Miscellaneous Sites Part 3

Miscellaneous Sites

Associated with the Third Reich

Part 3

The following sites can be found on this page. Click these links to proceed directly to a particular site: Hitler Jugend home in Eichstätt (Bavaria), Jugendherberge in Aalen (Baden-Württemberg), Labor Service headquarters in Neustadt bei Coburg, Neustadt an der Aisch, and Langenzenn (Bavaria), Führer Headquarters "Felsennest" at Rodert (Nordrhein-Westphalen), Führer Headquarters "Wolfsschlucht I" (Belgium), Führer Headquarters "Tannenberg" in the Black Forest (Baden-Württemburg), Führer Headquarters "Adlerhorst" at Ziegenberg/Wiesental (Hessen), Winkelturm bunkers in Giessen (Hessen), Nazi Parade in Windecken (Hessen), SS Berghaus, Polizei Ski School, and experimental radar site on the Sudelfeld at Bayrischzell (Bavaria), Nazi Parades in Kelheim, Vilsbiburg, and Coburg (Bavaria), Hitler Jugend Home in Aschaffenburg (Bavaria), ammunition storage sites in Oberwildflecken and Oberdachstetten (Bavaria), RAD (Labor Service) camp and Hitler Jugend Home near Fladungen (Bavaria), Jugendherberge at Urfeld on the Walchensee (Bavaria), Julius Streicher's manor farm near Cadolzburg (Bavaria).


This Jugendherberge (Youth Hostel), sometimes also described as a Hitler Jugend home, was built in Eichstätt from 1936-38 (Eichstätt is located between Nuremberg and Munich). It still serves as a Youth Hostel, located at Reichenauerstraße 15. Click here to see the Thingstätte in Eichstätt. (MapQuest Map Link)


This Jugendherberge (Youth Hostel) was built in Aalen in 1938. With few architectural changes, it still serves as a Youth Hostel. (Herbert Hoffmann, "Deutschland baut," 1938) (Google Maps link)

This building in Neustadt bei Coburg in northern Bavaria was the headquarters for the Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD - Labor Service) Battalion 2/280 "Buchhändler Johann Philipp Palm." It was built in 1935-36 at Feldstraße 20. The building still exists, but a comparison photo from the same angle is not possible today, and the RAD monument in the forecourt is long gone. Update - This building was demolished around 2008. Thanks to Andreas Bär for this info! Click here to see the RAD headquarters in Arnstein. (Google Maps link)


This building in Neustadt an der Aisch in northern Bavaria was the headquarters for the Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD - Labor Service) Battalion 3/282 "Meister Peter Vischer der Älterer." The building still exists, but the double tower above the entrance, with the RAD spade insignia and motto "Arbeit adelt" (Work Ennobles) has been replaced by a normal gable. However, a close examination of this part of the building reveals a line where the towers were originally mounted. Click here to see 1945 photos taken in Neustadt. Click here to see the RAD headquarters in Lichtenau bei Ansbach. (Google Maps link)


This complex in Langenzenn in northern Bavaria was the headquarters for the Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD - Labor Service) Battalion 1/282 "Meister Adam Kraft." All of the buildings in the period aerial photo postcard still exist, but the RAD monument behind the main building is gone. (Google Maps link)

Führer Headquarters "Felsennest"


One of Adolf Hitler's earliest field headquarters was code-named "Felsennest" (Rocky Nest), built in the Eifel mountains near the village of Rodert, which is close to the old spa town of Bad Münstereifel in North Rhein-Westphalia. "Felsennest" was built to replace Führerhauptquartier "Adlerhorst" at Ziegenberg (see below), because Hitler considered the latter site to be too lavish to fit in with his desired appearance as a simple field soldier. It was from this spartan field headquarters "Felsennest" that Hitler directed the attack on the West in May 1940. On the left above, Hitler strolls with Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring at one of the wooden buildings at "Felsennest." On the right above is one of the camouflaged concrete bunkers at the site. The photos below show some of the concrete ruins that can be fond at the site today. (above - Bundesarchiv; below - courtesy Ralf Hornberger) (MapQuest Map Link)

Führer Headquarters "Wolfsschlucht I"


