Luftnachrichten-Führerinnen-Schule

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Heimatschuss
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Luftnachrichten-Führerinnen-Schule

#1

Post by Heimatschuss » 20 Mar 2011, 14:26

Hello,

yet another training unit. Seidler (1996, p.18) calls it Luftwaffen-Führerinnenschule. The correct full name seems to have been:

Luftnachrichten-Führerinnen-Schule
* 1941 in Bad Kreuznach
subordinated to Luftnachrichtenschule Halle/Saale till 1943
subordinated to Luftnachrichten-Ausbildungs-Division in Nancy till Sept. 1944
transferred to Dresden in autumn 1944 and subordinated to Luftnachrichten-Schule 7 (Flum)
transferred to Heinrichsgrün (Sudetenland) in Jan 1945 and subordinated to (I./?) Luftnachrichten-Ausbildungs-Regiment 5 in Pocking (Passau)

From 1941 - 1945 the school held
19 courses for Führerinnenanwärterinnen (8 weeks each)
4 courses for advanced Führerinnen
5 sports courses
3 courses for Heimführerinnen (matrons of accomodation homes)
2 courses on (household) economics

More information on the unit seems to be in an essay(?) of a former Luftnachrichtenführerin listed in Hoffmann (1965, p.334):
Grete Geletneky
Die Ln. Führerinnenschule in Bad Kreuznach
http://tinyurl.com/6gqrpgo

Does someone know if there's more in Hoffmann's book? Or know this essay and where to find it? My search in German library catalogues didn't turn up anything.

In Bad Kreuznach the school was housed in provisional barracks (Barackenlager) in the area 'Am Kuhberg'.
http://www.enter.de/b.schaefer/bis1958/ ... ieger.html
http://www.enter.de/b.schaefer/image/kuhberg.html

According to http://tinyurl.com/6k47b6m one (the?) barracks camp on the Kuhberg was at Rheingrafenstraße 105 here

[map zoom=17]Rheingrafenstrasse 106, Bad Kreuznach, Germany|Perhaps former Luftnachrichten-Fuehrerinnen-Schule[/map]

References:

Hoffmann, Karl Otto
Ln- Die Geschichte der Luftnachrichtentruppe
Vol.1: Die Anfänge. Von 1935-1939
Kurt Vowinckel Verlag; Neckargemünd; 1965

Seidler, Franz W.
Blitzmädchen. Die Geschichte der Helferinnen der deutschen Wehrmacht.
Bernard & Graefe Verlag; Bonn; 1996

Best regards
Torsten

Larry D.
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Re: Luftnachrichten-Führerinnen-Schule

#2

Post by Larry D. » 20 Mar 2011, 15:07

Torsten wrote in part:
Luftnachrichten-Führerinnen-Schule
* 1941 in Bad Kreuznach
subordinated to Luftnachrichtenschule Halle/Saale till 1943
subordinated to Luftnachrichten-Ausbildungs-Division in Nancy till Sept. 1944
transferred to Dresden in autumn 1944 and subordinated to Luftnachrichten-Schule 7 (Flum)
transferred to Heinrichsgrün (Sudetenland) in Jan 1945 and subordinated to (I./?) Luftnachrichten-Ausbildungs-Regiment 5 in Pocking (Passau)

From 1941 - 1945 the school held
19 courses for Führerinnenanwärterinnen (8 weeks each)
4 courses for advanced Führerinnen
5 sports courses
3 courses for Heimführerinnen (matrons of accomodation homes)
2 courses on (household) economics
Outstanding research and information, Torsten. It seems from the course curriculum that the school in Bad Kreuznach was mainly for Führerinnen basic training, much like a Flieger-Ausbildungs-Rgt. was for the Luftwaffe male recruits. those chosen for specialty training were then sent elsewhere. In Faye's case, I believe she was sent to Mainz:

Mainz (GER) (50 00 N – 08 15 E)
Lw. Garrison and Station Units (on various dates): Horch-Betriebsstelle W 33/Ln.-Rgt. 3 (1939-40); IV.(Ausb.-u.Ers.Abt.f.Ln.-u.Wetterdienst-Helferinnen)/Luftgau-Nachr-Rgt. 13 (M-Hechtsheim, fall 42 – spring 43); IV.(Ausb.-u.Ers.Abt.f.Ln.-u.Wetterdienst-Helferinnen)/Luftgau-Nachr-Rgt. 12 (M-Hechtsheim, spring 43 - 1944); Stab/Lv-Nachr.Abt. 9 (Apr 39 – Jan 41); Luftgaubereichswerkstatt 2/VI (M-Hechtsheim, c.1942 – Nov 44); Luftgaubereichswerkstatt (N) 1/XII (M-Hechtsheim, c.1942-44).
[See the last post in: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 0&t=176232 ].

