Moosburg
In September 1939, a prisoner of war camp Stalag VII-A was built to accommodate 10,000. The General Command of the Military District VII in Munich chose this site between the Isar and Amper rivers.The first prisoners arrived on 19 October 1939. They were initially housed temporarily in tents. In the hall of an adjacent fertilizer factory a delousing station was built. From 1940 additional barracks were built and by the summer of 1940, the area of the camp had grown to 350,000 m². Poles and Ukrainians were initially in the camp mainly housed. After the Western Campaign of 1940 French (and soldiers of Polish units in France) were increasingly deported here followed after the attack on the Soviet Union by a large number of Soviet prisoners. By the end of the war, the number of passengers grew to 80,000 at (including two hundred generals alone); they were used in surrounding industries, in agriculture and in industry. Tens of thousands of prisoners of war were housed in subcamps and labour detachments around the area. About 2000 German guards of the 512. Landeschützen-Bataillons were stationed in a separate barracks area. Due to the presence of the camp the entire surrounding of bombings spared. 
On April 29, 1945 the camp was liberated by a unit of the 14th Armoured Division of the United States 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 center for 12,000 German civilians held accountable for their activities during the period of National Socialism- 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.
The entrance to the camp, and the town itself shown in the background
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 20km 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.
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 case of Americans and British (meaning both the UK and British Commonwealth countries) was 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.
Moosburg concentration camp warden from the video game Death to Spies: Moment of Truth, where he wears an armband signifying he's from the 5th ϟϟ Panzer Division Wiking. In the centre is Oberst Hans Nepf, Lagerkommandant 1939-1943, and his successor Oberst Otto Burger.
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...
For a site devoted entirely to Moosburg: Moosburg Online
The West and South entrances to St. Kastulus during the 1930s and today
Inside the church during the Nazi era and today
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.
Hitlerjugend in 1937 and the site today- at the other end of the square is the war memorial shown on the right with Bürgermeister Dr. Müller in front of the memorial on March 10, 1940 and today, the Nazi flags being replaced by the red ensign
Moosburg railway station in 1935 and now
Landstraße
Photo developer Georg Reindl driving the first car in Moosburg- a Kolibri- in 1908 on Weingraben
Landstraße
Auf dem Gries in 1936 and during the 2016 Herbstshau and looking the other direction in a watercolour by Valentin Ott just before the war.
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. 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 US
military government set up special Displaced Persons (DP) camps for
them. For a short time, the US 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 percent 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 US
military government set up special Displaced Persons (DP) camps for
them. For a short time, the US 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 percent 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 (born September 3, 1887), 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 members of the NSDAP 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 is 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 World War II 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. 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. The battle didn't last long however and 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.
Next to the bridge is the Gasthof zur Länd, shown in 1941, April 29, 1945 with Major-General A.C. Smith of the 14th Armoured Div. of the 3rd U.S. army overseeing the building of the auxiliary bridge over the Isar by the 300th Combat Engineers, and 73 years later.
About twenty miles south of Landshut is the tiny town of Dorfen, its Marienplatz shown here during the Nazi-zeit and today.
Erding
Prior to and during the Second World War Erding was a Luftwaffe pilot training airfield. It was seized by the United States Army in April 1945 and used as a United States Air Force facility during the early years of the Cold War.
The
1941 aviation comedy Quax, der Bruchpilot had several scenes shot in or around
Erding- one can for example recognise the Frauenkircherl on Schrannenplatz in the scene shown above.
Directed by Kurt Hoffmann and starring Heinz Rühmann, it was set
in the 1930s before the outbreak of the Second World War based on an
aviation story by Hermann Grote about an ordinary man who wins a
newspaper competition that offers free flying lessons. Despite initial
struggles, he gradually shows himself to be a good pilot. It was
followed by a sequel Quax in Africa which was also made during the Nazi
era, but not released until 1947 in Sweden and 1953 in West Germany. The character inspired Disney to recently 'revamp' the character as Quack der Bruchpilot, although in English his name is given as Launchpad McQuack.
The film is set somewhere in the south of Germany in 1930; the main town is referred to as Dünkelstätt although at one point on a sign it's stated as being Dünkelstedt. Otto Groschenbügel, aka Quax, a small employee of a traffic bureau, wins in a competition providing free sport aviation training at the aviation school Bergried. Although hooping for a different prize, he hopes to become famous overnight in his hometown of Dünkelstätt. Kicked out of the aviation school owing to his behaviour covering up his cowardice, he is soon advised to stop the course. In Dünkelstätt, where the reason for his speedy return home is unknown, Quax is celebrated as an aviator. To live up to expectations, and also out of disappointment that his friend Adelheid was unfaithful during his absence, he returns to continue his education. Over time, he actually becomes a disciplined airman and even proves to be talented. As a reward, he gains the affection of Marianne, who has helped him out of difficult situations several times. At the end of the film set two years later, Quax is seen working as a disciplined flying instructor at Bergried Flying School. The movie itself was shot from May 23 to September 1941 at the Ufa Atelier Berlin Tempelhof and in Bavaria at the airfield of Prien am Chiemsee and here at the Erding Air Base , where the landing on the course was shot. Other parts of the film were shot on the airfield Kempten-Durach, Germany's highest-lying airfield. 
During the filming the stand-in pilot had to be replaced due to a leg fracture and, due to the war, could not be substituted. Rühmann himself, an avid sports aviator in real life, flew in all the scenes. Both on the wing and in front of the cockpit of the Udet U12 a camera from Bell & Howell was mounted which only allowed for 27 metres of film, which was just enough for a minute. As a result Rühmann had to take-of fity times to record the flight scenes. The première took place on December 16, 1941 in the Ufa Palace in Hamburg. It was helped by the Werner Bochmann hit song Heimat, deine Sterne and went on to win the regime's Filmprüfstelle before eventually making five million Reichsmarks at the box office. Hitler aparently loved the film and had it repeatedly shown at the Fiihrer's headquarters. A sequel- Quax in Fahrt (renamed Quax in Africa after the war in West Germany)- also starring Heinz Rühmann in the lead role was made in 1943-45 under the direction of Helmut Weiss. As in all Nazi aviation films, values such as discipline, camaraderie and social adaptation are highlighted. A special feature of this film is the main character who, an anti-hero, shows how even an obvious failure can become a "German hero" - if he meets only one competent leader- thus when Quax is at his lowest his instructor does not display the usual authoritarian traits of discipline and obedience but, on the contrary, demonstrates confidence by making Quax himself a flight instructor. Through Nazi film policy, the film was also intended to promote the Luftwaffe, especially as the Third Reich had a particularly high demand for new blood in this area during the Second World War. The High Command of the Allied occupying powers banned the film after the war; Rühmann himself always asserted that he had never felt that he had any propaganda, let alone military, training.
