid wood on the front and a carved leather top…
The dining room with the Israelites' Gathering of Manna on the ceiling. A reference to Exodus XVI (and possibly supplemented through Josephus’s Jewish Antiquities III), it relates the story of the Israelites travelling en masse across the desert after having left Egypt and crossing the Red Sea when, famished, they were miraculously provided with water, quails, the fine, white manna which covered the ground like a heavy frost.
My classroom at Bavarian International School- a work in progress:
Having the honour of welcoming Mr. Bill Glied to my school January 28, 2013.
The Schlossbrauerei next to our school during the Third Reich and today. Founded in 1608 when Duke Maximilian I granted Theodor Viepeckh the right to build a brewery in Haimhausen. The building was demolished around 1750 because it had become dilapidated due to war and neglect. Karl Ferdinand von Haimhausen rebuilt it in he 18th century on the site that still exists today. Under Theobald Sigmund Butler, the brewery became a worry again because he had previously invested heavily in new brewery technologies and was running out of money. The brewery only experienced an upswing again with Theobald Graf Butler-Haimhausen. After years of good economic development, he sold it in 1890 to the Haniel family. The brewery has remained in the family since, however after 400 years, it ceased production at the end of 2019 owing to the drop in sales in addition to the increased costs due to the oversized operating space as well as the ancient building and machinery. After no investor was found to invest in the brewery, the municipality is now trying to ensure that the site does not degenerate into a disused industrial building, especially as large parts of the company are under monument protection.
Schönbrunn
At
the end of the 18th century, the schloss passed to the Counts of
Butler-Clonebough (later Butler-Haimhausen) through female succession.
Viktorine von Butler-Haimhausen founded a poor girl's house here in
1861, but moved it to Schönbrunn Palace in 1863. A number of our students volunteer through our CAS programme at the Franziskuswerk Schönbrunn- working with people with physical and mental disabilities and at outreach houses with those who are more independent. Schönbrunn belongs to the municipality Röhrmoos, but is a separate village with an unusual history. The village hosts a facility for people with disabilities; in the centre of the village is a small schloss which had been acquired in 1862 by an extraordinary woman: Countess Victoria Butler-Haimhausen. Her aim was to create a home for old and dependent women and enable young women and girls through education and training. To support this endeavour, she enlisted the help of a community of sisters from Munich, which later developed into the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Schönbrunn.
Photos on the left by ϟϟ photographer Franz Bauer, Himmler's personal photographer, taken on February 16, 1934 of children at Schönbrunn suffering from Down's syndrome. From 1940 to 1945 a few hundred residents, mostly children and young people, were deemed lebensunwert ("unworthy of life") and killed. It wasn't until a few years ago that a memorial was erected at Schönbrunn located directly to the south side of the church of St. Joseph consists of a stained glass cross behind which the names of the 546 children killed are listed. The names are in different sizes and fonts to make the uniqueness of each person visible, and every January 27 the victims of the Nazis are commemorated.
The Bavarian International School gAG (BIS) is an English-language International Baccalaureate-curriculum international school based in Haimhausen, a municipality in the district Dachau in Bavaria, Germany, just north of Munich.[1] In 2016, a second campus in Munich-Schwabing (Leopoldstraße) was opened for primary students. The school currently has a combined enrolment of approximately 1200 students aged 3 to 18 from over 52 countries speaking more than 70 languages. The 2-campus-school is run by the non-profit association Bavarian International School gAG BIS caters mainly to internationally mobile management who require an educational offer for their children from early childhood through secondary school which is internationally transferable.