Hitler wanted to move closer to the front as soon as feasible, so he moved to a site near Brûly-de-Pesche, Belgium, on 6 June 1940. This small compound centered around a church and school was initially named "Waldwiese," but Hitler renamed it "Wolfsschlucht" (Wolfs Gorge) because he preferred to use code names based on his own "undercover" name of Wolf that he used in his early career. A couple of bunkers and other support buildings were added to the site, but the military staff and security forces used mainly the existing church and civilian buildings. The armistice with France was signed while Hitler's headquarters were at "Wolfsschlucht," and he took the opportunity to visit Paris and other sites in France while at this FHQ. In addition to the period village buildings shown here, the bunker built for Hitler has been preserved and some of the military huts rebuilt, with a display of relics and weapons (bottom). (period photos from "Mit Hitler im Westen" by Heinrich Hoffmann (1940); modern photos courtesy Hamish McFarlane) (Google Maps link)

Führer Headquarters "Tannenberg"


Following the use of FHQ "Wolfsschlucht I" Hitler and his command staff moved to a site near Freudenstadt in the Black Forest called "Tannenberg," named after the victorious battle of World War I. Hitler was at "Tannenberg" for about eight days in late June to early July 1940, during planning for an invasion of England following his victorious campaign in the Benelux and France. The site consisted of two reinforced concrete bunkers and various other buildings. Ruins of the blown-up bunkers and building foundations can be found at the site today. Below left - This piece of a blasted bunker wall shows the distinctive green outer bunker wall coating, as seen at FHQ "Wolfschanze" and other bunker sites (this rubble may have been from Hitler's bunker). Bottom right - SS Chief Heinrich Himmler, Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels, and an SS aide at FHQ "Tannenberg" (Bundesarchiv). (Google Maps link)Google Maps link)


Near the bunker ruins area can be found the remains of a Flak position for anti-aircraft guns to protect the FHQs. The square openings in the concrete gun emplacement walls were for ready ammunition storage.

Führer Headquarters "Adlerhorst"

Charged with finding or building a field headquarters site for Hitler, architect Albert Speer reworked a country palace at Ziegenberg, near Bad Nauheim in Hessen. Modern communications equipment was installed, in addition to well-appointed quarters, and various above and below-ground bunkers. This complex was called Führerhauptquartier "Adlerhorst" (Eagles Nest). But when Hitler saw it, he considered it to be contrary to his desired appearance as a simple field soldier (he considered it far too lavish), so another headquarters was built in the Eifel, called "Felsennest" (Rocky Nest), and this is where Hitler directed the attack on the West in May 1940 (see above). During the Ardennes Offensive (Battle of the Bulge) in December 1944, Generalfeldmarschall von Runstedt used the Ziegenberg facility as his headquarters (Hitler used a small bunker facility about a mile north in Wiesental - see below). The Ziegenberg complex was bombed by the Americans shortly before the end of the war. (Bundesarchiv Koblenz)


The bunkers built near the Ziegenberg palace had both above and below-ground components, and were camouflaged to look like civilian buildings (these bunkers are used today as a depot for the German Bundeswehr). (U.S. Army photo)


On the left, an air-raid protection bunker in Ziegenberg. This concrete bunker was clad on the outer walls with rough rocks (complete with fake windows), and it had a pointed roof (originally thatched), as camouflage. Nearby is a large garage built to service the vehicles of the military staff - now a business center. (Thanks to Neil Albaugh for info on this site.) (MapQuest Map Link)

Hitler's nearby headquarters at Wiesental consisted of several wooden buildings with underground bunkers. On the left is a wartime photo of one of these buildings. The above-ground parts are all gone now, with post-war houses built in their places. Some of the foundations of these post-war buildings are apparently from the original structures. The large building in the photo on the right sits where the Reichsicherheitsdienst (Security Service) bunker was located. The buildings behind are located on the sites for the bunkers for staff generals, adjutants, and press personnel. An artist studio now occupies the former location of Hitler's bunker. (Bundesarchiv Koblenz) (MapQuest Map Link)


Above - U.S. Army personnel examine the remains of the Wiesental bunker complex in March 1945. (U.S. Army photos) Below - ruins of the Wiesental bunkers in 1945. (courtesy Nigel Shipp)

Click here to see the Führerheadquarters "Wolfschanze" in East Prussia (now Poland).