Some scenes set in and around Erding's Schrannenplatz from the film:
Heinz Rühmann landing in Schrannenplatz at the end of the film. His role in the 1930 movie Die Drei von der Tankstelle led him to film stardom. He remained highly popular as a comedic actor (and sometime singer) throughout the 1930s and early 1940s, remaining in Germany to work during the Nazi period, as did his friend and colleague, Hans Albers during which time he acted in 37 films and directed four. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, Rühmann did not speak openly about German politics, but instead kept himself as neutral as possible. In 1938 he divorced his Jewish wife Maria Bernheim who managed before the war to move to Stockholm, and as a result, survived the Holocaust. His second wife, Hertha Feiler, whom he married shortly after, had a Jewish grandfather, a fact that caused Rühmann problems with the Nazi cultural authorities. Rühmann retained his reputation as an apolitical star during the entire Nazi era. During the war years, Rühmann increasingly let himself be co-opted by the Third Reich. The same year as Quax, he also played the title role in Der Gasmann, about a gas-meter reader who is suspected of foreign espionage. In 1944, the premiere of Die Feuerzangenbowle was forbidden by the Nazi film censor for "disrespect for authority" although given his good relationships with the regime, Rühmann was able to screen the film in public. He brought the film to the Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschanze for a private screening for Hermann Göring and others. Afterward, Göring was able to get the ban on the film lifted by Adolf Hitler. As a "state actor", the highest title for an actor during the Nazi era, Rühmann was not drafted into the Wehrmacht.
He did have to take the basic training to become a military pilot, but for the Third Reich, Rühmann was more valuable as an actor and he was spared having to take part in the war effort. In August 1944, Goebbels put Rühmann on the Gottbegnadeten list of indispensable actors. Rühmann was a favourite actor of Holocaust diarist Anne Frank, who pasted his picture on the wall of her room in her family's hiding place during the war, where it can still be seen today, as well as both Hitler and Goebbels. Rühmann had a difficult time resuming his career after the war, but by the mid-1950s, the former comedian had established himself again as a star, only this time as Germany's leading character actor. In 1956, Rühmann starred in the title role of the internationally acclaimed picture Der Hauptmann von Köpenick, the true story of a Prussian cobbler, Wilhelm Voigt, who dressed up as an army officer and took over the town hall in Köpenick. Rühmann was also the leading man in the 1960 film version of The Adventures of the Good Soldier Schweik, after the novel by Czech author Jaroslav Hašek. He also played the role of Father Brown in three German films during the 1960s. In 1965, Rühmann was brought to Hollywood by producer Stanley Kramer for a supporting role as a German Jew in his all-star movie Ship of Fools. His last film was Faraway, So Close! (1993) by Wim Wenders, in which he played an old fatherly chauffeur named Konrad. Rühmann died in October 1994, aged 92 years. He was buried in Berg-Aufkirchen, Bavaria. His popularity with German audiences continues: in 1995, he was posthumously awarded the Goldene Kamera as the "Greatest German Actor of the Century"; in 2006, a poll voted him number one in the ZDF TV-show Unsere Besten - Favourite German Actors.
The film is set somewhere in the south of Germany in 1930; the main town is referred to as Dünkelstätt although at one point on a sign it's stated as being Dünkelstedt. Otto Groschenbügel, aka Quax, a small employee of a traffic bureau, wins in a competition providing free sport aviation training at the aviation school Bergried. Although hooping for a different prize, he hopes to become famous overnight in his hometown of Dünkelstätt. Kicked out of the aviation school owing to his behaviour covering up his cowardice, he is soon advised to stop the course. In Dünkelstätt, where the reason for his speedy return home is unknown, Quax is celebrated as an aviator. To live up to expectations, and also out of disappointment that his friend Adelheid was unfaithful during his absence, he returns to continue his education. Over time, he actually becomes a disciplined airman and even proves to be talented. As a reward, he gains the affection of Marianne, who has helped him out of difficult situations several times. At the end of the film set two years later, Quax is seen working as a disciplined flying instructor at Bergried Flying School. The movie itself was shot from May 23 to September 1941 at the Ufa Atelier Berlin Tempelhof and in Bavaria at the airfield of Prien am Chiemsee and here at the Erding Air Base , where the landing on the course was shot. Other parts of the film were shot on the airfield Kempten-Durach, Germany's highest-lying airfield. 
During the filming the stand-in pilot had to be replaced due to a leg fracture and, due to the war, could not be substituted. Rühmann himself, an avid sports aviator in real life, flew in all the scenes. Both on the wing and in front of the cockpit of the Udet U12 a camera from Bell & Howell was mounted which only allowed for 27 metres of film, which was just enough for a minute. As a result Rühmann had to take-of fity times to record the flight scenes. The première took place on December 16, 1941 in the Ufa Palace in Hamburg. It was helped by the Werner Bochmann hit song Heimat, deine Sterne and went on to win the regime's Filmprüfstelle before eventually making five million Reichsmarks at the box office. Hitler aparently loved the film and had it repeatedly shown at the Fiihrer's headquarters. A sequel- Quax in Fahrt (renamed Quax in Africa after the war in West Germany)- also starring Heinz Rühmann in the lead role was made in 1943-45 under the direction of Helmut Weiss. As in all Nazi aviation films, values such as discipline, camaraderie and social adaptation are highlighted. A special feature of this film is the main character who, an anti-hero, shows how even an obvious failure can become a "German hero" - if he meets only one competent leader- thus when Quax is at his lowest his instructor does not display the usual authoritarian traits of discipline and obedience but, on the contrary, demonstrates confidence by making Quax himself a flight instructor. Through Nazi film policy, the film was also intended to promote the Luftwaffe, especially as the Third Reich had a particularly high demand for new blood in this area during the Second World War. The High Command of the Allied occupying powers banned the film after the war; Rühmann himself always asserted that he had never felt that he had any propaganda, let alone military, training.Some scenes set in and around Erding's Schrannenplatz from the film:
Heinz Rühmann landing in Schrannenplatz at the end of the film. His role in the 1930 movie Die Drei von der Tankstelle led him to film stardom. He remained highly popular as a comedic actor (and sometime singer) throughout the 1930s and early 1940s, remaining in Germany to work during the Nazi period, as did his friend and colleague, Hans Albers during which time he acted in 37 films and directed four. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, Rühmann did not speak openly about German politics, but instead kept himself as neutral as possible. In 1938 he divorced his Jewish wife Maria Bernheim who managed before the war to move to Stockholm, and as a result, survived the Holocaust. His second wife, Hertha Feiler, whom he married shortly after, had a Jewish grandfather, a fact that caused Rühmann problems with the Nazi cultural authorities. Rühmann retained his reputation as an apolitical star during the entire Nazi era. During the war years, Rühmann increasingly let himself be co-opted by the Third Reich. The same year as Quax, he also played the title role in Der Gasmann, about a gas-meter reader who is suspected of foreign espionage. In 1944, the premiere of Die Feuerzangenbowle was forbidden by the Nazi film censor for "disrespect for authority" although given his good relationships with the regime, Rühmann was able to screen the film in public. He brought the film to the Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschanze for a private screening for Hermann Göring and others. Afterward, Göring was able to get the ban on the film lifted by Adolf Hitler. As a "state actor", the highest title for an actor during the Nazi era, Rühmann was not drafted into the Wehrmacht. 
