Day three continued…..
Stop one was at the National Socialist
Ordensburg Vogelsang.
Built in the early ‘30s, it was designed, not to train military soldiers but ‘political soldiers’ who would (when Germany triumphed and established a thousand year Reich) run the political side of things. It is revolting, full of every artificial Teutonic knight imagery, false history and bizarre mythology.
The Allies, deeply engaged in fighting all around, all but ignored it completely. The Belgian army took it over after the war.
Worth a visit? Yes, definitely, if you want to see what ‘Turned the Nazi Party on’. A couple of tips:
1. I parked in the free car park, used by healthy hikers out rambling. That was a mistake. It is over a mile walk from the entrance barrier to the estate’s buildings. Spend euro 6 on the car park. Luckily, I worked out that there’s a bus which runs every hour from outside the visitor centre to the entrance, which takes four minutes. I came back that way.
2. It’s a big site, on a considerable slope. The sports field and swimming pool are right at the bottom by the lake. It’s a hike down and very long climb up the steps to get back.
3. I used the guide book and leaflet map and still missed some bits. A guided tour would be good.
Motorbikes have a dedicated parking area in the free car park:
The view across to the avenue (it’s over a mile long) leading to the site’s entry gates:
Next time, I’ll pay tge six euro parking fee:
When the site was taken over by the Belgian army after the war, they built a patrol station. It is one of the very few petrol stations to survive in a 1950’s style, modelled on an American design from the 1920’s. It has a preservation order on it:
The entry area:
The entry area is flanked by ‘towers’:
Each with a monumental carving depicting the Nazi ideal of strength and knightly honour:
A second tower inside the complex, apes a castle:
Hopefully, these two shots show how steep the site is. The natural steepness (it is not man made) is repeated throughout the Hurtgen Forest, showing how difficult it was for the Americans to fight their way up the slopes, all covered with dense forests of pine trees:
The road leading down the slope to the sports field and swimming pool by the river / lake , which runs through the valley bottom:
The ‘Torchbearer’, again styled in the approved Nazi style, now showing the bullet marks from when it was shot up. The Nazi’s used this area to create totally false fire bowl celebrations, when they sought to create pagan myths, claiming them as real:
The amphitheatre, modelled on a Greek theatre, with the sports field down below:
The heroic frieze on the sports field. Again, shot up and defaced:
en.wikipedia.org
Vogelsang International Place is riddled with Nazi-symbols. Quite a few of them focus on the national socialist idea of a master race, the ‘Herrenmensch’. The most conspicuous symbol is the statue of the torchbearer, that it visible even beyond the perimeter of the Ordensburg. It borrows from...
www.liberationroute.com
PS The common thug, Robert Ley, whose brainchild this was (along with umpteen other offences) was convicted on several indictments at Nuremberg. He strangled himself, rather than face the hangman’s noose. A fanatical drunken Nazi, unrepentant to the end.