Bunkers in Giessen (Hessen)


Eight air-raid shelters of a unique style can be found in Giessen. These so-called Winkeltürme (Winkel Towers) were cone-shaped concrete towers designed by Leo Winkel of Duisburg. Winkel patented his design in 1934 and began construction in 1936. Eventually some 98 Winkeltürme of five different types were built. The towers were intended mainly as protection for factory workers and railroad personnel, and they appeared most often in areas of heavy industry and rail centers. The Giessen towers were installed on Wehrmacht posts - the one above was on the Artillerie-Kaserne, which the U.S. Army used as Pendleton Barracks after the war. The tower is now located on public property and is used as a climbing tower (hence the brackets added near the top and the knobby projections on the side). The photo on the right shows damage from a high-explosive shell above the upper door, and the original locking mechanism on the door. (Google Maps link)


The Winkelturm on the left is near the one in the photos above - it has been painted as part of a children's recreation center in the adjacent former barracks building. The two on the right were in the Verdun-Kaserne, which the U.S. Army used as Rivers Barracks.


On the left, a 1937 postcard showing the Wald-Kaserne, or Verdun-Kaserne in Giessen. The Winkel towers do not show in these views. Both of these towers were built adjacent to barracks buildings. (Google Maps link)


Four other Winkeltürme are located on the former Berg-Kaserne in Giessen. The close-up views below show ventilation ports in the sides of the towers. Click here to see Winkeltürme in Stuttgart, Kaiserslautern, Darmstadt, and Ludwigshafen; and here to see Winkeltürme in Zossen near Berlin. (Google Maps link)


Inside one of the Giessen Winkel towers, on the former Verdun-Kaserne. The different levels were numbered for the appropriate number of people who could shelter there, and the benches that went around the periphery had numbers for assigned seating. The photo on the right below shows one of the original ladders and part of the ventilation equipment. (photos courtesy Greg Pitty)

Part of the wartime function of the Verdun-Kaserne was to train Nachrichtenhelferinnen - female auxiliary signals specialists. This concrete bunker building was part of the "Amt Gisela" communications complex, located at the rear of the Kaserne. This bunker complex (including the nearby "Hansa" bunkers) included underground components - the photo on the right shows a protected ventilation inlet/outlet for the underground portion beneath this building.

Further info (in German), including guided tours, at http://www.bunkermuseum-hansa.de/index.html.

To celebrate its 650th year, the town of Windecken (near Hanau in Hessen) held a festival with parade on 6-8 August 1938. The town was decorated with Nazi flags, and the local Kreisleiter was the master of ceremonies for the festivities. Here, the volunteer fire department participates in the parade through the Marktplatz. The buildings appear almost identical today. (period photos and info from the webpage of the Windecken History Club, http://www.geschichtsverein-windecken.de/orte_im_wandel/650jahrfeier_1938/index.html)


Many of the parade participants were in period costumes, representing various eras in the town's history. Here, women in Rococo dress walk into the Marktplatz from Friedbergerstraße.


Looking out from the Marktplatz down Friedbergerstraße, toward the church. (MapQuest Map Link)


SS "Berghaus" rest and relaxation home, on the Sudelfeld near Bayrischzell in southern Bavaria. The home, which included tennis courts and a swimming pool, was built in 1937-38, partly by laborers from the Dachau concentration camp. It serves today as a youth hostel. (left - courtesy Kimmo Nummela, "Silent Wall" webpage; below - courtesy Ralf Hornberger) (Google Maps link)



Nearby, also on the Sudelfeld near Bayrischzell, was a Ski School for the Police, built from 1933-42. It is used today as a mountain training area for the Polizei. (Gerdy Troost, "Das Bauen im neuen Reich," Part 2, 1942; period postcard, 1939) (Google Maps link)


Also on the Sudelfeld is this little-known artifact. Very little information exists concerning this large concrete structure erected during WW II, but it was apparently involved with experiments into high frequency radio waves and/or radar. Somewhat difficult to see today, due to wooden structures built around and on the concrete parabolic "mirror," are two bunkers or earth covered structures - one beside the "mirror" and one directly behind it. These were likely control centers that housed electrical and radio equipment. (Google Maps link)


These concrete blocks are bases for towers of a cable car system to transport materials up to the hill from the valley below (it has also been theorized that they may be mounts for antenna towers). There are three sets of these bases running up the hill to a point near the concrete "mirror."


