VERY RARE ORIGINAL OVERSIZE PHOTO BOOK ON THE NAZI ORDER CASTLES

Offered for sale is this

VERY RARE ORIGINAL OVERSIZE PHOTO BOOK ON THE NAZI ORDER CASTLES

‘DER WEG ZUR ORDENSBURG’

THIS SOUGHT-AFTER PUBLICATION NEVER WAS FOR PUBLIC SALE

The 11-3/4 x 16-1/2-inch (!), heavily illustrated 64-page soft cover book was published by the Reichsorganisationsleiter der NSDAP Dr. Robert Ley for circulation only among the Nazi Party leadership and was never for public sale. The publication deals about the three NS-Ordensburgen or Nazi Order Castles that were built and put into operation: Nazi Ordensburg Vogelsang, Nazi Ordensburg Krössinsee and Nazi Ordensburg Sonthofen. These facilities were the institutions trained the future Nazi leaders. The book also describes the selection process and the many photos depict the exterior and interior of these Nazi elite training facilities.

The party training at the Order Castles was to follow an overall concept, according to which each institution had a thematic focus:

Vogelsang: “Racial Philosophy of the New Order” (National Socialist Racial Hygiene)

Krössinsee: Character Education

Sonthofen: administrative, military tasks and diplomacy

One after the other, the Knights of the Order – as the course participants were called – were to go through a one-year training at the three castles of the Order, starting at Vogelsang Castle and ending at Sonthofen Castle. The lessons were carried out by the Stammführer permanently stationed at the Ordensburg. However, a coherent curriculum did not come about. Apart from the main topics mentioned, the training was also characterized by military and sporting exercises.  Alfred Rosenberg also planned a high school of the NSDAP on the shores of Lake Chiemsee. The Ordensjunker admitted to the training should have already proven themselves in the NSDAP and be between 25 and 30 years old. In first three, later in four and a half years, they completed their training as party or administrative leaders at the individual order castles. From May 1936 onwards, courses were held in Vogelsang; there and in Krössinsee, an estimated 2000 men underwent the ideological training. Order Junkers, who according to Heinen were counted “among the most unscrupulous and fanatical” leaders, held leading positions in the German civil administration, especially in the East, for example as regional commissioners in the Reich Commissariats of Ukraine and Ostland. In these offices, the members of the Ordensburg were significantly involved in the Nazi crimes, not least in the systematic murder of the Jewish population. During the settlements of ethnic German resettlers in occupied Poland in 1939 and 1940, the Order Castles provided logistical support with buses for transport. In reference to the Nazi Order Castles, other training centres of the DAF and the NSDAP were also called Reich Training Castle or Training Castle (even if the houses had nothing castle-like about them). Such imperial training castles existed in Sassnitz, Oberursel (the Villa Gans), Erwitte (see Erwitte Castle) and Königswinter (today’s Adam Stegerwald House). After the annexation of Austria, Altkettenhof Castle also became the DAF’s Reich Training Castle. The same applies to the Reich Training Castle of German Technology on the Plassenburg in Kulmbach. [source: Wikipedia]

A rare find in excellent condition.

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