Iserlohn

Just down the road was a lovely wee place called Hohenlimburg (?) which had a few good bars, a great disco and several lovely young ladies that the boys from the 2 Queens LAD (mid 70's) visited often. Iserlohn was, i am afraid, simply a place on the way !!

Hi Steve
Hohenlimurg is just down the road used to be part of Iserlohn but now comes under Hagen

Hi Paul
Have just purchased on eBay a 1945 War Office map of Iserlohn you need to move the Kings Regt from Aldershot to Mons Barracks the map confirms the other units it has been overprinted in the late 40s with all British locations in the town including the CSEU theatre shops various messes and clubs the back has the key German establishments including the Nazi Party District HQ! Will try and get it scanned I'm working on a CD of photos for the site just waiting for some of Aldershot Barracks when in German Air Force hands
All the best
Steve

Steve wrote:

Have just purchased on eBay a 1945 War Office map of Iserlohn you need to move the Kings Regt from Aldershot to Mons Barracks the map confirms the other units it has been overprinted in the late 40s with all British locations in the town including the CSEU theatre shops various messes and clubs the back has the key German establishments including the Nazi Party District HQ! Will try and get it scanned I'm working on a CD of photos for the site just waiting for some of Aldershot Barracks when in German Air Force hands
All the best
Steve

Will do Steve, I will keep the dates the same. I would be interested in the map myself, but it is a bit of a way to come to see it

Paul.

Paul wrote:

Steve wrote:

Have just purchased on eBay a 1945 War Office map of Iserlohn you need to move the Kings Regt from Aldershot to Mons Barracks the map confirms the other units it has been overprinted in the late 40s with all British locations in the town including the CSEU theatre shops various messes and clubs the back has the key German establishments including the Nazi Party District HQ! Will try and get it scanned I'm working on a CD of photos for the site just waiting for some of Aldershot Barracks when in German Air Force hands
All the best
Steve

Will do Steve, I will keep the dates the same. I would be interested in the map myself, but it is a bit of a way to come to see it

Paul.

Hi Paul
I'm looking for a local comapny with a BIG scanner
Cheers

Have made friends with the local former military the 'Reservistenkameradschaft' in Iserlohn and have seen a former airman's collection of photos who has studied the former Aldershot Barracks from construction to demolition the notes you have before the first image are correct just to add the German unit based there was Falk Regiment 24 and was known as 'Flak Kaserne Iserlohn' not as Berhard-Hülsmann-Kaserne until 1971 the demolition was completed by the end of the 90s the only other building remaining other than the officers mess and the MT garages is the former gymnasium…photos on the way

Mons Barracks was never a Flak Kaserne the image should be moved to Aldershot Barracks constructed 1934/1935 known as 'Artilleriekaserne Schulstrasse' then in 1937 named Winkelmann-Kaserne after a sergeant in the artillery for his heroic actions at the end of the WW1 then the barracks were used by tank regiments until the end of WW2 then the British and later Canadians as Fort Qu’Appelle

In 1971 the Canadians moved out German paratroopers 'Fallschirmjägerbataillone' moved in and the barracks were then enlarged in 1993 they moved out and converted for residential use

Hope this helps
Steve

Steve,

Do a quick proof read of the two pages when you get a chance. The Flak Kaserne image has gone AWOL on me for the moment, but will be added when I find it again.

Paul.

Some thing of interest that popped back into my memory bank. When posted in Fort P of W's in the 60's I used to have my daily quota of Iserlohner Pilsner in Gasthof zum Felsenmeer (Freda's) in Deilinghofen. I got to be friends with some older German locals who were young lads at the end of the war. They told me that at the end of the war all the local barracks were ordered to take all weapons to the area of where the Hemer PMQ's were, then an empty field and stack them there. Well it appears there was no real security on this dump. So of course the lads had a ball playing soldier with real weapons and ammunition. They would shake their heads in remembrance and wonder that none of them were killed in this time.

PS: I believe the only copy of Hitlers last will and testimony was found in Iserlohn buried in some ones back yard in a glass jar. (Read that some where)

hardrations,the finding of hitlers will is mentioned in the rise and fall of the third reich.....zum felsenmeer gasthof was still there in the 70,s.went there a couple of times when a mate of mine arrived with 2 royal irish rangers.graham.

The name of the Gasthof rings a bell. Was it on the right hand side, just before the bend, on the road out of town?

Meanwhile, is this familiar to anyone?



Paul.

Paul wrote:

The name of the Gasthof rings a bell. Was it on the right hand side, just before the bend, on the road out of town?

Meanwhile, is this familiar to anyone?



Paul.