On 23 October 1933 the Befreiungshalle at Kelheim, overlooking the Danube River southwest of Regensburg, was the scene of a Nazi gathering of SA (Sturmabteilung) units. The Befreiungshalle was a monument erected 1842-1863, to mark the liberation of Germany from Napoleonic rule. (MapQuest Map Link)


Two views of the same rally as seen from an elevated position. ("Der Staat der Arbeit und des Friedens - Ein Jahr Regierung Adolf Hitler" (The Land of Work and Peace - One Year of the Administration of Adolf Hitler), Altona-Bahrenfeld, Cigaretten-Bilderdienst, 1934)


The Nazis held a parade through the Bavarian town of Vilsbiburg in 1927 in preparation for a speech by Hitler - SS chief Heinrich Himmler is seen leading the column. The scene today appears almost identical. ("Adolf Hitler - ein Mann und sein Volk" - Special Edition of the "Illustrierter Beobachter," Munich, 1936) (MapQuest Map Link)


SA units parade in Coburg in 1931, with the Vesta Coburg fortress in the background. ("Kampf um's Dritte Reich," Altona-Bahrenfeld, Cigaretten-Bilderdeinst, 1933; modern view courtesy Christian Gleicke)


A group of young girls parade in the Coburg Hauptplatz (market square), giving the "Hitler-Gruß" salute and singing the "Horst-Wessel-Lied," the unofficial anthem of the Nazi Party. The occasion was the 75th anniversary of the German gymnastics association in Coburg, 1936. The modern views show a slightly wider angle to show more of the surrounding architecture, including the statue of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg, who married Queen Victoria of Great Britain (seen in the modern view below). (National Archives, RG 208) (MapQuest Map Link)


Soldiers of the U.S. 71st Infantry Division guard German prisoners of war in Coburg in April 1945 (compare to the first 1936 view above). ("History of the 71st Infantry Division," 1945)


Tanks from the 761st Tank Battalion (an African-American unit) move into the Coburg Marktplatz on 11 April 1945 (compare to the second 1936 view above). (U.S. National Archives, RG111SC)


A Hitler-Jugend-Heim with Jugendherberge was built in Aschaffenburg in 1935. Post-war construction precludes an overall view of the building now - this is a composite photo. (courtesy Karl Asmus) (MapQuest Map Link)


The building now serves as a music school. There have been a few changes to the outside of the building, including the removal of the eagle-and-swastika Hoheitszeichen from the front entry archway. (courtesy Karl Asmus)

A Munitionsanstalt (Muna), or ammunition storage depot, was built near Oberwildflecken in northwestern Bavaria, adjacent to a munitions factory built ca. 1939, near the Wildflecken Training Area. After the war, the U.S. Army blew up the ammunition storage bunkers, which remain today in a ruined condition in the woods. (Check the Contents Page for links to other Munas found on the "Third Reich in Ruins" page.) (MapQuest Map Link)


Entering the doorway (left), and inside the bunker interior (right). Only the side walls and roof edges remain - the centers have been collapsed by demolition.


Looking back toward the entrance from the inside (left), and a concrete top to a ventilation shaft (right).


One of the largest Munas in Germany was built at Oberdachstetten, near Ansbach in Middle Franconia. This site consisted of two ammunition assembly buildings to manufacture primarily 20mm aircraft cannon rounds and 88mm anti-aircraft and armor piercing rounds, with some 125 munitions storage sheds and bunkers. Most of these structures were blown up by the U.S. Army after the war, and many of the ruins were later removed, but some intact bunkers are still in use by the U.S. Army and some ruins remain. One of the assembly buildings remains - these buildings are often described as being built in the shape of a swastika, and such a shape is evident in aerial views, but in reality, the buildings were built of four side wings around a central wing, connected by corridors (superficially resembling a swastika) to separate the manufacturing processes in the different wings so that an explosion or fire in one wing would not destroy all the rest. The building now houses the Muna-Museum of the Verein für militärische Heimatsgeschichte Frankenhöhe e.V. (which is open to the public - check their webpage for schedules). (Google Maps link) Above - The Muna garrison marches out the main gate of the adjacent Kaserne (Muna-Museum). Below - The separate wings of the munitions assembly buildings still have their original iron doors and window shutters, further protection to stop the spread of fire from adjacent wings. (Google Maps link)


