The Ordensburg Sonthofen is one of the

NS-Ordensburgen In Nazi Germany, the NS-''Ordensburgen'' ("National Socialist Order Castles", singular ''Ordensburg''), also called ''Schulungsburgen'', were schools developed for elite Nazi military echelons. There were strict requirements for admission to the sc ...

built during the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

Sonthofen Sonthofen is the southernmost town of Germany, located in the Oberallgäu region of the Bavarian Alps. Neighbouring Oberstdorf is situated 14 km farther south but is not classified as a town. In 2005, Sonthofen was awarded "Alpenstadt des ...

(

Oberallgäu Oberallgäu is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Unterallgäu and Ostallgäu, the Austrian states Tyrol and Vorarlberg, the district of Lindau, and the state ...

). Currently it belongs to the

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

and is named ''Generaloberst-Beck-Kaserne''.

History

Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1969-074-02, Ordensburg Sonthofen, Modell

The complex was built in 1934 as ''NS-Ordensburg Sonthofen'' by the

German Labour Front The German Labour Front (german: Deutsche Arbeitsfront, ; DAF) was the labour organisation under the Nazi Party which replaced the various independent trade unions in Germany during Adolf Hitler's rise to power. History As early as March 1933, ...

(Deutsche Arbeitsfront, DAF in short) for the NSDAP. Three ''NS-Ordensburgen'' existed: *

Ordensburg Krössinsee Ordensburg Krössinsee (also ''Crössinsee'') was the first of three ''NS-Ordensburgen'', educational centers constructed in Germany in the 1930s for cadres of the Nazi Party. It was built near what was then the city of Falkenburg in Pomerania, ...

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

*Ordensburg Sonthofen,

Allgäu The Allgäu (Standard German: , also Allgovia) is a region in Swabia in southern Germany. It covers the south of Bavarian Swabia, southeastern Baden-Württemberg, and parts of Austria. The region stretches from the pre-alpine lands up to the A ...

Ordensburg Vogelsang Ordensburg Vogelsang is a former Nazi complex located within the former military training area of Vogelsang in the Eifel National Park in North Rhine-Westphalia. The landmarked and fully preserved complex was used by the Nazi Party between 1936 a ...

, Eifel A fourth one ( Ordensburg Marienburg) was planned at the historic Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork, in East Prussia (currently

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

). It was designed by architect Hermann Giesler as a school for the education of elite Nazi military and party echelons. The internationally known actor

Hardy Krüger Hardy Krüger (; born Eberhard August Franz Ewald Krüger; 12 April 1928 – 19 January 2022) was a German actor and author, who appeared in more than 60 films from 1944 onwards. After becoming a film star in Germany in the 1950s, Krüger increa ...

attended this school. In the last year of the war it was used as a servicemen's hospital. Commander of the ''Ordensburg'' was, from 1936 to 1941, Robert Bauer, an '' Old Fighter'' of the

Nazi party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

and member of the Reichstag since 1933. After the war French troops first took over the Castle. Later the US Army located the training center for the

United States Constabulary The United States Constabulary was a United States Army military gendarmerie force. From 1946 to 1952, in the aftermath of World War II, it acted as an occupation and security force in the U.S. Occupation Zone of West Germany and Austria. Reaso ...

force there. From May 1951 through February 1952, was used by the United States Air Force in Europe as a basic training center,Ralph A. Lurvey (MSGT, USAF (Ret)),
"Air Force Basic Training in Europe 1951-1953"
March 2013. In 1956 the Castle was acquired by the

and was named after the member of resistance and former chief of the general staff of the army Colonel General

Ludwig Beck Ludwig August Theodor Beck (; 29 June 1880 – 20 July 1944) was a German general and Chief of the German General Staff during the early years of the Nazi regime in Germany before World War II. Although Beck never became a member of the Na ...

Current use

The ''Generaloberst-Beck-Kaserne'' hosted schools of the Bundeswehr (Military Police (''Feldjäger'') and Staff Service). In 2009 the Bundeswehr transferred these schools to the Emmich-Cambrai-Kaserne in Hannover. Two other bases were then closed and their personnel moved to Sonthofen. Today the facility is protected as a historic site.

References

Literature

* Hartmut Happel: ''Die Allgäuer Ordensburg in Sonthofen''. Eberl, Immenstadt 1996, * Gerhard Klein: ''Die NS-Ordensburg Sonthofen 1934 bis 1945.'' In: Paul Ciupke u. Franz-Josef Jelich (Hrsg.): ''Weltanschauliche Erziehung in Ordensburgen des Nationalsozialismus. Zur Geschichte und Zukunft der Ordensburg Vogelsang'' Geschichte und Erwachsenenbildung, Bd. 20. Essen 2006. S. 65 - 84

External links

In Sonthofen web page
(in German)

{{Authority control Castles in Bavaria Ordensburg Sonthofen Oberallgäu