Augusta Victoria College
| Augusta Victoria College | |
|---|---|
.jpg) The building that housed the school | |
| Location | |
 | |
82, then 88 (now 128) Dorset Road, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, TN40 2HT 50°50′49″N 0°29′19″E / 50.846934°N 0.488737°E | |
| Information | |
| Other name | Lindsay Hall |
| Type | Girls' finishing school |
| Established | 1932 |
| Founder | Frau Helena Rocholl |
| Closed | 26 August 1939 |
| Gender | Girls |
| Age | 16 to 21 |
Augusta Victoria College was a girls' finishing school for daughters of high-ranking Nazi officials and German nobility in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, England, during the 1930s before World War Two. It was named after the last German empress, Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (1858–1921).
The school was established in 1932 and closed in 1939 due to World War Two.[1] It started at 82 Dorset Road and moved to Lindsay Hall (88, now 128, Dorset Road) in 1935.
Notable students included Bettina von Ribbentrop, the daughter of Joachim von Ribbentrop, the German Minister of Foreign Affairs under the Third Reich.[2] Others included Isa von Bergen, the daughter of Carl-Ludvig Diego von Bergen, envoy to the Vatican, and Princess Herzeleide of Prussia, the granddaughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who himself was the grandson of Queen Victoria. Others included the goddaughter of the chief of the German police, Heinrich Himmler, and the niece of the German ambassador to Britain, Herbert von Dirksen.[3]
It was the aim of Hitler to have Nazi-aligned women marry into the British aristocracy and influence British politics.[2] The college's blazer badge included a Union Flag and Swastika.[1]
The school's building, Lindsay Hall, later became a nursing home,[4] and was converted into flats.
The 2020 film Six Minutes to Midnight dramatized events at the school.[3][5][6]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 "Bexhill's pre-war Nazi Girls School". UK: Bexhill Museum. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
- 1 2 Lo, Hsin-Yi (26 May 2025). "The Sussex school that trained Nazi girls to marry". BBC News. UK: BBC. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
- 1 2 Ghert-Zand, Renee (26 March 2021). "Forgotten pre-war Nazi girls school on UK coast inspires chilling new spy film". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
- ↑ "Archived: Lindsay Hall Nursing Home". UK: Care Quality Commission. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
- ↑ Chandler-Wilde, Helen (14 March 2021). "The unsettling story of the Nazi finishing school in East Sussex". The Telegraph. UK. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
- ↑ "The strange story of England's 'finishing school for Nazis'". The Herald. 3 April 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
External links
[edit]- Augusta Victoria College Photos and High-Res Pictures from Getty Images
- The Augusta Victoria College, Nazi girls finishing school 1932–1939 Bexhill on YouTube by the Sussex Heritage Community
- 1932 establishments in England
- 1939 disestablishments in England
- Educational institutions in the United Kingdom established in 1932
- Educational institutions disestablished in 1939
- Secondary schools in East Sussex
- Girls' schools in East Sussex
- Private schools in East Sussex
- Defunct schools in East Sussex
- Bexhill-on-Sea