The photo of the Sonneborn is familiar...it is connected to the establishment of the ECD Hockey league which eventually became the Iserlohner Roosters (a German hockey team, but founded and coached by Canadians...go figure...).

Zum Felsenmeer I think was located where Paul thinks...clearly, taking it's name from The Felsenmeer located near Hemer, the rock formation buried in the forest. Kind of a spooky place in some ways but also a very peaceful and almost mystical place as well. Certainly the site of more than a few teenage liasions and drinking parties back in the day.

I remember when I was in Grade 10 in Hemer Senior High, one of the girls in my class went missing for a couple of days following a falling-out with her parents. Turns out she camped out in one of the caves (well, not quite caves...more hollows in the rocks) in Felsenmeer.

Re the connection to Hitler's last will and testament being found in Iserlohn: I have not heard this before and cannot vouch for it's veracity, but it wouldn't surprise me. The region was a "hotbed" of National Socialism and there are rumours of "Nazi treasure" hidden in some of the many caves out along the Hoennetal...the "Amber Room" being one of them.

Apparently, the Nazis dismantled some palace's salon the walls of which were totally made up of amber and, so the legend goes, hid the walls in the limestone caverns of this region.

When we lived in the area, a German friend of my Dads, who was the polier or foreman of the heating plant in Hemer married quarters, Erich something, had been a pilot during the war. Up on top of his living room Schranke (wall unit) was a richly carved Reich Adler, German Eagle, with a swastika grasped in its talons. Illegal of course but a beautiful carving nevertheless. He, of course, denied ever being a party member (or if he was a party member, it was only for the sake of expediency, not because he adhered to the beliefs). Myself, I don't know...he was certainly well-connected with some of the senior bureaucrats in the region, including up in Soest-- all former airforce buddies.

I imagine he is deceased by now as he was not a young man when we knew him. Nice enough but of course to me, being a callow youth of 16 or 17, even if he was in his 40's or 50's at the time he seemed ancient, in great shape, but ancient!

Naturally enough, whenever we enquired about the Third Reich era amongst our German friends, they all denied being involved, or knowing much about what was going on.

Also, in the hills above Hemer was a POW camp, Stalag VI-A or something. Mostly Polish and eastern European POWs. I never knew about that when we were there either. It was, apparently, a rather harsh POW camp, with the inmates used for slave labour in the area and malnutrition/starvation quite common. I'm not sure where exactly it was, I seem to recall it was somewhere in the 'suburb' across the road from Fort Beausejour, on the road between Iserlohn and Hemer, not far from the Seilersee...Buchenwaldchen.

Yes the Felsenmeer was where Paul says it was, right beside the Protestant Church. The Felsenmeer was popular place both with the Artillery and Infantry when I was there. It was commonly called Freda's after the lady who owned/leased it. It was taken over by Karl-Heinz Greninglow. The old party room on the left of the main entrance was rented out to the Roman Catholic Church as a chapel. I was last in the Felsenmeer in 2007, it's owned by a Turk I believe now, no longer serves Iserlohner Pils, some other brew and is mainly a pizza place/gasthof now.Interesting thing about the Felsenmeer, it's where I met my first survivor of a concentration camp. Dachau if I remember properly. He was
a German and had been an active member of the Christian Democratic Party. His daughter caught on to what we were talking about and shushed him up. Was very leery about letting me sit near or talk to him after that. Also met a fella who was with the German Polizie in Warsaw. That's all I ever got out of him. I did ask him about round ups, etc. He denied any knowledge of that.

The Gasthoph Sonnenborn was really not a popular place for Canadians, all though we were welcome there. A buddy and I had a crib board and cards stashed there (as in the Felsenmeer). The Sonnenborn served a really nice home made head cheese, sour cream, rye bread and a cold beer in the summer. In 2007 it was a really nice ice cream parlour, but since then I've heard it's closed and no longer being used for any business yet.

And about Iserlohn being a hot bed for the Nazi party, I can believe that. I met people who still had a problem accepting that the Nazi's were not nice people. I well remember one young lady who worked in our kitchen, on me asking her out for a coffee, she explainined to me that her father wouldn't really look approval on this as he had been a ranking officer in WW 2 and not a happy loser about it. I gave her a ride home once to Iserlohn and I had to drop her off, many blocks away from her house.

