Photo album from the training of the future elite of the German Reich in Bavaria – 1940

Photo album documenting Nazi activity in the Ordensburgen - the "Castles of the Knights" - higher education institutions for the future elite of the Reich in preparation for their enlistment into the SS or the German Wehrmacht. Photographs of young men trained at the Ordensburg Sonthofen district (in Bavaria) – 1940.

Pocket album containing 44 photographs inserted into its sleeves, documenting young men engaged in activities at the “Political Education Institution” in Bavaria in preparation for their enlistment, and during their first days as SS soldiers. At the beginning of the album appears the inscription: Sonthofen 1940 – the name of the city in which the castle was located, in southern Bavaria (Allgäu) – an abbreviation of Ordensburg Sonthofen, the name of the “military order” in Bavaria.

“Order Castles” – the national political education institutions, the Ordensburgen – were boarding schools established in Nazi Germany starting in 1933. They were intended to cultivate the next generation of state leaders, officers, and intellectuals under the Nazi regime. These institutions were directly controlled by the Reich Ministry of Education (Reichserziehungsministerium), in cooperation with the SS. Their purpose was to raise Übermenschen - Aryan super-humans according to Nazi ideology: physically strong, ideologically loyal, psychologically tough - and to replace the previous elite institutions (such as the traditional Gymnasien) with a new system that educated for blind loyalty to the Führer. These institutions included intensive studies in German history, race theory, geography, sports, Nazi politics, and maintained strict discipline, a militaristic atmosphere, humiliation, and psychological hardening. They also provided early military training – including marching drills, navigation, hand-to-hand combat, fieldcraft, and at times weapons training. Admission to these institutions involved a rigorous selection process, including racial-medical examinations (according to racial theory), a background of political loyalty to the regime, excellent physical fitness, and ideological suitability tests. Dozens of Napola and Ordensburgen institutions were established throughout Germany and Austria, with many graduates later integrating into officer roles in the Wehrmacht and the SS, as well as into Nazi civilian governmental systems. Both entities embodied the Reich’s ambition to create a ruling class of totalitarian leaders, based on the principles of race, hierarchy, and war.

Album: 12x9 cm. Photographs: 7x10 cm. General condition: good.