[2] BIS does not claim to be an alternative to the German public school system. Nonetheless, approximately 20% of all BIS students are Munich locals. Contents 1 History and facilities 2 Curriculum and accreditation 3 Co-curricular activities 3.1 Sports 3.2 Arts 3.3 Model United Nations 4 Faculty and staff 5 Notable alumni 6 Local 7 Die Bavarian International School (BIS) ist eine englischsprachige private Ganztagsschule, die ihren Hauptstandort in Haimhausen bei Dachau hat. Dort wurde der Schulbetrieb 1991 aufgenommen. Ein zweiter Campus besteht seit 2016 im Münchner Stadtteil Schwabing. Die Schule bietet das International Baccalaureate (IB Diploma) an. Contents 1 Geschichte 2 Lage und Architektur 3 Schulprofil 4 Geschäftsmodell 5 Bekannte Ehemalige 6 Weblinks 7 Einzelnachweise Geschichte 1990 wurde der Schulträger als eingetragener Verein gegründet, der Schulbetrieb begann 1991 mit sechs Schülern in angemieteten Räumen in Hallbergmoos.[1] Später zog die Schule in angemietete Räume in Schwaig um.[1] 1998 erfolgte der Umzug in den heutigen Standort im Schloss Haimhausen, das in den folgenden Jahren baulich erweitert wurde.[1] 2016 eröffnete der „City Campus“ an der Leopoldstraße in München-Schwabing. Dort werden Kinder bis zur fünften Klasse unterrichtet.[2] 2017 wurde der Trägerverein in eine gemeinnützige Aktiengesellschaft (gAG) umgewandelt.[1] Lage und Architektur Schloss Haimhausen (2009) Der „Haimhausen Campus“ an der Hauptstrasse 1 in Haimhausen im Landkreis Dachau befindet sich auf dem Gelände des Schloss Haimhausen. Dort wurde von 1996 bis 2003 das eigentliche Schlossgebäude für den Unterricht und die Schulverwaltung umgebaut. Daneben entstanden mehrere Neubauten, darunter eine Aula (Schultheater), ein Pavillon mit quadratischem Grundriss (Bibliothek und Musikräume), ein Unterrichtsgebäude für Kindergarten und Wissenschaften sowie eine Zweifeld-Sporthalle. Die Neubauten sind mit Glasfassaden und Sichtholz ausgestattet und besitzen flach geneigte Walm- bzw. Satteldächer.[3] Von 2010 bis 2011 wurde eine Cafeteria ergänzt, die im Obergeschoss eine große neue Bibliothek aufnimmt. Der Ergänzungsbau hat eine Nutzfläche von 3.600 m².[4] 2019 wurde der Bebauungsplan geändert, um die Errichtung eines Technologiezentrums („Steam Building“) zuzulassen.[5] Der „City Campus“ an der Leopoldstrasse 208 in München befindet sich in einem Bürogebäude aus den 1970er Jahren, das 2016 zur Schule umgebaut wurde. Dazu wurde das Gebäude bis auf den Stahlskelettbau entkernt und dann neu ausgebaut. Dabei wurden zwei Geschosse des Ostflügels entfernt und dort eine Turnhalle aufgestockt.[6] Schulprofil Die Bavarian International School in München (City Campus) hat im Jahrgang 1 bis 5 den Status einer Ergänzungsschule (Primarstufe, Europäische Schule). Im Schuljahr 2018/19 besuchten 225 Schüler die Schule auf dem City Campus.[7] Die Bavarian International School in Haimhausen hat im Jahrgang 1 bis 9 den Status einer staatlich genehmigten Ersatzschule (private Volksschule, GS und HS) mit den Schularten Grund-, Mittel- und Hauptschule. Im Schuljahr 2021/22 besuchten 568 Schüler diese Schulklassen.[8] In den Jahrgängen 10 bis 12 hat die Bavarian International School in Haimhausen den Status einer Ergänzungsschule (Internationale Schule, voll ausgebaut). Diese Stufe besuchten im Schuljahr 2018/19 260 Schüler.[9] Demnach ist es nicht möglich, an der Bavarian International School das Abitur abzulegen. Allerdings hat die Kultusministerkonferenz das International Baccalaureate seit 1986 als dem Abitur äquivalenter Hochschulzugangsberechtigung anerkannt.[10] An der Schule werden alle vier IB-Programme angeboten: Primary Years Programme (PYP), von 3 bis 11 Jahren Middle Years Programme (MYP), von 11 bis 16 Jahren Diploma Programme (DP), von 16 bis 19 Jahren Career-related Programme (CP), von 16 bis 19 Jahren Der größte Teil der Schüler (41 %) hatten 2020 weder Deutsch noch Englisch als Muttersprache. Ungefähr ein Drittel der Schüler haben Englisch als Muttersprache, und ein Viertel der Schüler sprechen als Muttersprache Deutsch. (Angaben von 2020)[1] Geschäftsmodell Das jährliche Schulgeld für den Besuch der Schule besteht aus verschiedenen Komponenten (alle Angaben für das Schuljahr 2021–2022[11]): Registrierungs-Gebühr von 1.960 € (neue Schüler) bzw. 980 € (Fortsetzung des Schulbesuchs) Unterrichts-Gebühr: von 14.850 € (Vorschule) bis 20.080 € (Oberstufe) Eintritts-Gebühr für Bau und Unterhalt der Anlagen: 7.000 € im ersten Schuljahr, dann 4.000 € im zweiten Schuljahr und 2.000 € im dritten Schuljahr Transport-Gebühr bei Nutzung der schuleigenen Busse, abhängig von der Entfernung vom Wohnort zur Schule zwischen 780 und 4.950 €[12] Somit sind pro Jahr und Schulkind etwa zwischen 16.000 und 32.000 € fällig. Im Geschäftsjahr 2019/20 wurde ein Umsatz von 25,6 Millionen Euro erzielt.