McGraw Kaserne

Last updated April 23, 2019

The McGraw Kaserne is a former military installation in southern Munich, Germany, which was used by the U.S. Military during the occupation of Germany after World War II. The main building (building number 7; 110 m × 85 m and 18 m high) was one of the first ones in Germany to be built using steel frame technology. The kaserne was named after PFC Francis X. McGraw.

Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, the second most populous German federal state. With a population of around 1.5 million, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg, as well as the 12th-largest city in the European Union. The city's metropolitan region is home to 6 million people. Straddling the banks of the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps, it is the seat of the Bavarian administrative region of Upper Bavaria, while being the most densely populated municipality in Germany. Munich is the second-largest city in the Bavarian dialect area, after the Austrian capital of Vienna.

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north, and the Alps, Lake Constance and the High Rhine to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west.

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

History

Earlier on the area of building number 7, the main building of the later Reichszeugmeisterei, was used by the Wagen- und Maschinenfabrik Gebr. Beißbarth OHG until 1931. In 1933, it was bought by the Bayerische Hypotheken- und Wechselbank.

The Reichszeugmeisterei, formally located in Munich, was the first and eventually the primary Zeugmeisterei, as well as the national material control office of Nazi Germany. It replaced the SA-Wirtschaftsstelle, the purchasing agency of the Sturmabteilung.

It is also said^{[ specify ]}, that a farm called Maechlerhof was located at the same place until 1910, which was bought by the Maurer Söhne company (founded in 1876) for its production.

NSDAP use

In 1934, the area was taken over by the NSDAP and was increased after 1935. The main building of the Reichszeugmeisterei (building number 7), the follow-on institution of the SA-Wirtschaftsstelle), was planned by the architects Paul Hofer and Karl Johann Fischer ^[1] and was mostly completed in 1937. The area was used for the "Reichsautozug Deutschland" (Reichs automobile platoon) and the "Hilfszug Bayern" (auxiliary platoon Bavaria) car pools for the NSDAP central at the Brown House. The personnel was accommodated in number 6, 8, 10, 11, and 12. The Reichszeugmeisterei started its first activities in 1936. The "Reichsautozug Deutschland" was responsible for the technical support of mass events with loudspeaker systems and with its movie platoon. The "Hilfszug Bayern“ owned 160 vehicles for catering services at this mass events. The Reichszeugmeisterei was responsible for testing uniforms and ordnance, as well as for maintaining vehicles. This works were done by war veterans and war invalids, later also by prisoners of war. There were further units located on the area, e. g. an anti-aircraft battery and a small SS unit. During World War II the allied forces bombed only building number 19, because the area was not of strategic importance.

The National Socialist German Workers' Party, commonly referred to in English as the Nazi Party, was a far-right political party in Germany that was active between 1920 and 1945, that created and supported the ideology of National Socialism. Its precursor, the German Workers' Party, existed from 1919 to 1920.

The Sturmabteilung, literally Storm Detachment, was the Nazi Party's original paramilitary. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi rallies and assemblies, disrupting the meetings of opposing parties, fighting against the paramilitary units of the opposing parties, especially the Red Front Fighters League of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), and intimidating Romanis, trade unionists, and, especially, Jews – for instance, during the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses.

A uniform is a type of clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, security guards, in some workplaces and schools and by inmates in prisons. In some countries, some other officials also wear uniforms in their duties; such is the case of the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service or the French prefects. For some organizations, such as police, it may be illegal for non members to wear the uniform.

U.S. military use

After the war, the area was occupied by U.S. troops on April 30, 1945, was renamed and further increased. Besides military units, there were many civilian installations for the soldiers' families located in the McGraw Kaserne, e. g. AAFES installations, the "Munich Community Club", a Commissary shop, a launderette, a gas station, a bowling alley, a dental clinic, a library, from 1950 the University of Maryland Munich campus, and others.

The Army & Air Force Exchange Service is the retailer on U.S. Army and Air Force installations worldwide. The Exchange is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and its director/chief executive officer is Tom Shull.

The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA), headquartered at Fort Lee (Virginia), is an agency of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) that operates nearly 240 commissaries worldwide. American military commissaries sell groceries and household goods to active-duty, Guard, Reserve, and retired members of all seven uniformed services of the United States and eligible members of their families at cost plus surcharge, saving authorized patrons thousands of dollars compared to civilian supermarkets.

