History Ordensburg Sonthofen

Author’s Remarks

As a result of being re-assigned within the College of the Military Police and the General Staff  I inherited from my predecessor the duty of taking visitors on guided tours through the General-Beck-Kaserne.
I started out with a four page briefing and some old slides.  It turned out that some of the details in the briefing were merely hearsay.
Being detail oriented, I set to work.  I checked records in several archives and soon I was in contact with people who had been trained in or had worked at the Ordensburg.  These elderly gentlemen were very kind and helpful.  They entrusted me with their personal histories and that is how I was able to revive a part of German History.  At the same time I had to refresh my knowledge of National Socialism in Germany.  In the course of two years I collected a lot of material, which I do not want to lock away in an archive, but make available to all who are interested.
For the 40th anniversary of the Military Police and General Staff College in January 1996, I had completed a small brochure.  This book will now acquaint the reader with more history of this area in the Allgäu.

Translators Remarks

As an American with German ancestry I currently have the opportunity to live and work in Germany.  My father, an Officer in the U.S. Army, was stationed in Germany for a number of years.  It was through him, and the German side of my family that I grew up with both German and English and  I became interested in the close historical ties between Germany and the United States. The Ordensburg appears to be an example of these historical ties, as it was built by Germany,  then occupied by the U.S. Army and through their efforts it was turned over to the German Armed Forces.
I am grateful to Capt. Happel for giving me the opportunity to bring closer to the English speaking reader the history of the Ordensburg. I also thank my family for proof reading and generally assisting with this translation.

The reasons for building the Ordensburg, todays the General-Beck-Kaserne, date back to the year 1933. The National Socialists declared the 1st of May “Labor Day”, which had been a demand of the unions for some time. The official celebration took place in Berlin with a big “Fest”. But, on the 2nd of May the unions were dissolved by the National Socialists and all their assets were confiscated. Thus all previously existing unions, organizations representing industry, white collar workers and government employees were combined into the German Workers Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront, DAF).

According to the Oberallgäu National Newspaper, during December 1933, Dr. Robert Ley developed the idea of training for members of the DAF, because it was thought that the German worker should be a part of the National Socialist movement. Dr. Ley wanted to build mobile barracks for this purpose. He planned to use the barracks also for “ideological and political training” for party members of the NSDAP. His plan was to train party leaders in two week courses. The training camps were to be located in the “most impressive parts of the German countryside”, preferably, however, close to border points, so that these areas would also be “inspired by National Socialist ideals”. Dr. Ley briefed his ideas in K¥nigswinter at a conference of party leaders, who represented their respective counties. At this particular conference Mr. Hermann Giesler was also present. Mr. Giesler, then the County Superintendant for Construction in Sonthofen, argued against Dr. Ley’s idea, because in his opinion mobile barracks would only work on a temporary basis, and in any case, permanent structures would have to be erected for logistical purposes. Furthermore, he argued, mobile barracks are not suitable for the training of an elite and they certainly could not serve the representational ideal of National Socialism. Without having been authorized to do so, Mr. Giesler planned a training site and he had a wooden model built. At the next conference of the training leaders in Bernau, near Berlin, he presented his model to Dr. Ley. According to Mr. Giesler, after he introduced and discussed his model, all talk of temporary baracks ceased. Instead, he immediately was given an order by Dr. Ley to continue his plan according to the model he presented..........

................. The woodcarver, Mr. Wineberger from Akams in the Allgäu, carved the emblem of the NSDAP out of oak, 4.5 by 3 meters. It was hung in the “Hall of Honor”. A detailed description of the heating system within the Burg follows. A music hall was to be built on the first floor of the west wing. On the first floor of the east wing was to be the Burg’s restaurant, where 200 – 300 men could socialize over drinks. All phases of the construction were to be captured on film.At the building site 300 workers found employmnet, 60 of these belonged to the “Reichsarbeitsdienst”.

On 19 October 1935 the completion of the framework is celebrated for that part of the building site. Dr. Ley is present and in his speech he no longer uses the term “Reich Training Burg”, but he talks about the “Ordensburg” for the national socialist community. Consequently, now talk is only of the “Ordensjunker”. More on that subject later.
On 7 April 1936 Dr. Ley again visits the construction site and Mr. Giesler receives the order to enlarge the Ordensburg so that it can house up to 1.000 men................

The complete plan for the Ordensburg had been on a much larger scale.  A hall for up to 2,500 people was to be erected south of the “Schwäbeleholz”, thus creating a border to the east.  The towers on each side of the hall would have exceeded the hight of the “Palas”.  This hall would also have been used as an indoor market for Sonthofen.  The dining hall and the kitchen were to be extended by adding a banquet hall to the east of todays’ building number 9.  Between the kitchen and the great hall a hospital and a theater were being planned.  Lecture halls and a library were to be built to the east, parallel to the stadium.  As an extension of the stadium, which was to have covered spectator seats, an outdoor swimming pool of 100 meters length .....................

