With the Ordensburg Vogelsang, towering high above the Eifel National Park, the Nazis once demonstrated their inhuman arrogance. Today, the site is an “International Plaza (IP) for Tolerance, Diversity, and Peaceful Coexistence.” A place where history is explored, nature is experienced, and the future is shaped.
Visitors can enjoy the best view of the historic town of Vogelsang and the beauty of the Eifel National Park from the observation deck of the 48-meter-high Vogelsang Tower. A historic spiral staircase leads the way up, before the view sweeps across the grounds nestled amid the densely forested woods, where nature has been left to its own devices for 15 years now.
More than 70 years ago, the Nazis had one of their largest structures ever built here, high above Lake Urft. The complex is still completely preserved and is now a protected historic site. During daily guided tours of the approximately 100-hectare site—which was most recently used by the Belgian armed forces as a military training area—visitors learn about the history and architecture of Ordensburg Vogelsang.
Crimes in European History
At the heart of the complex is the modern visitor center in the historic Forum Vogelsang IP, an international meeting place and research facility. For example, the permanent exhibition “Destiny: The Master Race. Nazi Ordensburgen Between Fascination and Crime” explores the societal question of how the greatest crime in European history could have come to pass. It examines the specific actions of the perpetrators as well as the perspective of the victims.
However, the Forum Vogelsang IP is committed not only to the past, but even more so to the present and the future. In addition to guided tours of the permanent exhibition, the Vogelsang IP Academy therefore regularly organizes workshops, seminars, and continuing education courses on historical and political topics. In addition, there is a regular KulturCafé where people can engage in conversation, as well as events in the nostalgic 1,000-seat movie theater.
Since the Eifel National Park was founded in 2004, the Vogelsang IP Forum has also been home to the National Park Center and, consequently, a second major permanent exhibition. Visitors are greeted by the “Sound of Nature” in the exhibition “Wildnis(t)räume” (Wilderness Dreams). Trees rustle gently in the wind, birds chirp, and the leaves rustle softly. Even if you’re not out exploring the national park with a ranger, you can still experience nature here with all your senses and make surprising discoveries. Across a total of 2,000 square meters, visitors are guided through fascinating aquatic worlds, perceive the environment through the compound eyes of an insect, and suddenly find themselves face-to-face with a massive red deer—which, with eleven animals per square kilometer, forms the largest population in the Eifel region. Like the entire Vogelsang IP Forum complex—including the restaurant, visitor center, and conference center—the “Wildnis(t)räume” exhibition is also accessible to all. It provides information in four languages about what has been happening over the centuries in the “primeval forest of tomorrow.” After all, nature, too, is a central issue for the future.