He did have to take the basic training to become a military pilot, but for the Third Reich, Rühmann was more valuable as an actor and he was spared having to take part in the war effort. In August 1944, Goebbels put Rühmann on the Gottbegnadeten list of indispensable actors. Rühmann was a favourite actor of Holocaust diarist Anne Frank, who pasted his picture on the wall of her room in her family's hiding place during the war, where it can still be seen today, as well as both Hitler and Goebbels. Rühmann had a difficult time resuming his career after the war, but by the mid-1950s, the former comedian had established himself again as a star, only this time as Germany's leading character actor. In 1956, Rühmann starred in the title role of the internationally acclaimed picture Der Hauptmann von Köpenick, the true story of a Prussian cobbler, Wilhelm Voigt, who dressed up as an army officer and took over the town hall in Köpenick. Rühmann was also the leading man in the 1960 film version of The Adventures of the Good Soldier Schweik, after the novel by Czech author Jaroslav Hašek. He also played the role of Father Brown in three German films during the 1960s. In 1965, Rühmann was brought to Hollywood by producer Stanley Kramer for a supporting role as a German Jew in his all-star movie Ship of Fools. His last film was Faraway, So Close! (1993) by Wim Wenders, in which he played an old fatherly chauffeur named Konrad. Rühmann died in October 1994, aged 92 years. He was buried in Berg-Aufkirchen, Bavaria. His popularity with German audiences continues: in 1995, he was posthumously awarded the Goldene Kamera as the "Greatest German Actor of the Century"; in 2006, a poll voted him number one in the ZDF TV-show Unsere Besten - Favourite German Actors.
Nazi rallies, marches and demonstrations in Erding
Erding's war memorial, the iron cross now replaced from the top.
Looking down Landshuter Strasse, comparing the view after the war and today.
 |
| Spiegelgasse |
On Haager Straße the greatest damage was reported as was the number of killed is highest. The pressure of the detonations destroyed roofs and windows in the Innenstadt- on the Schrannenplatz the pharmacy and the Lehner house burned as shown in the photo above. It had taken days of work by mountain commanders to dig up the buried people. To make matters worse, electricity and water were left non-existent for days. The dead wee first placed on the roadside in Hagerstrasse, then brought to the heavily damaged city parish church. The coffins had been stacked on top of one another for reasons of space. Many other towns in Bavaria were bombed that day- Freising, Rosenheim, Dillingen, Augsburg, Neuburg an der Donau and Traunstein. Erding's city archivist, Markus Hiermer, observed that the "flying fortresses" of the US air forces on April 18 should not have actually thrown their cargo over Erding- "An attack on Pilsen was planned, but it was blown off course. They did everything they could to get rid of their bombs." Nazi air defences had already collapsed in the final phase of the war. Nevertheless, Americans and of course the RAF needed to bombard small towns like Erding to break the Germans' last resistance. Thus the attacks were no longer of strategic importance, but it was seen as an appropriate response to the relentless bombing the Germans had happily initiated and continued against civilian populations from the start of their war, particularly against British cities. On April 30 German troops were returning through Erding with the last squad passing ordered to destroy all the bridges. Only the Freisinger bridge, under which the power lines run to the power plant, was spared because the master of the works, Georg Pfab, convinced the responsible officer that Erding could not be allowed to sink into the dark. A day later, American soldiers entered Erding from the already-taken Eitting: "After this blaze of fire, the 34th Regiment stormed Erding at 8 am, and at 11 am, the city was in American hands," according to a military report from the US Army. When the American tanks arrived at Erding on May 1, winter returned with snow covering the rubble. On May 5, 1945 Army Group G signed the capitulation order in Haar near Munich ending the area's war.
The Stadtturm beside the remains of the church on Friedrich Fischer Straße
From the other side on Kirchgaße
From the other side on Kirchgaße
Wartenberg
Now the Gasthaus Bründlhof, from a 1940 postcard when it was the Tirolerstube and had a photo of Hitler gracing the wall.
Landsberg am Lech
The town is noted for its prison where Adolf Hitler was incarcerated in 1924. During this incarceration Hitler wrote/dictated his book Mein Kampf together with Rudolf Hess. His cell, number 7, became part of the Nazi cult and many followers came to visit it during the German Nazi-period. Landsberg am Lech was also known as the town of the Hitler Youth. Following the Second World War it was the location for one of the largest Displaced Person camps for Jewish refugees and the place of execution for more than 150 war criminals after 1945. The Landsberg camp began as a Nazi concentration camp. By October 1944, there were more than 5,000 prisoners in the camp. The camp was liberated on April 27, 1945 by the 12th Armoured Division of the United States Army. Upon orders from General Taylor, the American forces allowed news media to record the atrocities, and ordered local German civilians and guards to reflect upon the dead and bury them bare-handed. After the liberation of the camp it became a displaced person camp. Consisting primarily of Jewish refugees from the Soviet Union and the Baltic states, it developed into one of the most influential DP camps in the Sh'erit ha-Pletah. It housed a Yiddish newspaper (the Yiddishe Zeitung), religious schools, and organisations to promote Jewish religious observance. Tony Bennett was one of the soldiers who liberated the camp. A dramatisation of the discovery and liberation of the camp was presented in Episode 9: Why We Fight of the Band of Brothers mini-series. A number of prominent leaders emerged from the camp, including Samuel Gringauz, who also became the chairman of the Council of the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in the American zone. The camp also served as the headquarters for the Jewish education and training organisation ORT. The camp closed on October 15, 1950.
 |
| Alte Bergstraße hasn't changed much |
Shown in 1938 with a banner with a large swastika hanging from the roof when the structure served as a memorial to Hitler's incarceration, after the war when holding Nazi prisoners and today. Forty
miles west of Munich, this is where, in 1924, Hitler spent 264 days
incarceration after being convicted of treason after the failed
Munich Beer Hall Putsch the previous year. During this time Hitler
dictated and then wrote his book Mein Kampf with
assistance from his deputy, Rudolf Hess. Hitler had taken the cell
that had held Anton Graf von Arco-Valley who had murdered Bavarian
prime minister Kurt Eisner in February 1919.
Posed propaganda shot by Heinrich Hoffmann and Hitler's return in 1934 after taking power.
Conditions were not actually so bad in this ‘cross between a spa hotel and a barracks’. Wooden partitions were erected to give the prisoners privacy. They were allowed to mix to such an extent that Hitler dictated Mein Kampf while there, and received visitors freely. Party insignia were hung from the walls and other Nazis stood to attention before dinner when Hitler entered the hall and took his seat. Perhaps helped by the singularly mild rules of the institution, Hitler was regarded by the warders as a model prisoner. Upon Hitler’s release in December 1924, the prison governor said that if anyone could save Germany, it would be this man.
Martyn Housden (57) Hitler: Study of a Revolutionary?
The gaol on December 30, 1924 after the release of the putschists and as it appears today. From the left are Gerhard Hoff, Walter Hebel, Hans Eduard Krüger, Julius Schaub and Rudolf Heß. The original caption recorded how the car came courtesy from Landsberger alderman and landowner Franz Strobl who met them upon their release.
Hitler's Chief Warder Franz Hemmrich posing outside the entrance to the prison.