Above left - This building was probably used to assemble ammunition components such as fuses. Some structures such as that on the right above provided above-ground storage for ammunition products. Below left - Most of the earth covered bunkers were destroyed in 1945. Below right - The track of the main rail line coming into the Muna was bordered by high concrete walls. Bottom - When the U.S. Army cleared the Oberdachstetten Muna in 1945, they transported the munitions to an area of open fields on the other side of the ridgeline that borders the Muna area, and blew them up there. The resulting incomplete destruction left a large number of unexploded pieces, which over the years became covered with earth. Since farmers' tractors and plows kept being damaged by this unexploded ordnance, the Bavarian government decided to clear this area in 2010. At the end of the clearing effort in 2014, the contractor erected a small monument consisting of several demilled 88mm Panzergranate 39 armor piercing projectiles welded together. (Google Maps link)

One of the work projects completed by the Reichs Arbeitsdienst (RAD - Labor Service) in the 1930s was the Hochrhönstraße, or High Road through the Rhön Highlands in northern Bavaria, near the border with Hessen and Thüringen. Several RAD camps were erected in this area to house the workmen - the largest of these was a double camp built at the northern edge of the Schwarzes Moor area near Fladungen. This camp, for RAD battalions 5/283 and 6/283 (later 1/288 and 2/288) was called the Dr. Hellmuth-Lager, for the Gauleiter of Main-Franken, Dr. Otto Hellmuth, who was in charge of the plans and construction in this area.

The camp consisted of a double row of barracks buildings with a dining hall at one end and a large training and exercise hall at the other, the whole being surrounded by a high earthen berm. The camp was entered though an archway of natural basalt stones, native to this area, built into the front of the exercise hall. This basalt archway, seen in the photos above, is the only part of the camp still standing (remains of the building foundations and the border berm can also be seen). During World War II the camp housed prisoners of war who worked in the nearby fields. The buildings housed displaced persons after the war, and the camp was later torn down. (period photo in author's collection) (MapQuest Map Link)


The large exercise hall (9000 square feet) can be seen in the overall view of the camp, along with the berm surrounding it. The road in the foreground is the Hochrhönstraße. The modern photo was taken inside the site of the exercise hall, showing the inner side of the entry archway, and part of the earth berm remaining in the distance. (period photo in author's collection)


Other RAD camps were built in the nearby area - this is the "Tal-Lager" camp for RAD Battalion 3/288, built in 1938 adjacent to Fladungen. The RAD workers also built a monument of basalt rocks on the Heidelstein hill near the Hochrhönstraße. This was demolished in 1964 for the erection of a radio antenna. (period photos in author's collection)


This building was built in the mid-1930s at the southern end of the Hochrhönstraße, as the Hitler Jugend Heim Bauersberg. It now serves as a youth education center. (MapQuest Map Link)

The Baldur von Schirach Jugendherberge (youth hostel) was built above the Walchensee lake in southern Bavaria in 1936, named for the leader of the Nazi youth movements. The building still serves as a youth center, but vegetation has grown up all around it making a modern comparison view impossible. (Gerdy Troost, "Das Bauen im neuen Reich" (Vol. 1, 1942 ed.) (MapQuest Map Link)

This small pressed paper disc portrays the Baldur von Schirach Jugendherberge. It was one of a series showing youth hostels across Germany, given as a token to those who contributed to the Winterhilfswerk Nazi welfare relief. (author's collection)

Click here to see a WHW disc showing the Adolf Hitler Jugendherberge in Berchtesgaden.

Julius Streicher, the Gauleiter of Franken, fell out of favor with the Nazi leadership in 1940 and retired to his manor farm, the "Pleikershof," near Cadolzburg, west of Nürnberg. Streicher was executed in 1946 as a result of the Nürnberg Trials - after the war his farm was used as housing for displaced persons and later for freed concentration camp prisoners. The property is now in private ownership. (MapQuest Map Link)

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