[1] Bekannte Ehemalige Janina Vilsmaier (* 1986), deutsche Filmschauspielerin und Regisseurin Theresa Vilsmaier (* 1989), deutsche Kinder- und Jugendschauspielerin Josefina Vilsmaier (* 1992), deutsche Kinder- und Jugendschauspielerin Katriina Talaslahti (* 2000), finnische Fußballspielerin (IB 2019) Lilly Krug (* 2001), deutsche Schauspielerin (IB 2019)[13] Dipangkorn Rasmijoti (* 2005), Sohn von Maha Vajiralongkorn und damit thailändischer Kronprinz BIS was founded in 1990 as a non-profit association to serve the international community in the north of Munich. The school opened its doors in Schwabing on 19 February 1991 with just six students[3] and grew steadily, with its first graduating class in 1997. In 1998 the school moved to Schloss Haimhausen, a Rococo mansion located about ten kilometers north of Munich. Several purpose-built facilities, including a cafeteria, a performance arts center with 510 seats,[4] a sports hall and 8-lane track were added to the school site over the following years. To make BIS-education more easily accessible for children living in the city, the BIS City Campus Primary School was opened for students in January 2016. In January 2017 about 200 children in EC1 (age 4) to Grade 5 were enrolled at the new campus, which has a capacity of 500 students. Curriculum and accreditation BIS is an IB World School and takes part in the IB Diploma Programme.[5] This program provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into higher education and is recognised by many universities worldwide. The Bavarian International School is authorized to offer the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP), the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP), the IB Diploma Programme (DP) and the IB Career-related Programme (CP), all of the International Baccalaureate Organisation. The City Campus is authorized to offer the IB Primary Years Programme and accredited as an IB World School. City campus students get a guaranteed place at Haimhausen after year 5. BIS is approved by the government of Bavaria and fully accredited by the Council of International Schools (CIS) and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). BIS is a member of the Educational Collaborative for International Schools (ECIS), the Association of German International Schools (AGIS), the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Internationale Schulen in Bayern (AISB), and the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). Co-curricular activities Sports BIS offers a wide variety of sports throughout the entire school year in 3 different seasons. There are competitive as well as recreational offerings. BIS students compete in the German International School Sports Tournaments (GISST) as well as the European Sports Conference (ESC).Today the program is called ASA (After school activities), these activities are directed by the sports department. Arts BIS regularly hosts or participates in the International Schools Theatre Association (ISTA) events. The school prominently promotes music and visual arts in their students as well.[6] Model United Nations BIS also offers a Model United Nations club in which students can learn to debate and improve their public speaking skills. BIS has attended over 20 conferences internationally and locally in the last several years, in addition to hosting its own debating competition in 2014. In 2017 several Bavarian International School students attended the THIMUN conference in The Hague.[7] They attended again in 2018 with great success, winning several awards. The BIS Model United Nations club is a student run activity which is the largest co-curricular activity the school offers, hosting up to 80 students. Faculty and staff There are over 300 staff members working at BIS. The honorary Board of Directors is responsible for the management of the BIS Association. It carries out the resolutions of the General Meetings held in spring and fall of each year and bears the responsibility for the association's finances. On September 10, 2014, BIS' staff held a warning strike at BIS to call for a collective bargaining agreement (CBA).[8] A similar warning strike occurred on the November 30, 2015.[9] Staff has since abandoned their pursuit of a CBA. As of August 2014, the Director of BIS (Head of School) is American-German Dr. Chrissie Sorenson. Notable alumni Dipangkorn Rasmijoti (current heir presumptive of the Kingdom of Thailand) Lilly Krug (model and actress) Selina Salihamidžić (daughter of Hasan Salihamidžić)[10] Nick Salihamidžić (FC Bayern Munich football player[11] & son of Hasan Salihamidžić Sarah Anne Angela Nadine von Faber-Castell (countess & owner of Faber-Castell)[12] Victoria Maria Cornelia von Faber-Castell (countess & owner of Faber-Castell)[