So she probably was billeted in Mainz-Hechtsheim after she left Bad Kreuznach.

Larry


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Re: Luftnachrichten-Führerinnen-Schule

#3

Post by Heimatschuss » 22 Aug 2011, 16:30

Hello,

I've got a picture from the barracks in Bad Kreuznach now. A photo set of a woman who attended the Führerinnenschule was sold piecemeal on Ebay recently. Other pics I didn't get showed her later as a Führerin belonging to the Flugwache [plane spotter post] in Metz (Lorraine). So Bad Kreuznach provided Führerinnen for the Luftwaffe communications service as well as for the plane spotters.
Bad Kreuznach - front.jpg
Bad Kreuznach - back.jpg
Bad Kreuznach - back.jpg (33.79 KiB) Viewed 1861 times

Best regards
Torsten

Larry D.
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Re: Luftnachrichten-Führerinnen-Schule

#4

Post by Larry D. » 22 Aug 2011, 16:46

Nice find, Torsten. I am guessing the building is probably a classroom. I hope the young ladies had a regular Kaserne Gebäude with central heating for their quarters and not a temporary wooden one.

Larry

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Re: Luftnachrichten-Führerinnen-Schule

#5

Post by Heimatschuss » 23 Aug 2011, 15:34

Hello Larry,

I'm afraid but as it seems the school consisted of these wooden huts completely. Bad luck for those ladies in the winter courses. :cry:

The huts on Kuhberg hill were orginally just set up for construction workers building a Luftwaffe airfield called Rheingrafenstein, about 1 km further south. The airfield construction work was halted in 1940 (after the French campaign I think) and later the barracks were put to new use.
http://www.geschichtsspuren.de/forum/vi ... ht=kuhberg
http://www.geschichtsspuren.de/forum/vi ... ht=kuhberg

The classical brickwork barracks in Germany were quality masonry and there's a general policy here to maintain these buildings. When they're no longer needed by the military they're converted into civilian tenement blocks. Happened with a lot of barracks in the West after 1990. (Development in East Germany is a bit different because many buildings were run down completely and the population numbers decreased considerably since 1990.)

If it had been a real Kaserne, it still would be standing there though in a remodeled shape perhaps. Instead you just see these oblong clearings in the woods behind Rheingrafenstraße 105. They're presumably the concrete foundations of the huts.

Best regards
Torsten

Larry D.
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Posts: 4103
Joined: 05 Aug 2004, 00:03
Location: Winter Springs, FL (USA)

Re: Luftnachrichten-Führerinnen-Schule

#6

Post by Larry D. » 23 Aug 2011, 17:13

Those poor girls! But then, perhaps they let them stay in hotels and private homes in Bad Kreuznach and transported them back and forth to the classroom buildings by bus or truck. Let's hope.
"The classical brickwork barracks in Germany were quality masonry and there's a general policy here to maintain these buildings. When they're no longer needed by the military they're converted into civilian tenement blocks. Happened with a lot of barracks in the West after 1990. (Development in East Germany is a bit different because many buildings were run down completely and the population numbers decreased considerably since 1990.)"
Absolutely, Torsten. Germany's Kaserne buildings from the 1930s and earlier were built like battleships. I lived in one in Mannheim-Feudenheim for 18 months back in 1958-59 and they were made to last a millennium. The outside walls were quary stone and nearly a meter thick and each had a huge cellar, 1st floor, 2nd floor, 3rd floor and a huge attic floor with two enormous bathrooms with showers on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors and radiator heat in every room. We assigned a 200-man Kompanie to each building and there was plenty of room left over for offices, armory, supply room, classrooms, etc. They were absolutely marvellous buildings and we had nothing comparable here in the States where - in the 1950s - most barracks were leftover World War II temporary 2-storey wooden buildings similar to the classroom huts in Bad Kreuznach. We all missed Germany's Kaserne when we returned to the States. :(

Larry :milsmile:

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