"In 2007 it was a really nice ice cream parlour, but since then I've heard it's closed and no longer being used for any business yet. "

Sadly Hardrations I suspect this must be true of many of the old Gasthauses and Imbisses that were used by occupation troops.

one(of three)copy of hitlers last will(written 28/04/1945)was smuggeled out of berlin by his trusted military adjutant major willi johannmeier on the morning of the 29th.johannmeier made it back to his home in iserlohn and buried the documents in his garden.the documents were found by the allies when one of the other couriers was caught(lorenz a propeganda official).graham.

almost forgot,the pow camp in the woods above hemer was once a camp for the hitler youth.went there a couple of times in the mid-70s.not much to see but there was a few large huts and small parade square in front of the biggest.was told by the father of my first german girl friend that it was built in the 30s and used for weekends and summer camp.from what i can remember it was quite a hike(with a couple of beer stops)and very easy to miss.graham.the reference for my previous post is the rise and fall of the third reich,page 1129.graham.

graham wright wrote:

one(of three)copy of hitlers last will(written 28/04/1945)was smuggled out of berlin by his trusted military adjutant major willi johannmeier on the morning of the 29th.johannmeier made it back to his home in iserlohn and buried the documents in his garden.the documents were found by the allies when one of the other couriers was caught(lorenz a propaganda official).graham.

Aha... Thank you Graham.

Incidentally when I was over in 2003 I took my wife out to see Berg Altona. Just down the road from Iserlohn. That's where the old castle is which I believe was the first youth hostel in Europe.They now have a display room of the forced labour camp that was in Altona. Showing various pictures of the camp, pictures of inmates, etc. Some thing I never knew about till then. Also it has a memorial to the German forces who fought on the Fascist's side in Spain. This memorial was outside the walls some where around the back of the castle.

You are thinking of Altena, Hardrations, and yes...it was the site of the 1st youth hostel. Altena has some sort of connection to the Counts of Mark who, in turn, have some sort of connection, convoluted of course, with some young upstart named Henry Tudor...or something along those lines. I think it is via Anne of Cleves, but don't hold me to that!

I recall the memorial you speak of...I didn't realize it was a pro-fascist one, however. If it's the one I am thinking of, it is on a hill opposite Burg Altena and was a column. I always thought it was a WWI memorial.

We used to go to Altena a lot. Weekends my parents and I often went "castle-hunting" and Altena was one of our favourites. I loved heading up the twisting stairs in the PowderTurm at the entrance of the castle. From the top room one had a fantastic view of the narrow river valley below, which of course Altena castle was built to protect. I could spend hours up there.

Slight change of subject,

I asked my Mother where we lived when we were in Iserlohn but she can't remeber the street name. I do know there was a cemetery at the top of the road though and a steep long hill not far away that I used to ride my bike down on the way to the NAAFI.

Given that much of the urban areas in this region blended together with very little distinction between one town and the next it is easy to 'miss' where Hemer ended and Iserlohn began.

The route one would take from Hemer into Iserlohn was one continuous stream of urban development, including homes, businesses, and light industrial (like so many towns of this region).

I seem to recall there being a small NAAFI in the British MQ area in Iserlohn but as my parents seldom, if ever, used that NAAFI -- preferring the main NAAFI in Hemer along Zeppelin Strasse -- I can't say for sure.

I remember the 'division' between Hemer and Iserlohn as being in around what the Canadians called Fort Beausejour (Corunna Bks for you guys?), which faced onto the main drag between Hemer and Iserlohn and had BMH in behind it, next to the Seiler See. Across the road and down a bit towards Hemer were about 3 or 4 ornate homes up on a slight rise that were not "typically German" in appearance; they reminded me, actually, of the sort of houses built in the US during the 1800's and which Main Street Disneyland glorifies...if that's any help to y'all ...gingerbread, turreted and wood facade. The 'suburb' of Buchenwaldchen was near by.

I can't place any cemetery, although again I seem to vaguely recall there being one up on one of the hills near the Hemer PMQs, so I am kind of thinking if you rode down a steep long hill enroute to the NAAFI that it was Hemer, not Iserlohn.

Many of the families whose men were officially stationed in Iserlohn, lived in the MQs in Hemer, which can add to the confusion.

I can clearly see the route between Iserlohn and Hemer in my mind's eye, but of course that is of little use when trying to describe it to someone else! LOL I travelled that route many many times on my moped when we lived on Am Tyrol in Iserlohn, up above the Goethe Institute, just off Garten Strasse on the hill across the city from the hill on which the Danzturm, that watchtower featured as a logo on Iserlohner Pilsner is situated.

