Frontispiece: The front cover of Spartanerjungen by Paul von Szczepan´ski (A. Anton Verlag, Leipzig, n.d.), illustrated by Fritz Buchholz. This work was originally published in 1901 under the title Spartanerjünglinge, by which it is better known.

SPARTA’S GERMAN CHILDREN

The ideal of ancient Sparta in the Royal Prussian Cadet Corps, 1818–1920, and in National Socialist elite schools (the Napolas), 1933–1945

Helen Roche

The Classical Press of Wales First published in 2013 by The Classical Press of Wales 15 Rosehill Terrace, Swansea SA1 6JN Tel: +44 (0)1792 458397 www.classicalpressofwales.co.uk

Distributor in the United States of America ISD, LLC 70 Enterprise Dr., Suite 2, Bristol, CT 06010 Tel: +1 (860) 584–6546 www.isdistribution.com

© 2013 Helen Roche

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN 978-1-910589-17-5

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Typeset, printed and bound in the UK by Gomer Press, Llandysul, Ceredigion, Wales

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The Classical Press of Wales, an independent venture, was founded in 1993, initially to support the work of classicists and ancient historians in Wales and their collaborators from further afield. More recently it has published work initiated by scholars internationally. While retaining a special loyalty to Wales and the Celtic countries, the Press welcomes scholarly contributions from all parts of the world.

The symbol of the Press is the Red Kite. This bird, once widespread in Britain, was reduced by 1905 to some five individuals confined to a small area known as ‘The Desert of Wales’ – the upper Tywi valley. Geneticists report that the stock was saved from terminal inbreeding by the arrival of one stray female bird from Germany. After much careful protection, the Red Kite now thrives – in Wales and beyond.

Dedicated to the memory of my father, Jerome Roche (1942–1994) CONTENTS

Page Acknowledgements ix

List of illustrations xi

1 General introduction 1 Sources and methodology 2 The philhellenist background 16

2 Personal and political appropriations of Sparta at the Prussian Cadet Corps: Historical context 33 ‘The Spartans of Lichterfelde’ 33 Historical background: The aims and ethos of the Royal Prussian Cadet Corps 36

3 Spartanerjünglinge, or the importance of being Spartan 55 How to become a Spartan Youth 55 The endorsement of Spartanertum by Cadet-Corps authority figures 70

4 Creating the Cadet-Corps’ Spartabild: Teaching, textbooks and the ancient sources 81 The Spartan trope and the ancient sources 83 Cadet-school textbooks as potential sources for the Spartan trope 94

5 Of Spartans and Socialisation: The function of ‘spartanern’ 111 The anatomy of the total institution 112 The Prussian Cadet Corps as a total institution 114 The function of ‘spartanern’ 117

6 The Cadet Corps and its critics: Education, politics and the Prussian military 125 The Cadet Corps, politics and Spartanertum, 1840–1900 125 Anti-militarist attitudes: Sparta as a byword for brutality in liberal and socialist thought 139

vii 7 Raging against the Republics: ‘Spartan’ self-definition in the cadet-school Traditionsgemeinschaft, 1920–1995 157 Spartan Youth versus the Spartacists: The contested nature of Cadet-Corps Spartanertum during the Weimar Republic 157 The afterlife of the topos: ‘Spartan’ self-definition and nostalgia in the cadet school Traditionsgemeinschaft post-1945 167 Conclusions 173

8 Personal and Political Appropriations of Sparta at the Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalten: Historical context 179 ‘Cadet Schools of the Third Reich’? The aims and ethos of the Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalten (1933–1945) 179 Sparta and the creators of the NPEA 188

9 ‘Sparta’s Spirit Lives!’ Sparta’s role in ideology and everyday life at the Napolas 203 ‘We demand firm, Spartan discipline!’ Racial ideology, textbooks, and the Napolas’ nazified view of Sparta 203 Role-models of heroism and self-sacrificial death: Memories of Spartan teaching at the Napolas 213 ‘Spartas Geist lebt! ’: Napola pupils’ personal identifications with Sparta 222 Conclusions 231

10 Conclusion 239

Appendix: Instances of the Spartan topos relating to the Prussian Cadet Schools, arranged chronologically 249

Glossary 261

Archival sources 263

Bibliography 265

List of former Napola pupils who have provided eyewitness testimony 299 Index 301

