The History of Vogelsang - “Ordensburg” (1934 - 1936)
The first phase of the Vogelsang “Ordensburg” was built from 1934 to 1936 on a wooded mountain spur above the Urfttal dam. It was to be a training institution for young party members of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP). The term “Ordensburg” came from the party and state leadership’s need to adopt powerful symbols from German history and to give them a new ideological interpretation.
Vogelsang was constructed by the “German Labour Front” (DAF) under its director Robert Ley using the assets seized from the German unions when they were dispossessed in 1933 as well as other financial means. Ley used the opportunity to stage economic development in the rural Eifel region in an effective propaganda move. He simultaneously held the position of “Reich Organisation Leader” of the NSDAP and therefore felt responsible for strengthening and developing the party leadership.
Ley chose Clemens Klotz, a party friend from Cologne, as the architect. Klotz was also in charge of planning for the Crössinsee “Ordensburg” in Pomerania (Poland) and the DAF holiday complex in Prora on the island of Rügen, which was, however, never completed. The Vogelsang complex was to be understood as a symbol of the rule of state and party over nature and great trouble was taken to create a relief effect on the hillside where it is located.
The complex is thus by no means a hilltop mediaeval castle but a modern, purpose-built structure made of reinforced concrete and faced with natural stone; the “keep” was used as a water tower. The trainees did not belong to an order in the sense of a medieval community of knights but were fanatical adherents of the system, who boastfully and arrogantly referred to themselves as “junkers”.
Vogelsang “Ordensburg” was a one-year stage on a course of training which lasted 3 ½ years. However, none of the 500 party members admitted to the course annually were able to complete it. Instruction at Vogelsang ended when the German Wehrmacht attacked Poland on 1st September 1939 and the trainees signed up for war service.
Following various uses between 1939 and 1944, including a phase as a school building for the “Adolf Hitler Schools”, a kind of party grammar school, Vogelsang fell almost intact into the hands of the advancing Allies in February 1945. The empty buildings were plundered by the impoverished population of the surrounding area. In 1946, the British occupying power established a military training area on the area around the complex and set up a headquarters and barracks. The British military administration also commanded that the nearby Eifel village of Wollseifen should be cleared for this purpose.
In 1950, the Belgian armed forces took over the site and named it “Camp Vogelsang”. Numerous new complexes were built. Vogelsang became a NATO training ground at an early stage and was also used by units of the Bundeswehr.
The end of the “Cold War” and the disintegration of the Warsaw Pact finally led to the decision to leave Vogelsang on 31.12.2005
1933
Decision to build training institutions
1934
Construction begins at Vogelsang
1936
Instruction begins; preparation for second phase of construction
1939
Instruction ends, Vogelsang is handed over to the Wehrmacht
1940
Most construction is stopped
1941
Use by Adolf Hitler Schools
1944
Allied air raids destroy gymnasium, two “Kameradschaftshäuser”, the south-east tract of the “Adlerhof” and the east wing
1945
US Army occupies Vogelsang
1946
Vogelsang becomes a military training area for the British army
1950
Vogelsang is handed over to the Belgian army
1955
Used as a NATO military training ground under Belgian sovereignty
08.12.2005
Returned to the Federal Republic of Germany
01.01.2006
Vogelsang is opened to visitors
21.01.2006
Recognised as a EuRegionale 2008 project