On the 19 of October, 1935, Dr. Ley referred to the “Ordensburg” as the educational institution for the political leaders of the NSDAP for the first time. This he did during the inaugurational ceremony at the completion of the first construction phase in Sonthofen. There is no more talk of education for the officials of the DAF. Dr. Ley now sees it as his responsibility to ensure the training of the future political leaders of the NSDAP. To this end he submits his writings within the party’s brochure “The Way to the Ordensburg”. He outlines in detail how, after proving oneself within the party, at the age of 25 to 30 one could be educated for three years and later for four years to become a leader within the party. A short excerpt: “We want to know if these men have the will to lead, to be the master, in one word: to rule. The NSDAP and its leaders must want to rule. Those who are willing to share leadership can never be a leader in the NSDAP. We want to rule, we enjoy ruling, not to be despots or to be sadistic tyrants, but because we firmly believe that in all things there can only be one leader and only one leader who can carry the responsibility. To him belongs the power. So these men (the “Junkers”) will learn to ride horseback, not to gain in social status but to learn what it is like to have absolute control over a living being. He must control the horse not with spurs, but with his willpower.

The education of the “Junkers”, as the students were called, was to progress as follows: ...........

Not the education of the “Junkers” determined life at the Ordensburg, but the students of the Adolf Hitler Schools. It may therefore be prudent to talk about these in more detail.

Founding of the Adolf Hitler Schools

The plans of Dr. Robert Ley to ensure for the Reich a rising generation of political leaders, was not successful in all areas.

With the help of Baldur von Schirach (responsible for youth programs throughout the Reich) and against the plans of the Minister of Education, Dr. Ley obtained Hitler’s permission for a new type of boarding school on 15 January 1937.

To this end, he composed the following memorandum:

1. The Adolf Hitler Schools (AHS) are part of the Hitler Youth. The HY will be responsible for them. Curriculum, instructors and their teaching materials will be approved by the Reich leadership throughout the Reich.
2. .........

On July 9, 1945 Sonthofen was occupied by the U.S. Army.  Local residents had hoped that now their treatment would improve. No fraternization meant no contact between Germans and members of the U.S. Army.  However, by the end of 1945 the American troops arranged a Christmas celebration with gifts for the local children.  

Since there was no German police at that time, soldiers, other than the military police, were needed to keep public order.  The Third U.S. Army Constabulary Planning Board was formed at Bad Tölz in early January 1946 to develop an organizational and operational plan for the U.S. Constabulary.  Early in the planning stage the Board recognized the need for a Constabulary School that would train both officers and enlisted men in the methods required to perform the new Constabulary mission.  On 15 January 1946 the 2nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron was ordered to Sonthofen to perform occupational duties in that sector.  Upon its arrival in Sonthofen, the 2nd  Cav  Recon Sqdn assumed control of the former NS Ordensburg.  On 12 February 1946, the 465th Anti-Aircraft Automatic Weapons Battalion, Self-Propelled, relieved the 2nd Cav Recon Sqdn, was redesignated as U.S. Constabulary School Squadron and set to work.  ..............

The Burg was to be renamed in order to demonstrate that the German Forces were distancing themselves from the times of the NS. The new Defense Minister, Theodor Blank, suggested the name “General Beck-Kaserne”. No other name could have conveyed the intention of the new German Federal Republic and the newly formed German Forces better to distance itself from the old NS regime. The Bavarian State agreed with Mr. Blank’s suggestion.

Since 1935 General Beck was Chief of Staff of the Army. Initially he supported Hitler, but once he realized where Hitler’s expansion politics were going and he received the order for the occupation of the Czech Republic, he realized that this would be the end of Germany. In several memoranda and lectures he warned and attempted to avert the coming catastrophy. Finally he asked the entire General Staff to resign in protest in order to prevent the war. But his appeals went nowhere. Disillusioned he handed in his resignation in 1938. Beck joined the resistance and he participated in the planning of several assasssination attempts. He played a fundamental role in the assassination attempt of July 20, 1944. He led the occupation of the Bentler buildings in Berlin. Had the coup succeeded, he would have had a leading role in the new government. The assassination failed and Beck lost his life that same day.

On January 15, 1956 the Burg was renamed the General-Beck-Kaserne and turned over to the German Forces. To commemorate General Beck, a plack with this soldier’s words was unveiled in the “Hall of ...........