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am deeply indebted to my supervisors, Paul Cartledge and Robin Osborne, and to my advisors, Anton Powell and Brendan Simms, for their invaluable support and advice. I am also most grateful to my PhD examiners, Stephen Hodkinson and Paul Millett, for their helpful comments and criticisms, which have assuredly improved the finished product to an extensive degree; the remaining flaws in the work are entirely my own responsibility. Georg Gerleigner deserves especial praise and gratitude for his tireless and wonderfully generous help with German correspondence, without which my attempts to get in touch with the Zeitzeugen in the first place might well have foundered. Many thanks are also due to Benjamin Keim and Damian Valdez for their comments and encouragement. I would also like to express my gratitude to all the Zeitzeugen who contributed to the project, without whose help and generosity this book could not have existed in its present form. Research scholarships from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) and the Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz ), as well as funding from the AHRC, the Faculty of Classics, and Gonville and Caius College all made it possible for me to do the requisite amount of research in archives and libraries in Germany; I am therefore grateful to these institutions for their financial support. During my research-trips to Germany, the support of various individuals was invaluable. Sven Devantier helped me immeasurably – both in terms of negotiating the bureaucracy at the Bundesarchiv, and with regard to numerous other matters, practical or otherwise. I am also very grateful to Dr. Andreas Kunz of the Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv, Dr. Reinhart Strecke of the Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Andrea Ribbschläger of the Bibliothek für Bildungsgeschichtlicher Forschung, and Petra Dorfmüller, the archivist at Schulpforta, for their help and advice. During my stay in Freiburg im Breisgau, Prof. Dr. Sitta von Reden, Dr. Astrid Möller, and Benjamin Grünert of the Seminar für alte Geschichte at the Albert-Ludwigs- Universität also made me wonderfully welcome. Additionally, I would like to thank Pierre Dechant for help with deciphering some of my correspondents’ more esoteric handwriting; Raffaella Smith and Christine Enßle for sending on parcels of German books, and Professor Mary Fulbrook, Dr. Arnulf Moser and Dr. Matthias Paustian, among others, for supplying me with useful information.

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Acknowledgements

Last – but never least! – all my love and thanks must go to my mother and Oliver, without whose loving support, intellectual stimulation, and copy-editing this monograph could never have come into being. The work is dedicated, however, to the memory of my late father Jerome Roche, in the hope that – despite its topic being un-musicological – he would have heartily approved of its substance.

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LISTOFILLUSTRATIONS Page

Fig. 1 Frontispiece from Adolf von Crousaz’s Geschichte des 32 Königlich Preußischen Kadetten-Corps, nach seiner Entstehung, seinem Entwicklungsgange und seinen Resultaten, Berlin: Schindler, 1857 (Historischer Bilderdienst). Fig. 2 Map showing locations of the cadet schools and their 38 dates of foundation. Fig. 3 Cadets on parade at the Hauptkadettenanstalt in Berlin- 40 Lichterfelde, c.1910 (Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R22695). Fig. 4 Cadets performing their duties as pages at the Prussian 41 Court, by ‘Othello’ (Dewall 1878, p. 210). Fig. 5 Am Krankenbett Gaisbergs, by Oskar Larsen (Borcke 1940, 48 plate 14). Fig. 6 Stealing pears at Voranstalt Culm, as imagined by 57 Fritz Buchholz (Szczepan´ski n.d., b, frontispiece). Fig. 7 Sendrecki Major throttling his brother Sendrecki 58 Minimus, by Fritz Buchholz (Szczepan´ski n.d., b., p. 39). Fig. 8 Speckschlucken, by Fritz Buchholz (Szczepan´ski n.d., b., p. 9). 58 Fig. 9 Farewell to Minden, by ‘Othello’ (Dewall 1884, p. 8). 60 Fig. 10 The baiting of Thilo, by ‘Othello’ (Dewall 1884, p. 52). 61 Fig. 11 Thilo in the ‘Spanish Rack’, by ‘Othello’ (Dewall 1884, 62 p. 55). Fig. 12 Lehrer Schröder im Unterricht, by Oskar Larsen (Borcke 1940, 82 plate 5). Fig. 13 The Zuckermäulchen, by ‘Othello’ (Dewall 1878, p. 75). 84 Fig. 14 Snowball fights at Bensberg, by ‘Othello’ (Dewall 1884, 91 p. 69). Fig. 15 A Geography lesson at the HKA, c.1910 (Bundesarchiv 95 Bild 146-2007-0133).

