The Generaloberst-Beck-Kaserne are barracks of the armed forces of Germany, the Bundeswehr, in Sonthofen

Sonthofen

Sonthofen is the most southerly 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. Sonthofen is located at...

 in Oberallgäu

Oberallgäu

Oberallgäu is a district in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Unterallgäu and Ostallgäu, the Austrian states Tyrol and Vorarlberg, the district of Lindau, and the state of Baden-Württemberg...

.

History

The estate was built in 1934 as NS-Ordensburg Sonthofen by the German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront) for the NSDAP.

Three NS-Ordensburgen existed:

• Ordensburg Krössinsee
  Ordensburg Krössinsee
  Ordensburg Krössinsee was placed near the city of Falkenburg in Pomerania, today Złocieniec Poland. It was the first of three NS-Ordensburgen, the educational centers for or cadres of the Nazi Party.- History :...
  
  , in Pomerania
  Pomerania
  Pomerania is a historical region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea. Divided between Germany and Poland, it stretches roughly from the Recknitz River near Stralsund in the West, via the Oder River delta near Szczecin, to the mouth of the Vistula River near Gdańsk in the East...
  
  
• Ordensburg Sonthofen, Allgäu
  Allgäu
  The Allgäu is a southern German region in Swabia. It covers the south of Bavarian Swabia and southeastern Baden-Württemberg. The region stretches from the prealpine lands up to the Alps...
  
  
• Ordensburg Vogelsang
  Ordensburg Vogelsang
  Ordensburg Vogelsang is a former national socialist estate placed at the former military training area in the national park Eifel in North Rhine-Westphalia. The landmarked and completely preserved estate was used by the National Socialists between 1936 and 1939 as an educational centre for future...
  
  , Eifel
  Eifel
  The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium....
  
  

A fourth one was planned at (the historic) Ordensburg Marienburg, in West Prussia

West Prussia

West Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773–1824 and 1878–1919/20 which was created out of the earlier Polish province of Royal Prussia...

It was planned by architect Hermann Giesler

Hermann Giesler

Hermann Giesler was a German architect during the Nazi era, one of the two architects most favored and rewarded by Adolf Hitler ....

. It served as Adolf-Hitler-School for the education of party cadres. The international wellknown actor Hardy Krüger

Hardy Krüger

Hardy Krüger is a German actor. He is thought of as one of the greatest German actors of the 1960s. He was born in Wedding, Berlin, German Reich...

 went to this school. In the last year of the war it was used as sickbay.

Commander of the Ordensburg was the Reichstag deputy Robert Bauer (NSDAP) from 1936 to 1941.

In November 1937 Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

 visited the Ordensburg Sonthofen.

After the war at first French troops acquired the Castle. Later the US Army created the central educational place of the task force US-Constabulary there.

In 1956 the Castle was acquired by the Bundeswehr

Bundeswehr

The Bundeswehr consists of the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities...

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

Ludwig Beck

Generaloberst Ludwig August Theodor Beck 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....

.

Current use

The Generaloberst-Beck-Kaserne hosts schools of the Bundeswehr (Military Police (Feldjäger) and Staff Service).
The Bundeswehr replace their schools to other locations (Hannover - Emmich-Cambrai-Kaserne) in 2009.

The Castle is landmarked.

The barracks aren't part of a big tunnel system.

Literature

• Hartmut Happel: Die Allgäuer Ordensburg in Sonthofen. Eberl, Immenstadt 1996, ISBN 3-920269-01-2
• 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

• Round tour (in German)
• The Ordensburg in Sonthofen, Allgäu (English and German)