LEADER SCHOOLS

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 22, 27 January 1938, Page 5

LEADER SCHOOLS

FOR FUTURE HITLERS

BLOOD AND SOIL TEACHING

A CURIOUS VISIT

The candidates for the three "Leaderschools" (Fuhrerschulen) in Germany are selected from twenty-seven "provincial schools"' (Gauschulcn) dotted all over Germany, says a writer in the "Manchester Guardian." Fifty young ' members of the S.A., S.S., and Hitler , Youth are admitted every month into each of these provincial schools for a three-week course. Thus each year more than 10,000 German youths are tested: one thousand of them pass to the "Leader-school." where they remain- for three years. . ' During their three-week course these youths are under observation, and a note is made of their characteristics. I found that what counts before all is discipline;' then come, aptitude lor sports, comradeliness, general character and intelligence. Education "■takes' only/the sixth place, followed by knowledge ot National Socialist doctrine 'and capacity for speaking m P In the programme of the Gauschulen I found little but drill, sports, and the'study of y"Mein Kampf," with frequent lectures in which the'"Leader of the school comments at length on that work. . The Gauschulen are placed'in'picturesque spots as far as possible from the towns, and there are long walks, climbs, or marches; in the course "of the marches the youths are encouraged to sing hymns to the race, the regime, and the Fatherland.

BRAWTCI, NOT BRAIN. j . At night they sleep eight in a room, j in superposed bunks. They may have lime to dream of a future in authority, but, I was told,' it would not occur to them to-analyse the text of what they had' been singing, with the criticisms of the regime 'that might be implicit in "Heavens, what an education!" I iuid. "You are forming only brawn I here, not brains!" "We distrust words and phrases: we prefer action," was my guide's reply. It came from an official proclamation. In Germany now what people like are ready-made phrases taken from the speeches of the great, authorised by publicity and propaganda, with nothing compromising about them. Crossensee, in Pomerania, Sonthofen, in Bavaria, and Vogelsang, in the Eifel, are the three great seminaries in which the "elite" of the party undergo their three years' training. Vogelsang, the most recently built of the-three, rises from the summit of a hill twenty-five miles from Aachen' (Aix-la-Chapelle). At the foot of its hill, js one of the small lakes which are so frequent in this-region of mountain and forest.

MAKING THE "BOSSES." Before I came up to the monumental gateway thrown across the road like a triumphal arch I was able to see groups drilling on foot or on horseback. A helmeted sentinel with fixed bayonet brought the officer on guard, who examined my credentials and admitted me to the monastery park. (For it reminded me of an old monastery.) A broad avenue half a mile long, lined with huts, led to the Burg, a, huge, lpng building built of grey stone blocks and dominated by a square keep 300 feet high. -Everything was neat, clean, and in good order. I must admit that I was thoroughly excited at the idea of .talking with men who have arrived at knowledge of the truth, of seeing the : process of ''manufacturing '. the vbosses" whose duty it will be to sustain, and sometimes to build, the German social edifice.

First shock. I expected to see a brother gatekeeper; instead there was another sentinel, with bayonet^levelled. Another officer, yet more1 officers, and I was within the Burg, accompanied by one of the leaders. Everything was on an immense scale. An inner courtyard, a dining-room to accommodate a thousand, persons, a library. The library contained nothing but National Socialist works, geographies, volumes of statistics, and everything that treats by word or picture of tho pure German race. ■ WHAT MATTERS MOST. Let us bear in mind that the thing that matters most is ;o possess at the end' of these three yearj i- knowledge 'of "racial science" (Rassenkunde). During'that long period there is no manifestation of religion of any sort, except hymns to "Blut und Boden" (blood and soil). These are official texts:—

■Why search for God in a foreign country beneath cypresses ani palms, when He manifests Himself so mar-vellously-in our own surroundings? It is* in the gallery of our marshals that.God is revealed to us. In- blood and soil God has given us the two sources from which everything proceeds. ' • • Whoever denies the sanctify of blood or soil is a denier of God.

So, combating Christianity and arguing their paganism, the keepers of the consciences of these strange mtfriks direct them to the worship of blood, of the soil, of nature, individual gymnastics take the place of the morning prayer, and drilling together replaces the singing of Mass. All these physical prayers will lead >to the grand manoeuvres and prepare the way, of course, for the apotheosis of war!, So I assumed.' The officer who accompanied me pointed out that as a Frenchman I was naturally inclined to exaggerate everything. "We are not soldiers." he protested again and again. : THE "STOLEN' COLONIES. "Maybe, but you do look like it," 1 pointed to some men in khaki, wearing army boots and police. helmets, who saluted as they went past. In this monastery the gesture of the raised hand is not the gentle one inclined in benediction; it is a smart shooting forward of the arm, accompanied by , a strident "Heil, Hitler!"—in marked contrast to the^bld murmur of "Brother, we must all die." I went on with m> guide. Little barracks, each witTi a hundred clean and simply-furnished rooms for these lay monks (with the evangel, "Mem Kampf," prominently displayed); sport fields an open-air amphitheatre for lectures; bakery, kitchens, canteen, rest-room—l saw much but learned ■ little. Is that all there is in a '•Leader-school"? ."But tell me,' I said, "what do you teach them?" "Rassenkimde." ' I decided to have another look at the library. An atlas was open on a table. I found thaLthe German colonies are still German and AlsaceLorraine is not French! There was s note indicating that these territories had been stolen from Germany. But the best was still to como. Above the dihing-hall for a thousand is the lecturehalV. also for a thousand. At the extremity of this long room is a little platform from which the head of the school addresses the students through a loud speaker. On the right of the platform is a curtain. THE NEW GERMAN GOO. The curtain can be drawn .back to reveal the holy of holies. Framed ■><: swastika flags, standing out from a background of white stone, surrounded by the chiselled names ot the victims ofthe Munich "Putsch," and judiciously floodlit, is a statue. It is a man eight feet-high, powerful, muscular,

saluting with raised right arm; his left hand is clenched against hu thigh. He is the typical "Aryan." "Homo Ger■hianicus"—the new god m whose image the German admires and loves himself. I left Vogelsang profoundly disturbed, astonished at the emptiness of the teaching given there, and full ot apprehension of a future that may lie in the hands of these fanatics. The officer assured me as we parted that I had not understood at all: consoling wrds that brought. no. conviction. As I got back Into my car I heard the sound of tramping in rhythm with a song. Impeccably aligned, uniformly shod, their forage cap 3 crammed on their heads, the future Fuhrers were returning to barracks. One two; one two—they raised clouds of dust as they hammered powerfully on the road, marching towards us. I listened for the lively song coming from ail these young throats amid this ravishingly sweet and gentle mountain country They turned aside, but before they went into the distance I heard these two lines:— Und when die Handgranate kracht Das Herz uns im Leibe lacht — ("And when the hami-grenade ex- ■' plodes We shake with hearty laughter.") . Their evensong.