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List of illustrations

Fig. 16 Die Beichte vor der Konfirmation, by Oskar Larsen 102 (Borcke 1940, plate 11). Fig. 17 Cadets revising for their final exams, by ‘Othello’ 103 (Dewall 1878, p. 219). Fig. 18 “Am Grabes Rand ”: Einweihung, by Oskar Larsen 116 (Borcke 1940, plate 3). Fig. 19 Front cover of Hans-Joachim Freiherr von Reitzenstein’s 143 Vergitterte Jugend. Geschichten aus dem Kadettenkorps, Berlin: Eysler, 1920. Fig. 20 Locations of the Napolas for boys, and their dates 179 of foundation. Fig. 21 Pupils at Napola Rügen attend a biology lesson 184 (photograph courtesy of Dietrich Schulz). Figs. 22 and 23 Extracurricular activities during the early 1940s: 186 orchestra practice at Napola Rügen, and camping – possibly during ‘manoeuvres’ (photographs courtesy of Dietrich Schulz). Fig. 24 Bernhard Rust (Bundesarchiv Bild 119-1998). 190 Fig. 25 August Heißmeyer (Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R38093). 195 Fig. 26 ‘Zugführer Knapp and his lads’ (photograph courtesy of 214 Dietrich Schulz). Fig. 27 Barefoot running at Napola Rügen in 1943 (photograph 228 courtesy of Dietrich Schulz). Fig. 28 The reading room at Napola Rügen, 1943 (photograph 229 courtesy of Dietrich Schulz).

Note on the illustrations: I am deeply indebted to Amalthea Verlag, Vienna, for giving permission for the reproduction of four plates by Oskar Larsen from Kurt von Borcke’s novel Das sind wir (1940), and to Reinhard Quenstedt of the Historischer Bilderdienst for giving permission to use Figure 1. All other illustrations are either part of the author’s own collection, part of the Wikimedia Commons scheme, or have been confirmed as out of copyright.

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LISTOFTABLESANDCHARTS Page

Table 1 Analysis of the relationship of portrayals of Spartan 104–5 education in cadet-school textbooks with the descriptions in the ancient sources. Chart 1 Chronological distributions of the Spartan topos at the 255 Prussian Cadet Schools. Chart 2 Types of cadet-school material containing the Spartan 256 topos produced after 1920, distributed chronologically. Chart 3 Pie chart showing the distribution of the types of 257 cadet-school material which contain the Spartan topos. Chart 4 Pie chart showing the approximate topographical 258 distribution of the Spartan topos at the Prussian Cadet Schools.

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1

GENERALINTRODUCTION

These days, it is very easy to dismiss the adjective ‘Spartan’. It can be used to describe almost anything – from hardy perennial chrysanthemums to terrorists’ abandoned flats in London. However, this work aims to portray a place and an era where this epithet was, in its truest and most original sense, crucial to questions of self-definition for hundreds if not thousands of boys, who, as men, would later shape their country’s future as high- ranking military leaders. This country, in various forms – Prussia, then Germany, and later, for a short time, ‘Greater Germany’ – embarked upon what one might almost call a love affair with the Spartan ideal, which, under the influence of National Socialist racial ideology, metamorphosed into a passionate desire on the part of some contemporary Germans to claim the ancient Spartans as their true ancestors. This idealisation and its various metamorphoses in one particular sphere – that of elite education – will be explored and analysed using two case-studies: namely, the Royal Prussian Cadet Schools (Königlich Preußische Kadettenanstalten) and the National Political Education Institutes (Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalten) or Napolas, a type of elite boarding school established in order to educate the future leaders of the Third Reich.1 This monograph will investigate both the significant roles which the Spartan paradigm played in the personal lives of cadets and Napola pupils, and the ways in which perceptions of Sparta were integrated into contemporary political attitudes and debates concerning both types of institution. At the cadet schools, self-identification with young Spartans became instrumental in helping boys to accept the hardships of military socialisation in a ‘total institution’;2 this identification was encouraged both by older cadets and by the school authorities. In political debates concerning the cadet corps, ideas of Sparta then became conceptual weapons in the battle between the forces of monarchist conservatism and the adherents of Social Democracy and liberalism. At the Napolas, National Socialist racial ideology was used to portray Sparta as an ancient precursor of the Third Reich, and boys were particularly encouraged to embrace Spartan models of courage and self-sacrifice, such

