Archives 1950-1951

5th year of the school’s existence

On Monday, October 21, 1946, a new American high school opened. It was one of six high schools that opened in the fall of 1946, not in the United States, but in Erlangen, Germany, a small town approximately 15.5 miles north of Nürnberg, one of Germany’s most historic cities. This school was named Erlangen American High School.

On Monday, September 6, 1947, this American high school opened its doors as Nürnberg American High School, in a new location, 19 Tannenstrasse in Fürth, a town approximately 6.5 miles from the Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof.

In the fall of 1950, NHS began its fourth year in the building at 19 Tannenstrasse and its fifth year as an Army dependent school.

The doors of NHS were to remain open for 49 years until the school closed in 1995. In that year thousands of Nürnberg High School alumni had to face the fact that their school was gone. But it lived on in their memory, and these alumni have bonded together to preserve their high school friendships and their memories through the Nürnberg Alumni Association.

This electronic archive of the 1950-51 school year is an attempt to preserve the history and memories of the fifth year. In the files that you can link to from this page, you can read how these students adjusted to attending a small American high school tucked away in a corner of Fürth, Germany, while the Germans were digging out of the rubble of their destroyed cities and the far away Korean War was reaching a stalemate.

Here you can see the students engaged in the typical activities of high schools in the States. Their school newspaper is now in its fifth year. Their yearbook is once again combined with those of other American dependent schools in Germany, now numbering seven. With only around 120 students in grades 9-12, they compete manfully in football and basketball against larger schools. They engage in extra-curricular activities. There are many school dances; the Rifle Club, Bowling Club, and Girls’ Chorus are popular. They and their teachers now have courses of study, textbooks, and supplies that compare favorably with those in the States. Though The U.S. Army is still the army of occupation in Germany, and MPs guard the school door and ride the school buses, American young people move about freely and without fear, so reports one alum who was there in the 1950-51 school year.

If you find anything here that you believe to be historically inaccurate or know of something that can be added to these files, please contact me.

Bob McQuitty, NAA historian/archivist