Hi Jim and Stephen
The main Iserlohn cemetery is east of the former Aldershot Barracks to the west of the town left of the Dortmunder Strasse on the 1945 map named Droscheder Strasse the Iserlohn families NAAFI moved at some time from the location shown on the Iserlohn various page to the bottom of Holbein Stasse (bit of a downward hill) in my time 70/80s this was SNCO/WOs quarters and in the same area Dürer/Rubens/Rembrandt were officers quarters all off Caller Weg which is the north extension of Garten Strasse
Hope this helps
Steve

Steve wrote:

Hi Jim and Stephen
The main Iserlohn cemetery is east of the former Aldershot Barracks to the west of the town left of the Dortmunder Strasse on the 1945 map named Droscheder Strasse the Iserlohn families NAAFI moved at some time from the location shown on the Iserlohn various page to the bottom of Holbein Stasse (bit of a downward hill) in my time 70/80s this was SNCO/WOs quarters and in the same area Dürer/Rubens/Rembrandt were officers quarters all off Caller Weg which is the north extension of Garten Strasse
Hope this helps
Steve

It certainly assisted me in better placing locations

I rarely got to the Iserlohn MQ area, even though it was not that far from where my parents and I lived on Am Tyrol. When I got the bus to go to school in Dortmund, the bus would stop off in the MQs of course, but that was pretty much it.

When we first moved to Iserlohn in 1971 after being in Soest under the Canadian Brigade, it was Hemer I gravitated towards, having gone to the Canadian High School there and the youth club, so it was logical to me to seek other kids out there as I knew there would be some. The first few weeks after moving to Iserlohn were lonely for me as everyone I knew (Canadian teens) had either re-located to Lahr or back to Canada. I had a best friend (German guy) up in Soest, which I would go up and visit once a month, but the rest of the time was difficult.

I did eventually manage to establish myself with some of the Irish Ranger kids in Hemer and get involved with the youth club there.

I know Holbein Strasse, Duerer, Rembrandt, and Rubens Strassen as well and of coure Garten Strasse as Am Tyrol connected to that street. Caller Weg I vaguely recall, only because I rarely travelled up that way; I always swung south on Garten Strasse, down to the bottom of the hill past the Goethe Institute, enroute to Hemer on my red moped...I tell ya, I'd have been lost without that moped!! I must've racked up hundreds of kilometres on it, bombing all over Iserlohn, Hemer, Deilinghofen and down the Hoennetal (my parent would have had heart attacks knowing I took a 49cc moped along the Hoennetal!).

After reading your description of the location of the Iserlohn cemetery I can pretty much picture it, as well.

Thanks!

I remember when we took over Fort Quappelle in the late summer of 68 we also inherited some British PMQ's. I was assigned to go with our housing officer who was new to Germany and a German gentleman who's English was limited (Supposedly I could get by in German)) and check out just where these PMQ's were. I really don't remember just what area's they were in as they seemed to be spread all over, but I do remember they were obviously pre- WW2 houses and very nice at that. I remember thinking, " there was no way that any enlisted people would ever see these places for PMQ's (Incidentally my German allways seemed good enough to get me in trouble, but never out of it). Steph when I was over in 07, Larry my friend from Deilinghofen took us down to a wonderful restaurant on the main street going into Iserlohn from Hemer. It was on the left hand side as you drove in. Wonderful place for a meal. I'll have to get a hold of him to tell me the name again. He said it's been there quite awhile.

Also my memory jogs me to remember the out of bounds bar across from the British Kinema in Iserlohn. One of the best places to have a beer and meet some good people. Never did figure out why it had an Out of Bounds sign. The meat heads never seemed to come in and check out. But then an Out of Bounds sign was all ways a good reason for us to go in.

I have a couple of photos of some of the MQs in use in Iserlohn in the early '50s. These pics were taken last year so the places look a lot different than when I lived there. My dad was posted there in Dec 1949 and we left in July 1953. I am not sure if or how photos are posted on this site. Perhaps someone can tell me?

You'll need to scan the photo's in island Girl and then upload them to a hosting site like www.photobucket.com . Once you have uploaded them there, clik on the thumbnail until it opens out as a full size picture. then click on the second tag box down, something like direct image I think it's called. Then you select the image box on your post, just on the right and paste the direct link into it.

I hope that's clear enough.

I've already got them in my pictures, Jim. Is it possible to post them on to here from there?

"Never did figure out why it had an Out of Bounds sign."

OOB signs were placed for very good reasons.

These locations were assessed by higher authority to be a threat to Allied security. Personnel who were unable to pay their bills were compromised.
WD equipment (weapons, ammo, gear), personal effects(watches, cameras etc) and classified information was often sought as quick payment to settle accounts when a squaddie had no money.
It didn't take much to convince a half pissed squaddie, compromised by a half naked beauty with VD, that by parting with goods and information was anything but 'normal'!!
Personally, I took great delight in banging 6" nails through carved oak doors with the largest hammer I could find when placing the OOB sign on these clubs' doors!
However, they were far and few between.