For a thumb-nail sketch of Herr Hemmrich – he is a man perhaps at the end of the thirties. The face and especially the eyes are full of alert activity and energy. One gets the impression of an officer who has put in a good many years of responsible and exacting service. He wears a blue uniform with epaulettes, and an official cap. “Before I start the story of Adolf Hitler’s detention here,” he tells me, as we prepare to make the tour of Landsberg, “you ought to know something of the place itself. It is, as you can see, fairly modern. It was built in 1909, and originally intended for none but ordinary convicts. It was planned to accommodate five hundred. Only since 1920 have we had political prisoners here – quite a different class. They don’t, of course, rank with criminals at all. We had no special accommodation to allot to them, so a wing was set apart for the purpose and called the ‘Festung.’ In 1920 Count Arco-Valley was sent here. He had been condemned to death for shooting the Bavarian Minister President Kurt Eisner, but his sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life. For a long time he was the only man we had in the ‘Festung.’... “Then, on November 11th, 1923, I remember, there was a regular storm raging. The wind howled and shrieked round the place and tore at the barred windows. Rain dashed against the panes as if it would break them. At that time I had a room within the prison. It was night, and I’d gone to bed. All was still save for the muffled tread of an officer going the rounds, or for the ticking when he clocked in. “All of a sudden a bell rang through the corridor, and a moment or two later came a knocking on my door. ‘The Governor wants you. You’re to come at once,’ cried a voice without. I jumped into my clothes with all the speed I could, and hurried to the office. Herr Oberregierungsrat Leybold was chief at the time. “‘See here,’ he said, and his face was as serious as his voice, ‘Hitler’s coming here to-night. He has been arrested at last, and he’ll certainly be sent along to us. We’ll have to be prepared for anything. His followers may make an attempt at rescue ––’
Heinz A. Heinz (169) Germany's Hitler
 |
| The 'Hitler-Zelle' |
From the film „Der Marsch zum Führer" showing Hitlerjugend marching
to commemorate Hitler's
imprisonment in Landsberg am Lech, the final rally in
the main square of the city and the address of the Reich Youth Leader
Baldur von
Schirach. Unlike the earlier Leni Riefenstahl Nuremberg documentaries,
it does not focus on the Party congress itself, or on Nazi leaders, who
are not shown until the very end of the film. Instead, it follows HJ
boys from various parts of Nazi Germany beginning their journey, camping
along the route, being taken in by helpful families on the way and
marching through cities in formation, saluting and carrying the swastika
banner. From 1933 onwards, the city marketed itself using various sobriquets: Hitler City, City of the Führer, National Socialist Site of Pilgrimage and Birthplace of the Ideas of National Socialism. In 1938, 100,000 visitors came to Landsberg, most incorporating a glimpse of Hitler’s former prison cell into their tour. Eventually, the town received the official honorific City of Youth, because it welcomed thousands of Hitler Youth members in 1937 and 1938 for massive Adolf Hitler marches. The delegates also visited the prison – which had plans to become the biggest youth hostel in the Reich – and received a copy of Mein Kampf as a souvenir.
The Hauptplatz on September 19 1937 during a rally of Hitlerjugend and today
The "Schöner Turm" bedecked with swastikas in 1937 and today
as is the statue in front of the rathaus although here covered by the banners of the Hitlerjugend
The Mutterturm seems to have had a fresh coat of paint recently
Just outside Landsberg in the town of Schwabhausen is this sign pointing to what is described as a concentration camp cemetery leading into the woods at the site where, on April 27, 1945, American strafers bombed what they had mistakenly believed to be a German military transport train. In fact, the train cars were packed with trapped Jewish prisoners from the Kaufering concentration camps who were being transferred to Dachau. About 150 prisoners were killed in the attack, and were buried in three mass graves in early May. Today the train still runs right beside them. The first grave contains the remains of about sixty of the dead, and graves 2 and 3 contain up to eighty remains in toto. Apparently only one of the dead is known by name today- Joschua ben Mosche Chaim Herzel from Hungary. The three gravestones were erected in the summer of 1946 and are nearly identical, differing only in height in order to symbolise the varying number of victims buried in each grave. They had been made by stonemason Franz Xaver Sepp from Landsberg. They all bear the same inscription in Hebrew, cast in metal letters:
לאות זכרון
כל עין עובר תדמה וכל לב
נמס ושאול ישאל מה הציון
הלו אשר אתה רואה זו היא
עצמות קדושים וטהורים אשר
אחרי עינוים קשים הומתו ביום
השחרור י’ד אייר שנת תש’ה
תנצב’ה
Dr. Zalman Grinberg was a Lithuanian medical doctor with a specialty in radiology who was imprisoned in Dachau. He later served as the chairman for the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in the American sector of Germany and Austria after the war, dying August 8, 1983.
Apparently the memorial site has been the repeated target of vandalism and desecration.
On a sign board beside the first grave is the following In Memoriam: “Each eye of a passerby may cry and each heart may sorrow and ask what kind of memorial is it I am seeing here? These are the bones of the Holies and Pure who after cruel pain were killed on the day of redemption 14th of Adar 5705” (April 27, 1945)
On a sign board beside the first grave is the following In Memoriam: “Each eye of a passerby may cry and each heart may sorrow and ask what kind of memorial is it I am seeing here? These are the bones of the Holies and Pure who after cruel pain were killed on the day of redemption 14th of Adar 5705” (April 27, 1945)
Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm
Adolf-Hitler-Platz in front of the town hall bedecked with Nazi flags as shown on the cover of Pfaffenhofen unterm Hakenkreuz by Reinhard Haiplik, now in its third edition. As Haiplik reveals, in the Reichstag election in 1933, the Nazis achieved its highest election result in Oberbayern with 43.1 percent of the votes in Pfaffenhofen- "indeed by far." As early as 1923, some of Hitler's adherents from Pfaffenhofen had participated in the so-called "Marsch zur Feldherrnhalle," otherwise known as the Munich beerhall putsch. Some ϟϟ men from Pfaffenhofen made a career, most notably Anton Thumann. Between 1933 and the end of the war in 1945 there was a lively support of the ruling regime among the citizens of the city. In this edition Haiplik was especially concerned about the subject of war criminals: "I wanted to name the perpetrators and keep the memory of the victims." In his newly-written chapter titled "Victims of the Holocaust - Individual Destinies of Murdered Pioneers," Haiplik devoted his focus to Jewish families, some of whom lived in Pfaffenhofen for decades and became victims of the Holocaust. Earlier Haiplik had previously written that there were probably no Holocaust victims from Pfaffenhofen; he has since determined that several Jewish families lived in Pfaffenhofen until the 1930s before being sent to Theresienstadt and Auschwitz to be murdered.
Adolf-Hitler-Platz then and now, renamed Hauptplatz, with the rathaus on the right
The Brauerei Bortenschlager sporting the Nazi flag and today, a K&L clothing shop.
Karl Riemer spent the entire time of its existence, from 1933–1945, in the Dachau concentration camp. He fled from the camp on April 26, 1945. He succeeded in getting through to Pfaffenhofen, some fifty kilometres away and already in American hands, by April 29. The American town commandant there assured him immediate help for the prisoners in the Dachau concentration camp. Karl Riemer was unaware that the order for liberating the camp had already been given on the morning of his arrival.
Ingolstadt
Adolf-Hitler-Platz then and now.
