SS-Junker Schools were leadership training facilities for officer candidates of the Schutzstaffel (SS). The term Junkerschulen was introduced by Nazi Germany in 1937, although the first facilities were established at Bad Tölz and Braunschweig in 1934 and 1935. Additional schools were founded at Klagenfurt and Posen-Treskau in 1943, and Prague in 1944. Unlike the Wehrmacht's "war schools", admission to the SS-Junker Schools did not require a secondary diploma. Training at these schools provided the groundwork for employment with the Sicherheitspolizei, the Sicherheitsdienst, and later for the Waffen-SS. Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, intended for these schools to mold cadets for future service in the officer ranks of the SS.
SS-Junker School at Bad Tölz, 1942
The Schutzstaffel was a major paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II.
Image: Bundesarchiv Bild 183 H04436, Klagenfurt, Adolf Hitler, Ehrenkompanie
Image: Bundesarchiv Bild 101III Lerche Stereo 046 03, Metz, Sepp Dietrich bei Ordensverleihung
Image: Himmler besichtigt die Gefangenenlager in Russland. Heinrich Himmler inspects a prisoner of war camp in Russia, circa... NARA 540164
Image: Bundesarchiv Bild 183 R97512, Berlin, Geheimes Staatspolizeihauptamt