The History of Camp Wildflecken, Germany
DVD, appr. 40 minutes, languages: English and German.
A Norbert Rückel and Heinz Leitsch Production, Bad Kissingen, Germany, 2008
About the movie:
Camp Wildflecken, Germany was erected in 1937 as a training facility for Hitlers "new Army" and the infamous Waffen-SS.
Since it was the German Headquarter's intention to conceal the training center as good as possible from enemy air-reconnaissance , most of the installation was built inside the dense forrest of the Rhön-Highlands in Germany's northern Bavaria.
It was only shortly before the end of World War 2, that the mysterious camp and training area was discovered by advancing elements of the U.S. Army.
After the war Camp Wildflecken served as an staging-center for Polish displaced Persons. About a hundred thousand Polish DPs came through the camp on their way, either back to Poland or later, when immigrated to different countries all over the world. Some spent only weeks in Wildflecken, others stayed for years.
During the Cold War Wildflecken became one of the three major training areas of the U.S. Army Europe. About 2 million NATO soldiers received their training here in Wildflecken during it's 43 years of operation.
When the U.S. Army left Wildflecken in 1994, the German Bundeswehr (Army) took control of the military installation.
The movie describes the unique history of this unusual place, from 1937 until 1994 and also takes a look on the following years.