Adolf-Hitler-Platz seen from both directions, the effects of the war clearly seen
The
Bavarian King Ludwig III visiting Fort Prinz Karl (what is now the Polizeimuseum) during the First
World War. During the Great War future French president Charles de
Gaulle was detained here as a prisoner of war as was future Soviet marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky. Construction of the fort began in March 1877 and completed in August 1882 at a cost of almost 1.7 million reichsmarks. During the First World War, the fortress and others served as prison camps. The reason why it was not demolished like all other fortresses after the Second World War can only be guessed at but, given it stored large amounts of ammunition, the Americans were concerned that in the event of an explosion the neighbouring village of Katharinenberg would have been destroyed. Thus, Prince Karl was the only German fort to be completely preserved.
The portal of the Liebfrauenkirche
Theriesenstrasse seen from the church
During the First World War Ingolstadt was temporarily occupied with over 40,000 soldiers, its fortress buildings used as a prisoner of war camp and three military hospitals were established within the city. From 1916 there was a considerable shortage of food and by November 1918 a workers' and soldiers' council was formed. From the balcony of the town hall a Soviet Republic was called out at short notice. The Treaty of Versailles resulted in a sharp reduction of the German army, and the Ingolstadt armaments companies were forced to switch production. The production of spinning machines by Deutsche Spinnereimaschinenbau AG Ingolstadt (Despag) seemed particularly promising. However, due to the Wall Street Crash in 1929 60% of the workers were dismissed; 500 remained. The seizure of power by the Nazis took place on April 27, 1933, when the newly formed City Council elected two Nazi members as Second and Third Mayors. The Lord Mayor Josef Listl, who had been in office since 1930, remained in office until 1945. By the end of June, the city council members of the SPD and the BVP resigned. Nazi attacks were directed in the first months especially against politicians and members of the KPD , who lived mainly in the workers' settlements in the east of the city. The union house was destroyed. More than fifty people were deported to the Dachau concentration camp. During Kristallnacht in 1938 when the SA ravaged the synagogue in the Stegmeier house, 46 Jewish residents still remained in Ingolstadt. Half of the originally around hundred Jews from Ingolstadt had already left the city from the beginning of Nazi rule because of constant reprisals and boycotts . On the morning of November 10, 1938 the last Ingolstadt Jews had to leave the city within an hour's notice.
The entrance to the new schloss then and now.
Although the city was the site of a garrison and numerous armaments factories, Ingolstadt remained largely spared from bombing until the end of the war when, from January 1945, Ingolstadt repeatedly became the target of Allied air attacks . In particular, the southern and eastern city centre and the area of the main station were badly affected with well over six hundred killed. Besides residential buildings, the bombs hit the Stadttheater, the Salzstadel, the Sankt-Anton-Kirche and the Gouvernementsgebäude although the most significant cultural historical loss was probably the baroque Augustinian church of Johann Michael Fischer, whose destruction left an hundred dead. The US Army occupied Ingolstadt after its capitulation by the city commander on April 26, 1945 without a fight. Before this, ϟϟ troops had blown up the Danube bridges. The arrival of about 5,000 refugees and displaced people additionally limited any living space. Fortress buildings were temporarily used as emergency shelters and, after Würzburg and Regensburg, Ingolstadt had the densest housing occupancy in Bavaria in the post-war period.
In the last year of the Second World War, Fort VIII near Manching was
the branch of the destroyed Wehrmacht prison in Munich in which during
1944-1945 76 Wehrmacht soldiers were killed for desertion; today there
is an honorary grove to them in the Westfriedhof.
Nearby at the end Tranktorstrasse is the Hotel Zum Anker where I stayed.
The
Kreuztor, the seven-turreted guard tower which, with the
Feldkirchnertor, are the only ones of the city's four principal gates
that survive today, the latter as part of the castle complex.
The bridge over the Danube before the war and after its destruction by the ϟϟ on Thursday, April 26 as the American army reached the north bank of the Danube.
This Hitler Jugend haus, completed in 1938, is still a Youth Hostel.
The Willibaldsburg and Hofmühle appear to have survived the war unscathed.
Along the canal looking towards the Altmühl
.jpg)
Eichstätt
On the left, the cathedral in 1936 and today with, on the right, Westenstraße with Saint Walburg church in the background. During the Nazi era, Bishop Konrad Count von Preysing was the only Catholic bishopric of Germany to turn against the Reichskonkordat, which was agreed by the Holy See and the Reichsregierung in 1933. Between 1939 and 1945 was located in the eastern suburb of Eichstätt the prison of war Oflag VII B. In addition Eichstätt was from October 1944 to January 1945 location of an outside storage of the concentration camp Flossenbürg. In the town area of Eichstätt there was no significant damage to war by Allied attacks, as opposed to the surrounding municipalities and cities.
The Willibaldsbrunnen shows a remarkably unchanged marktplatz in large part
thanks to the town's youth: "The brave boys instantly got their hoses
and connected to the water, and it was a real pleasure to see the Pimpfe and Hitler-Jungen rush to the fire" according to the Eichstätter Heimatzeitung on
March 13, 1943. Already in July 1940 the party announced: "7000 Hitler
Youth are under the fireman's helmet." The average age was 16 years. The
training lasted for six months, and the youth learned to operate all
fire equipment, "so that they can collaborate with experienced
firefighters at each deployment."
The Willibaldsburg and Hofmühle appear to have survived the war unscathed.
Along the canal looking towards the Altmühl
The remains of the Eichstätt Thingstätte, built in 1935 and opened on Saturday, July 6, 1935 that year. Such open-air theatres were built between 1933 and 1936 for the Thingspiele, events attempting to evoke an emotional and ethical emergence of the individual within the national community. For this reason, places of particular importance were selected as their sites; surrounded by forests, in waters embedded in hills or natural rocks, at ruins or other traces of local history. As a result they were exposed to the uncertainties of the weather. Given the lack of enthusiam by the general public they quickly fell out of use or were converted for use for political rallies.
It was declared at its formal opening service: "National Socialists of district Eichstätt! Our splendid Thingstätte on the holy mountain has received its consecration by the Frankenführer Gauleiter Julius Streicher. The day is a landmark in the history of our movement to which 18,077 working hours and 118 days have been donated. The Holy Mountain is to become a work worthy of the glorious location and the lofty aim of the movement. Forward with Hitler. Long live our leader and his glorious movement."
The cornerstone was laid on April 6, 1935 by the Nazi district leader, Walter Krauss, mayor from 1934 to 1938. The SA and party members built the stage and the rows of spectators. .jpg)
The completion of the Thingstättenhaus (now Café and Hotel Schönblick) took place on September 5, 1935. For the Nazis the High Cross overlooking the site, which had been erected in 1854 to give thanks for the sparing of the cholera, was an issue. The removal of the Monument Cross, cast in the Obereichstätt smelting works, was prevented by the resistance of Christian-minded citizens from Wintershof and Eichstätt. Thus when the Nazis spoke of the "Holy Mountain", they did not refer to the High Cross.
The completion of the Thingstättenhaus (now Café and Hotel Schönblick) took place on September 5, 1935. For the Nazis the High Cross overlooking the site, which had been erected in 1854 to give thanks for the sparing of the cholera, was an issue. The removal of the Monument Cross, cast in the Obereichstätt smelting works, was prevented by the resistance of Christian-minded citizens from Wintershof and Eichstätt. Thus when the Nazis spoke of the "Holy Mountain", they did not refer to the High Cross.
