Archives 1952-1953

7th 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 Germany. This high school opened in a small town approximately 15.5 miles north of Nürnberg, one of Germany’s most historic cities. It was called Erlangen American High School.

A year later, 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. The school was to remain at this address for five and one-half years.

The sixth year of the school’s existence was begun in the old school on Tannenstrasse, but the students, on January 3, 1952, moved into a brand new American school at 30 Fronmüllerstrasse in Fürth.

The doors of NHS were to remain open at this new address until the school closed in 1995, after 49 years. In 1995 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.

The students of the 1952-53 school year, the seventh year of the school’s existence, were the first to spend their entire year in the new building on Fronmüllerstrasse. The new school building had come about as a result of the change in Germany’s status as an occupied territory. In 1952 the allied forces went from armies of occupation to co-partners with the Germans in defending the West.

The physical manifestation of this change in status was the new school, a new dormitory building, and dependent housing that was built around the new school, thus establishing an American enclave. The students did not appear to have attached much significance to this change in their status and went about the activities that had been part of the American school almost from the first year. They elected class officers and cheerleaders; they held dances, both formal and informal; they formed extracurricular clubs and activities. One thing that was new was a highly successful football team, which seemed to ignite school spirit. In January the school paper noted the “marked improvements in our school,” ticking off the successes in football and basketball, the “bumper crop” of honor roll students, the activities of several clubs, and best of all, the feeling of “loyalty and pride among the teachers and student body.”

In the files that are linked to from this page, you can read an attempt to preserve the history and memories of the school’s seventh 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