Building number 7 was used by the U.S. military government from 1945 to 1949, from 1952 until 1964 by the Munich branch of the Southern Area Command (SACOM), and from 1965 to 1967 by the U.S. Army Area Command (AACOM; predecessor of the U.S. Theater Army Area Support Command, Europe - USTASCOMEUR in Worms). In the end of 1968, the main building was shortly used by the unified 66th (from Stuttgart) and the 513th (from Oberursel) Military Intelligence Groups, which soon moved to building number 1, which was used earlier on by the 508th Military Police Battalion. In 1969 the HQ European Exchange System (renamed Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Europe in the 1970s) moved from the Nürnberg Palace of Justice into the main building of the McGraw Kaserne.^[2]^[3] McGraw Kaserne was the home of the 30th Army Band until 1967^{[ citation needed ]}. During the 1970s and early '80s, McGraw Kaserne was the home to the Army Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) and the 66th Military Intelligence Group.

Military or belligerent occupation is effective provisional control by a certain ruling power over a territory, which is not under the formal sovereignty of that entity, without the violation of the actual sovereign. The territory is then known as the occupied territory and the ruling power the occupant. Occupation is distinguished from annexation by its intended temporary nature, by its military nature, and by citizenship rights of the controlling power not being conferred upon the subjugated population.

Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about 60 kilometres south-southwest of Frankfurt-am-Main. It had approximately 82,000 inhabitants as of 2015.

Stuttgart is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Stuttgart is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known locally as the "Stuttgart Cauldron." It lies an hour from the Swabian Jura and the Black Forest. Its urban area has a population of 609,219, making it the sixth largest city in Germany. 2.7 million people live in the city's administrative region and another 5.3 million people in its metropolitan area, making it the fourth largest metropolitan area in Germany. The city and metropolitan area are consistently ranked among the top 20 European metropolitan areas by GDP; Mercer listed Stuttgart as 21st on its 2015 list of cities by quality of living, innovation agency 2thinknow ranked the city 24th globally out of 442 cities and the Globalization and World Cities Research Network ranked the city as a Beta-status world city in their 2014 survey.

Military family housing was primarily located about 2 km south, adjacent to Perlacher Forst.

During the U.S. use, the connection of the Bundesautobahn 995 in the South and Tegernseer Landstraße (part of the Middle Ring Road of Munich) in the North of the area was cut. In 1970 it was reconnected by digging a half-open street trench of about 500 metres length. This part of Tegernseer Landstraße is called McGraw-Graben (McGraw trench).

In 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989 and 1992 the McGraw Kaserne was scene of the Bavarian Open Championships of Racquetball.^[4]

German subsequent use

After the U.S. forces left Munich in 1992 some offices of the local Bavarian Police moved into the McGraw Kaserne. Today building number 7 is used by a branch of the Police Headquarters of Munich. The police also uses the garages of the former "Reichsautozug Deutschland" and the "Hilfszug Bayern".

The Munich Studentenwerk owns 50 apartments in the area and some of the renovated buildings are residential buildings now. The former machine hall is planned to be converted to a multifunctional hall. Some further buildings and the garage of the "Hilfszug Bayern" might be torn down.

Since 2015, the government of Oberbayern is using parts of the former McGraw Kaserne for hosting refugees ("Erstaufnahmeeinrichtung").

Bibliography

Willi Hanseder: Von der Reichszeugmeisterei zur McGraw-Kaserne, in Giesing / von Hildegard Adam ..., ed.: Thomas Guttmann, 1990. ISBN 3-927984-04-3 - pp. 181 – 196

External links

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References

↑ Nicoline Bauers: Die Reichszeugmeisterei in München Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine (German), program of the 44th Conference of excavation science and building materials research on May 25, 2006, p. 19.
↑ Kenneth-VonSteuben: McGraw Kaserne - Munich, Germany
↑ Brief History of Munich Campus
↑ Racquetball Landesverband Bayern e.V.: Bavarian Open Championships Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine (German)

Coordinates: 48°6′0″N11°35′0″E / 48.10000°N 11.58333°E / 48.10000; 11.58333

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[NB-1] Nicoline Bauers: Die Reichszeugmeisterei in München Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine (German), program of the 44th Conference of excavation science and building materials research on May 25, 2006, p. 19.

[536th_MP_Cpy-2] Kenneth-VonSteuben: McGraw Kaserne - Munich, Germany

[liste-3] Brief History of Munich Campus

[RB-4] Racquetball Landesverband Bayern e.V.: Bavarian Open Championships Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine (German)