Although in ruins today, immediately after the war on August 9, 1946, it was used for a choir meeting for the Latvian refugees living in Franconia attended by seven hundred singers who had previously celebrated a service in the Protestant church and then climbed up the mountain. In June 1963 the diocese of Eichstätt hosted the Diocesan Frogschartag iin which at least 1,200 girls between the ages of ten and fourteen from all over the diocese celebrated a church service. Finally in 1988 another attempt was made to revive the Thingstätte open-air stage through Martin Walser's "Eiche und Angora", performed as part of the Summer Games programme. The site was chosen intentionally for a play about a simple man in the last days of the war who never manages to recognise political changes in time. Its organiser, Heinrich Vergho, stated that "[o]f course, at first we had some reservations about acting on this site built by the Nazis. But the topic almost forced us to use the venue and it provided multiple impulses to the production. "
Mühldorf
In the course of the so-called 1918 November Revolution, a workers 'and soldiers' council was formed in Mühldorf. On the evening of April 25 1919 Mühldorf was also occupied by a group of Spartakists; five days later the insurgents were brutally disarmed and arrested by government troops. Hitler gave a speech to 5000 here at the Mühldorfer Rennbahn in June 1931. His followers, including Ernst Rohm, were all dressed in white shirts as a march in the Braun shirt had been banned in the run-up. In 1933, the Mühldorf town council made Hitler an honorary citizen. As in the rest of the country, under the Nazis anti-Semitic measures began in Mühldorf although there were only two Jewish families in the city- the Michaelis family and the Hellmann family. Fritz Michaelis, a bearer of the Iron Cross as well as the wounded badge, had to close his business in April 1937. Horse merchant Hellmann was able to pursue his business until 1938, but finally had to close after being attacked in the pages of Der Sturmer. Nevertheless the city remained spared from the November pogroms in 1938. In 1944, the construction of a huge secret bunker complex for the production of the Messerschmitt Me 262 began, outlined below. In March 1945, the war came to Mühldorf for the first time- on March 19, 700 American planes, including 250 B-24 bombers, dropped 6,000 bombs over the city, mainly above the railway station, one of the largest transhipment stations in Bavaria, killing 129 people, including numerous children. A month later, on April 20, bombs were dropped again over the city and killed fifteen citizens. The two attacks destroyed about 40% of the entire residential area, numerous commercial and industrial plants as well as 330,000 m² of track systems, the real target of the attacks. On 25 April the forest camp was cleared and the prisoners removed. Around 44 American air personnel are thought to have perished during the
return flight following one of these raids. Civilian casualties are
believed to be much higher due to many aircraft crews being unable to
identify their primary objectives. On May 2, American troops from the 47th Panzer Battalion of the 14th Division finally reached the city from the west. Mayor Gollwitzer was able to convince the Mühldorfer combat commander to refrain from defending the city, surrendering the city to the American battalion commander without any struggle. However, withdrawing German troops still blew up the bridge. After the war, 480 prisoners from a mass grave of the forest camp were buried at the concentration camp concentration camp in Mühldorf. On the day of the funeral, on June 2, 1945, a large part of the population, men, women and children had gathered in response to the US military administration, horrified by the disinternment of hundreds of corpses whose coffins had been opened for inspection , The inhabitants were ordered to the cemetery, which was surrounded by tanks four times in June. The memorial stone on Ahamerstraße speaks only generally of victims and does not mention that they were murdered concentration camp prisoners.
Due to increased activity of British and American bombing, Germany was forced to concentrate on fighter aircraft and the regime ordered all factories still producing bombers to immediately begin production of defensive fighter aircraft through what was known as known as the Jaegerprogramm. Under this plan, it was envisioned that the bunker in Mühldorf, once completed, would produce over 900 of the new Messerschmitt Me-262 jetfighters per month. To ensure this figure, the production of various Me-262 parts were to be divided amongst local workshops within the region. For example, the bunker here in Mettenheim was tasked with producing the engines and airframes while the final production and assembly would take place in the Landsberg bunker. From there, the aircraft could use the makeshift runway to take off and fly to their destination.
Germany’s civil and military engineering group, the Organisation Todt, planned and organised the secret project which was called "Weingut I". A project of this scale required a large workforce. At the beginning of 1942, the Germans had forcefully recruited millions of people from occupied territories to work as laborers in the German armament industry. The man in charge of this was Fritz Sauckel, Generalbevollmaechtigten fuer den Arbeitseinsatz. Alone the bunker in the Mettenheim would require at least 8,000 workers. Organisation Todt supplied the engineers, management and master chiefs whilst the majority of the 10,000 labourers were composed of prisoners of war and concentration camp inmates from Dachau. Concentration camp inmates were classified as Hilfsarbeiter and "paid" 60 Pfennigs an hour at the end of each month; in fact, the inmates never saw the money.
Despite the massive visible damage on the only surviving arch (twelve were originally planned), the structure permits some insight into the construction techniques used to build it. The original plans called for the bunker to be 400 metres in length from east to west. A single semi circular roof arch was to measure 33 metres in width and was separated from the next arch by a 30-centimetre gap, which was to be covered as soon as the bunker was completed. The entire width of the bunker arch was 85 meters. The thickness of the roof was precisely 3 meters to which another two metres of concrete were to be added upon completion for a total thickness of five metres. The top layer of the roof was to be covered with earth to promote tree and plant growth which would serve as natural camouflage against enemy aerial reconnaissance. A 5 metre thick wall was planned to cover both entrances which would add safety in case of air attacks and ground fire. Once the concrete foundations were planted, gravel and earth were shovelled over the closed Entnahmetunnel and foundations to help in the shaping of the arches. As soon as this was completed, the semicircular mound was smoothed and flattened and then covered with a 10 centimetre-thick layer of concrete.
Long metal rods were then inserted into the think concrete layer to act as the starting point for the three meter thick bunker roof. Most of the cement was created at the nearby cement mixing sites. Pumps pumping liquid cement were also employed in the building process. It was originally planned that the bunker would have eight internal levels. Plans were also drawn up to add stairs, elevators and more pillars for added structural support although such plans were never realised given the war situation. By the end of April 1945, only seven arches had been completed due to disruptions in the supply of materials, air raids and lack of skilled workers.
The bunker itself was never bombed by the Allies. American troops reached the Inn River on May 2, 1945 and occupied the bunker and appropriate construction sites. Interestingly enough, the Americans allowed the involved firms to reclaim their equipment – possibly as means of reparations. In the summer of 1947, the Americans began placing explosives inside the bunker and parts of the nearby air raid shelter for demolishing purposes. After numerous tries, the Americans finally succeeded using 120 tonnes of dynamite. It was found that the bunkers' arches were collapsed.
From 1982 to 1983, a rumour began to circulate that there were still Wehrmacht supplies of a chemical nature being stored in the bunker. Only after an extensive cover-up did the government finally, in 1987, remove these chemicals. Under pressure from various groups, the bunker was eventually added to a Bavarian list of historic memorials which did not stop the Bundesfinanzministerium in 1991 from proposing to destroy the bunker site. Despite massive protests, demolition work took place in 1995-1996 with the tearing down of the nearby air raid shelter ruins. Due to this incident, the future existence of this historical site is questionable.