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Chapter 1 as Leonidas and the 300 Spartans who fought at Thermopylae. Through correspondence and conversation with around sixty octogenarian ex-pupils of these schools, and by using contemporary documentary sources, I have endeavoured to reconstruct a composite picture of the impact which such Spartan ideology had on Napola pupils on a personal level. At the wider, political level, I have also investigated the ways in which the politicians who founded the Napolas conceived of Sparta as a model for the schools, as well as examining the ideologically-influenced portrayals of Sparta used to foster the National Socialist worldview in lessons at the schools. History has largely turned a blind eye to these institutions; the cadet schools are seldom mentioned now, and are written about in detail more rarely still.3 The number of extant monographs on the cadet corps (in any language) can still be counted on the fingers of one hand. One might conjecture that this is not an institution of which Germany is any longer particularly proud, now that both the military mind-set which the cadet schools encouraged, and the ‘type’ of the Prussian Officer which they produced, have with hindsight been condemned as harbingers of that virulent militarism which embroiled the European nations in two world wars.4 The history of the Napolas, meanwhile, has been subject to the turmoil caused by German post-war Vergangenheitsbewältigung (seeking to master the past). Many former Napola pupils have kept the truth about their almae matres hidden, since discovery that they had been educated at a Nazi elite school could have endangered their careers, their friendships, and even their lives.5 When books or films on the Napolas are produced, they tend to succumb to one of two flaws: if written by contemporary commentators, they moralise, sensationalise, or even demonise the schools, for their perceived role in the Nazi regime.6 If written as memoirs by alumni themselves, they may seek to absolve and rehabilitate. Many young Germans today do not want to hear about these schools; they would like to forget the Third Reich altogether; they see it as history, done and dusted, merely the preserve of hysterical schoolbooks which constantly warn against the dangers of forgetting, yet in so doing, engender the act itself.7

Sources and methodology The rest of this introduction will review the relevant secondary literature and source material, before discussing the wider methodological concerns with which the work has had to engage, including the use of eyewitness testimony. In conclusion, the appropriations of Sparta found at the Prussian Cadet Corps and the Napolas will be placed within a broader historical context of German philhellenism and laconophilia.

2

General introduction

We shall begin with a brief survey of the existing scholarship which treats these institutions in detail. There are currently four published monographs on the cadet corps; however, one of these, Karl Herrmann von Brand’s Kadetten (1981), does not fully meet the criteria of a work of scholarship; it was commissioned by the cadet schools’ old boys’ network in order to provide a rose-tinted celebration of the antiquity and traditions of the cadet corps for those who cared about it most. The work seems in some ways to have been written in a historical vacuum – generally, it does not engage with wider academic debates or theoretical concerns. Nevertheless, it is an invaluable historical resource, particularly since it contains reproductions of a substantial number of original documents. The first fully academic monograph on the subject was Jürgen-K. Zabel’s Das preußische Kadettenkorps. Militärische Jugenderziehung als Herrschaftsmittel im preußischen Militärsystem (1978). As has been noted, this work’s fundamental flaw lies in its one-sided and excessively critical portrayal of the corps,8 which is seen as a mere instrument in the bid of the undemocratic Prussian ‘military system’ to gain ruthless and barbaric control over its citizens. The bibliography is far from exhaustive, and the execution heavy-handed – though this can in part be ascribed to the political context in which the work was written, during which any ‘undemocratic’ system of rule, particularly one which was seen as the precursor of the Nazi regime, was liable to stringent criticism in the Federal Republic of Germany. Similar accusations of bias can be levelled at Heiger Ostertag’s Bildung, Ausbildung und Erziehung des Offizierkorps im deutschen Kaiserreich 1871 bis 1918. Eliteideal, Anspruch und Wirklichkeit (1990) and Steven Clemente’s For King and Kaiser! The Making of the Prussian Army Officer, 1860–1914 (1992), both of which contain sections on the cadet corps as part of a wider discussion of Prusso-German military education.9 Clemente, in particular, dismisses the cadet corps as a reactionary and academically negligible hotbed of brutality with next to no redeeming features, in thrall to a corrupt regime obsessed with the exclusion of the bourgeoisie from military power.10 The second scholarly monograph on the cadet schools, John Moncure’s Forging the King’s Sword. Military Education between Tradition and Modernisation – The Case of the Royal Prussian Cadet Corps, 1871–1918 (1993), is the most successful. Moncure gives a well structured and highly readable overview of the cadet corps from 1871 onwards, focusing on boys’ experiences and their social background. He aims to rebut the biased views of commentators such as Clemente and Zabel, showing that the corps gradually became more accessible to aspirants of non-noble birth. The most startling omission in Moncure’s work, however, is his lack of engagement with the political debates surrounding the cadet corps, along

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