Vogelsang IP

On the same day that Mikayla and I visited Bad Münstereifel, Darren I decided after he got home from work to do another outing. We had heard that there was a site that wasn't too far away that used to be a training facility for Nazi leaders. Here is a little blurb about it from their website, "A forgotten monument to Hitler's ideology has emerged from a 70-year time warp -- a castle built in the 1930s to train a new Nazi elite. Vacated by the Belgian army last year (2006), it sheds light on the systematic brainwashing that churned out a generation of fanatics. Now it's being spruced up to teach visitors about the perils of indoctrination." Vogelsang college was built to resemble a medieval castle so that the students would feel like it was an elite environment and to "link" them with their past.

We did not get to tour around as much as we would have liked to, since we got there fairly late in the evening. On the website it said that it stayed open until dusk, but since it stays light until about 10 or 10:30 pm here, we weren't sure what time that would be. We got there at about 7:45 pm only to find out that it closed at 8 pm. So, we quickly put Mikayla in the Ergo carrier and walked to see as much as we could. We were the only car in the parking lot and the only people walking around. It was a little eerie to be the only ones there, and a little eerie to think of the history of the place, but I think that it was a good experience and one that we would like to go back and visit a little more thoroughly if we get the chance.

The former entrance and guardhouse structure


The tower, which contains a narrow "Cult Chamber" where the students worshiped fallen heroes of the Nazi party.


View from Volgelsang overlooking the valley below. On the hill in the distance used to be the village of Wollseifen, which was evacuated by the British Army in 1946 so that the area could be used for military training exercises.

Mikayla and I looking out over the valley