Weilheim
Adolf-Hitler-Platz then and now
The Vier-Jahreszeiten-Brunnen at the former Adolf-Hitler-Platz and today
NS-Kreistag
at the site on June 16, 1938 showing from the left NS-Kreisleiter
Hausböck (Garmisch-Partenkirchen, NS-Kreisleiter Dennerl (Weilheim),
Stellv. Gauleiter Nippold and Gauleiter Wagner.
Weilheim played a role after the failed Beer Hall coup of November 9, 1923 when Hitler fled to Uffing am Staffelsee to hide under the protection of Helene Hanfstaengl, whose husband Ernst Hanfstaengl was also involved in the coup. Two days later on Sunday, November 11 Lieutenant Rudolf Belleville, the Commander in Chief of Landeswehr Weilheim, received the order to arrest Hitler at Villa Hanfstaengl at 16.20. In Uffing at the villa of Hanfstaengl's mother Katharina he searched with ten state police officers and a gendarme for an hour and a half . Only after a direct telephone conversation with Helene Hanfstaengl did he go to their villa. Shortly before their arrival Hitler dictated his political will. According to Hanfstaengl's at times self-serving memoirs, Helene eluded Hitler's pistol. Hitler was finally arrested without resistance by Belleville, whom he had personally known. The group then drove back here to Weilheim where Hitler spent the night and at 10.45 the next day Hitler was taken by 39 guards to the fortress prison in Landsberg-am-Lech.
Weilheim played a role after the failed Beer Hall coup of November 9, 1923 when Hitler fled to Uffing am Staffelsee to hide under the protection of Helene Hanfstaengl, whose husband Ernst Hanfstaengl was also involved in the coup. Two days later on Sunday, November 11 Lieutenant Rudolf Belleville, the Commander in Chief of Landeswehr Weilheim, received the order to arrest Hitler at Villa Hanfstaengl at 16.20. In Uffing at the villa of Hanfstaengl's mother Katharina he searched with ten state police officers and a gendarme for an hour and a half . Only after a direct telephone conversation with Helene Hanfstaengl did he go to their villa. Shortly before their arrival Hitler dictated his political will. According to Hanfstaengl's at times self-serving memoirs, Helene eluded Hitler's pistol. Hitler was finally arrested without resistance by Belleville, whom he had personally known. The group then drove back here to Weilheim where Hitler spent the night and at 10.45 the next day Hitler was taken by 39 guards to the fortress prison in Landsberg-am-Lech.
Otto Hoffmeister Haus, used as a youth hostel during the Third Reich
Rosenheim
It
was at the Marienbad Sanitarium in Rosenheim that Hermann Wilhelm
Göring was born on 12 January 1893. The photo on the right shows the SA
marching during the the April 1, 1933 boycott of Jewish-owned
businesses. Their signs read: "Germans shop in German stores! The Jew
is stirring up hate against Germany! Therefore, do not go to Jewish
stores!"
The number of Jews living in Rosenheim was high compared to other Bavarian cities. However, at the start of the 20th century, the Jewish community consisted of about 50 people. The request to the city council for establishment of a separate Jewish religious association, with reference to the Bavarian-Jewish legislation, was refused, so the Rosenheim Jews remained attached to the state capital, where their dead also had to be buried. Even the funeral of the First World War fallen son of a Jewish merchant based in Rosenheim at the city cemetery was refused and was "the biggest disappointment and the bitterest pain" for the father. With the creation of the first local Nazi group outside of Munich in 1920, the Rosenheim Jews saw increasing hostility. Centre of hate campaigns was the Rosenheim School. A scandal occurred in June 1920, after a reader accused the writer of a letter entitled 'Rosenheimer Jews' who wanted to repeal the provisions of the Versailles Treaty and hold military exercises at the Rosenheim School. Seven members of the high school and a member of the "Chiemgau" then raided a villa inhabited by Jews in the Herbststrasse. Rosenheim's college on July 29, 1920 came to the conclusion that "... it was regrettable that the people's movement to fight exploitative Jews[...], which certainly was justified in its nature, has been discredited."
Protests
of the Bavarian Jewish Central Association were unsuccessful, only an
unmistakable message of the Bavarian Interior Ministry September 1920
was able to maintain peace. On April 1 1933, shortly after the Nazi
seizure of power, guards were set up in front of Jewish shops, warning
against buying in these stores, but to desist assault and criminal
damage. A large proportion of the population ignored these calls. The
shops were therefore still frequented, much to the annoyance of Nazi
activists who acted with the backing of then-Mayor Gmelch. Despite the
support of the population, six of the eleven Jewish business owners gave
up their businesses by 1937. The assassination of German diplomat vom
Rath by the Jew Herschel Grynszpan on November 7 1938 in Paris, was
taken as a final opportunity to strike against the Jews. The SA came on
10 November at 3–4 o'clock in the morning with 8 to 10 men to the last
two Jewish shops and destroyed their inventory and merchandise. The
fate of many Rosenheim Jews is documented. Those who could, emigrated -
mostly in the United States. However, many failed in their entry and exit
applications and would end up murdered in concentration camps.
The number of Jews living in Rosenheim was high compared to other Bavarian cities. However, at the start of the 20th century, the Jewish community consisted of about 50 people. The request to the city council for establishment of a separate Jewish religious association, with reference to the Bavarian-Jewish legislation, was refused, so the Rosenheim Jews remained attached to the state capital, where their dead also had to be buried. Even the funeral of the First World War fallen son of a Jewish merchant based in Rosenheim at the city cemetery was refused and was "the biggest disappointment and the bitterest pain" for the father. With the creation of the first local Nazi group outside of Munich in 1920, the Rosenheim Jews saw increasing hostility. Centre of hate campaigns was the Rosenheim School. A scandal occurred in June 1920, after a reader accused the writer of a letter entitled 'Rosenheimer Jews' who wanted to repeal the provisions of the Versailles Treaty and hold military exercises at the Rosenheim School. Seven members of the high school and a member of the "Chiemgau" then raided a villa inhabited by Jews in the Herbststrasse. Rosenheim's college on July 29, 1920 came to the conclusion that "... it was regrettable that the people's movement to fight exploitative Jews[...], which certainly was justified in its nature, has been discredited."
Protests
of the Bavarian Jewish Central Association were unsuccessful, only an
unmistakable message of the Bavarian Interior Ministry September 1920
was able to maintain peace. On April 1 1933, shortly after the Nazi
seizure of power, guards were set up in front of Jewish shops, warning
against buying in these stores, but to desist assault and criminal
damage. A large proportion of the population ignored these calls. The
shops were therefore still frequented, much to the annoyance of Nazi
activists who acted with the backing of then-Mayor Gmelch. Despite the
support of the population, six of the eleven Jewish business owners gave
up their businesses by 1937. The assassination of German diplomat vom
Rath by the Jew Herschel Grynszpan on November 7 1938 in Paris, was
taken as a final opportunity to strike against the Jews. The SA came on
10 November at 3–4 o'clock in the morning with 8 to 10 men to the last
two Jewish shops and destroyed their inventory and merchandise. The
fate of many Rosenheim Jews is documented. Those who could, emigrated -
mostly in the United States. However, many failed in their entry and exit
applications and would end up murdered in concentration camps.
