Hitlerjugendheim-Landdienst labour camp in Stonařov

 

  • Name

    Hitlerjugendheim-Landdienst labour camp in Stonařov
    Old gymnasium in Stonařov

  • Address

    Stonařov, Jihlava

  • Date

    1940

  • Trail

  • Code

    47V

  • GPS

  • Type

    School Hostel, Accommodation Building

  • Monument preservation

    The procedure for declaring the building a cultural monument has been initiated
A little-known chapter in the history of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia is represented by the "labour camps" for German children and adolescents. Within the framework of the "Erweiterte Kinderlandverschickung" project (sending children to the countryside), abbreviated as KLV, approved by the German government, camps were set up in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in 1940–1942 to accommodate German children from the Reich. This was mainly motivated by the desire to ensure greater safety for German children at a time when the population was threatened by air war. The Protectorate was considered a safer and relatively more peaceful environment by the Nazi regime. The Nazis also put emphasis on the re-education of children in the spirit of the National Socialist propaganda of that time. Parallel to the KLV project, similar projects were run for German adolescents.

During 1940, two labour camps were built in Stonařov – one for German girls and one for boys. During the autumn of 1940, a boys' camp was established on Hirspel Hill (Hirschhügel) as a separate wooden house (Heim) under the auspices of the German Hitler Youth Service (Hitlerjugend-Landdienst). The girls' labour camp was built and operated by the German Reich Labour Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst, RAD). The now lost RAD girls' camp stood on the hill behind house no. 8. The boys' Heim, now known as the gymnasium, still stands today. It is a wooden building with a rectangular floor plan built on a stone base. The walls are of beam construction, nailed both on the outside and inside with thick vertically nailed boards. The building has a beam ceiling and a saddle roof covered with flat ceramic tiles. On the south side, a regular row of five dormers protrudes from the roof; only one dormer is located on the north side. Wood was also used in the interior, with the exception of the brick chimneys and stoves. The building has two floors, and one floor in the middle part with habitable attic. The original windows are framed by the projecting jambs. The original wooden shutters have been preserved on several windows.

The building can be described as typical National Socialist architecture of the 1930s to 1940s, built in the "Heimatstil", which is characterised by the use of traditional materials and forms of local German architecture. The designer undoubtedly aimed to create a favourable impression of a country cottage in the landscape. Heimatstilbuildings expressed opposition to modernist urban buildings built in the second third of the 20th century in European countries, including Czechoslovakia. The RAD girls' camp facility probably resembled the boys' camp. Many such buildings were built in the war period, but except for Stonařov, only the camp in Vysoká seems to have survived in the Vysočina region.

German children in Stonařov helped with housework and harvesting in the fields. One of the camp objectives was to teach practical village skills, and another was to educate in the spirit of National Socialist ideology. The Hitlerjugendheim in Stonařov originally had a hall on the ground floor, a room for the group leader, a washroom, and dormitories on the first floor. The building is entered from the north, and the original flooring is still preserved in the entrance hall. According to the recollections of Hermína Musilová, née Schebestová, provided to the researcher Veronika Vohralíková, the boys' camp was occupied by boys between 15 and 16 years old, and the girls in the women's camp were about 20 years old. They only came into contact with the locals minimally, just coming across them when working in the fields and stables, and there was no tension between them and the locals.

At the time of the establishment of the two German youth camps, a clubhouse for the local Hitler Youth was also set up in the village. It is in private hands today. No information is known about the internal layout and appearance of the building and the owner does not allow any visits by researchers. With its exterior appearance, stone cladding and high arched roof, the clubhouse evokes a kinship with the former Hitlerjugendschule in Jihlava's Heulos Forest Park, now called Hrádek. The relationship between the Stonařov building and the one in Jihlava has not yet been reliably clarified. Shortly after the end of the war, on 30. 6. 1945, Vilém Bardas, former chief commissioner at the Jihlava office, died in front of the former clubhouse. The circumstances of his violent death were uncovered by the researchers Jiří Vybíhal and Ladislav Plavec. They say that Bardas was murdered by Czech police informers because they feared exposure of their collaborationist activities.

After the end of the Second World War, the German-speaking inhabitants of the Jihlava language island were deported. Internment camps were established where citizens awaiting transport were gathered. In most cases, this involved gruelling foot marches with many casualties. The buildings of the former RAD girls' camp and the former Hitlerjugend clubhouse also served as an internment camp. According to the recollections of Josefa Šánová, née Pryclová, dozens of people, especially children and the elderly and sick, died in the camp.

The former boys' camp was converted into a school gymnasium in 1948. Generations of citizens of Stonařov and surrounding villages passed through it. In 2020, a new sports hall was built next to the school, leaving the camp building unused. The municipality of Stonařov wanted to demolish it, but a protest petition against it followed. Since 2021, the Ministry of Culture has been in the process of declaring the camp a cultural monument. It provides unique evidence of Nazi construction activities in the 1940s, preserved in an almost authentic form. It shares a troubled past with the old Czech Minority School (Česká menšinová škola) building. Therefore, the proposal for monument protection envisages joint protection of both buildings. Both are a reminder of a complex and for many painful past and have the potential to become a place of reconciliation between the Czech and German nations.

MS
Literature and other sources 

Next buildings on the trail