SA
marching during the Party Congress in Rosenheim on 1 September 1929
with the same site on Max-Josefs-Platz today. The number of Jews living
in Rosenheim was high compared to other Bavarian cities. Although the
Jewish community at the time of the turn of the century included about
50 persons, the application for the founding of a separate Israelite
cult association was denied by the municipal authorities with reference
to the Bavarian legislation on the Jews, so that the Rosenheim Jews
remained connected to the state capital and bury their dead there Had
to. Even the funeral of the son of a Jewish merchant in Rosenheim, who
died in the First World War, in the city's cemetery, was not allowed "to
the greatest disappointment and pain" of his father. At the latest
with the founding of the first Nazi locality outside Munich in 1920,
the Rosenheim Jews were increasingly exposed to hostility. Thus, in June
1920, the scribe of a reader's letter reproached the Rosenheim Jews in
the local press for betraying the Entente's military exercises against
the provisions of the Versailles Treaty at Rosenheim Gymnasium. Seven
members of the Gymnasium and a member of the "Chiemgau" fell upon a
villa inhabited by Jews in the autumn road, but they could not storm. On
July 29, 1920, the Collegium of the City of Rosenheim decided that "...
it was unfortunate that the movement to fight a popular Jewry [...],
which is certainly justified in its nature, will be discredited by such
excesses." Protests Of the Bavarian Israeli Central Union remained
unsuccessful, and an unmistakable communication from the Bavarian
Ministry of the Interior of September 1920 could restore peace. Within the scope of the November
pogroms of the Reich, the SA entered the last two Jewish shops between 3
and 4 o'clock in the morning on November 10, 1938, and destroyed
inventory and goods. The fate of numerous Rosenheim Jews is documented.
Who could emigrate - mostly to the USA. However, many entry and exit
requests failed and many were assassinated in concentration camps.
Hitler
giving a speech to a crowd on the 15th anniversary of the NSDAP chapter
in Rosenheim, the first major NS Ortsgruppe to have formed outside
Munich, at Max Joseph Square on August 11 1935.
Hitlerjugend during Kriegstag in 1942.
From the beginning of bombing raids on
German cities in the spring of 1942, Rosenheim was not spared. In
November 1943 there were shelters for only 650 people for a city
population of approximately 22,000. However, by February 1944 shelters
had been built for about 6400 people and in conjunction with other
shelters a total of 10,525 people could be protected. During fourteen bomb
attacks, 201 people were killed and 179 injured. The focus of the air
attacks was the railway station and the railway tracks, as Rosenheim was
an important transportation hub between Munich, Salzburg and Innsbruck.
The neighbouring communities of Ziegelberg, Stephanskirchen,
Westerndorf St. Peter and Oberpfaffenhofen were also hit. The first air
attack on October 20, 1944 at lunch time from 12:47 to 13:17 O'clock with
over a hundred aircraft, dropped 1,000 bombs, leaving 27 dead and 59
wounded. The heaviest air raid took place on 18 April 1945. From 14:40
to 14:55 around 200 to 1300 aircraft dropped bombs in the area around
the station, resulting in 53 dead and 36 injured, in addition, this
attack also made 800 people homeless. The station building was almost
completely destroyed, railway tracks were destroyed over a length of 20 kilometres.
The last air attacks were made on April 19 and 21, 1945. During the war
the majority of at least 173 duds were recovered. In 1964, the Oberbayerische Volksblatt reported that the approximate location of 38 undiscovered unexploded ordnance was known.
The Flötzinger
Bräustüberl, where Hitler spoke on April 21, 1921. The photo on the left
shows owner Franz Xaver Simson in front of the window the year before.
He celebrated his birthday here in 1925. Ten years later, after an
operation to remove a polyp on May 23, Hitler spoke here for the first time on August 11, 1935. The
NSDAP chapter in Rosenheim was celebrating its fifteenth anniversary;
it was the first major NS Ortsgruppe to have formed outside Munich. Hitler made use of the opportunity to rail against his domestic
opponents and to support current action being taken against Stahlhelm
members and former Centrists.
Traunstein
The
kriegsgräberstätte Hallabruck hufschlag war cemetery. In 1951
Traunstein agreed to create a military cemetery on the district of Hohes
Kreuz, established in agreement with the Bavarian State Government.
Various renowned artists put their skills to prepare for the war dead of
the Chiemgau a worthy final resting place. The solemn inauguration
followed on May 30, 1954; a general renovation took place in 1994 her
graduation. 1,037 war dead from 73 different communities found their
final resting place here, including among them 26 soldiers of the First
World War alongside 57 victims of the bombing attack on Traunstein on
April 18, 1945. The cemetery is located on a slope of the steep bank
high above the Traun allowing vistors to look over the city to the
nearby Chiemgau Alps. A narrow footpath leads from the city up the
slope, towards the wooden shingle-covered chapel. A colourful glass
window lets subdued light into the high room, from whose centre the
stone figure of the Archangel Michael protrudes. On the round wall of
the chapel in Sgraffito the names of the dead buried in the cemetery are
copmmemorated. On the slightly curved rows of graves rise from the
plant dress of St. John's wort and lilies symbolic stone cross groups
like the silent watch. The grave of each dead person is marked with a
name plate of burned clay. Beech and oak trees arch their mighty tops
over the square concluding with a ten metre high wooden cross framed by
the foliage of the surrounding trees.
Niedernfels
Now the Franz von Sales School, a state-recognised private primary and secondary school in the pedagogical centre in Niedernfels Castle west of Marquartstein in the Chiemgau, during the Nazi era it served as the so-called Gaufhreschule of the Gaus Munich-Oberbayern.
Traunstein
With the Nazi seizure of power in 1933 an active period of persecution for political dissidents and Jewish fellow citizens began. By November 1938 all Jewish residents of the town had been forcibly removed. Open political resistance during the war years was limited; the town priest, Josef Stelze, was placed briefly in custody, Rupert Berger, Bavarian People's Party representative and the first post-war elected Mayor of Traunstein, was for a period incarcerated in the Dachau concentration camp. In 1939 Traunstein had an estimated population of 11,500. By the end of the war 523 of that number were registered as killed as a direct result of the conflict, a further 73 registered as missing. During the later stages of the Second World War Traunstein was four times the target of American aerial bombardment: on November 11, 1944, on January 21, 1945, on April 18, 1945, and finally on April 25, 1945. It was in April 1945 that the heavy air raids destroyed much of the Traunstein station area, an event in which over an hundred people died. Shortly after on May 2, 1945, a train with Jewish concentration camp detainees passed through Traunstein. The following day 61 of the detainees were shot in Surberg, where a memorial commemorates them. The town surrendered without a struggle on May 3, 1945. During the war a subcamp of Dachau concentration camp was located here.
Niedernfels
Now the Franz von Sales School, a state-recognised private primary and secondary school in the pedagogical centre in Niedernfels Castle west of Marquartstein in the Chiemgau, during the Nazi era it served as the so-called Gaufhreschule of the Gaus Munich-Oberbayern.
