Garrison Church (Potsdam)

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Exterior view of the garrison church from the west, 1920. On the left the long stable and the plantation
Interior view from the east, 1920. On the left the pulpit and the altar

The Garrison Church (officially: Court and Garrison Church ) was a Protestant church in the historical center of Potsdam . Built on behalf of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I according to plans by the architect Philipp Gerlach in the years 1730–1735, it was considered a major work of the North German Baroque . At almost 90 meters, it was the tallest building in Potsdam and shaped the cityscape with its famous three-church view, together with the Nikolaikirche and the Church of the Holy Spirit . Burned out during the British air raid on Potsdam night in 1945, the SED dictatorship had the secured ruins blown up in 1968. After the "call from Potsdam" for the reconstruction of the house of God, the controversially debated reconstruction as an open city ​​church and international center of reconciliation has been taking place since 2017 .

description

The Garrison Church in Potsdam , painting by Carl Hasenpflug , 1827
"Royal Monument" (pulpit and crypt) with organ and altar
Crypt with the sarcophagi of Friedrich Wilhelm I (left) and Frederick the Great (right)

Steeple

The tower of the garrison church with a total height of 88.43 meters protruded into the Breite Straße. The side walls of the tower were broken through on each side by narrow longitudinal windows, and the corners were also decorated with figures. There was an inscription plaque with gold letters above the main portal to Breite Straße. It read: “Friderich Wilhelm, King in Prussia, had this tower and the Guarnison Church built for the glory of God. Anno 1735. “Some of the letters are still there today. The tower structure was bulky in the basement and tapered on the upper floors. The tower lantern was a floor made of oak , clad with copper sheet, on which a weather vane was attached. It contained the carillon from the first garrison church consecrated in 1722 , supplemented by five new bass bells created by Paul Meurer.

After the carillon had played various chorals on the hour and secular songs on the half-hour until the end of the 18th century , from 1797 to 1945 the hourly chorale " Praise the Lord, the mighty King of Honor " alternated with the half-hour song " Practice always faithful and honest ”by Ludwig Hölty , (with the somewhat simplified melody of the aria Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen from Mozart's opera Die Zauberflöte ) and a variation as the second stanza. In between, "suggestions" and short melodies could be heard so that the carillon rang out over the city every 7½ minutes. Since the installation of the replica carillon on the place called the plantation north of the church site in 1991, it has been playing the above-mentioned songs again every full and half hour.

The soldier king gave the flags of his regiments a flag that would last until the end of the monarchy. It was also found on many buildings built during his reign, such as the Garrison Church in Potsdam, and showed an eagle flying towards the sun with its wings spread . This bore the inscription: " Non soli cedit " (He does not give way to the sun). At that time France was ruled by the Sun King . His troops wore one or more suns on their standard to honor their king. The eagle, which approached the sun with the sword and the twitching lightning in the armored claws , was supposed to show that the young, rising power of the Brandenburg electors was unwilling to give way .

Nave

The nave , a rectangular building aligned in a transverse axis, connected to the tower of the garrison church in a northerly direction. On the 17 meter high, steep hipped roof , two dormer windows were placed on the west, north and east sides . The large arched windows of the nave dominated the facade, which was enlivened by medium risalite on all three facades. Continued to be held on both sides of the transition to the church tower Attica - balustrades who joined in a rounding at the roof. They were carried out on the Breite Straße with pilasters and thus formed the representative entrance front with the tower. The nave held about 3,000 people.

inner space

The interior of the garrison church was clearly structured. Massive pillars were connected by basket arches, which in turn supported a flat ceiling and two-story galleries . The interior was initially unadorned and furnished with simple wooden furnishings. The members of the civil parish sat on the benches on the ground floor, those of the military parish on the galleries.

An initially wooden pulpit was placed on the south side. In 1735 Friedrich Wilhelm I had it replaced by the baroque "Royal Monument". It was an ornate pulpit with a ground-level crypt . The designs were provided by Christian Friedrich Feldmann, the executors were Johann Christian Angermann, Johann Konrad Koch and the sculptor Johann Georg Glume , who also created the marble figures " Mars " and " Bellona " at the entrance to the crypt. The so-called field altar, which came from the previous church, was simply made of wood and served for the Lord's Supper .

Between 1897 and 1899, the interior was fundamentally redesigned in the neo-baroque style. The simple wooden altar was replaced by a splendid stone altar donated by Wilhelm II . The pillars, ceilings and galleries, which were previously kept simple, received stucco elements and gilding typical of the time .

Wagner organ

The large organ was built in 1731/32 by the organ builder Joachim Wagner . It stood above the pulpit on the second gallery of the garrison church. The instrument was housed in an imposing organ case with a richly carved front. The figurative and plastic decoration of the organ case was probably created by the artist Johann Georg Glume (1679–1765). The prospectus was divided into three towers (a few pedal stops were housed in the central tower due to lack of space) and had six principal pipe fields. The largest prospect pipes were five meters long. A special feature of the organ was - according to a military church - a play of trumpet-blowing and beating angels, rotating suns ( cymbal stars ) and a wing-flapping eagle.

The instrument initially had 25  registers on three manuals and a pedal. In 1862 the organ builder Carl Ludwig Gesell expanded the disposition to 42 registers. The instrument included, among other things, a carillon. In the course of redesigning the interior between 1897 and 1899, the organ builder Wilhelm Sauer rebuilt the organ, reusing around half of the historical pipe material. The new instrument, arranged in the late romantic style, now had 46 stops on pneumatic cone chests. Using the documents that still exist, it is possible to reconstruct the sound of the Wagner organ. The financial means for a reconstruction were donated by the founder of the mail order company, Werner Otto .

history

Front and side views of the garrison church, engraving from 1730
Spire with weather vane, drawing from 1735
Johann Sebastian Bach played the organ of the Garrison Church in 1747
Friedrich Wilhelm III. , Queen Luise and Alexander I at the coffin of Frederick the Great, 1805
Napoleon at the coffin of Frederick the Great, 1806

The garrison church was an important place in Germany's eventful history . Among others, Johann Sebastian Bach , Alexander I and Napoleon visited the building in which Friedrich Wilhelm I and his son Friedrich II were buried. The first freely elected city ​​councilors of Potsdam met in the garrison church, Lutherans and Reformed people united in it to form the union , and the organist Otto Becker (1870–1951) developed it into an important place for church music . On the day of Potsdam in 1933, the house of God was taken over by the National Socialists for propaganda purposes; at the same time Henning von Tresckow , Helmuth James von Moltke and many other resistance fighters belonged to the parish.

First building

From 1720 to 1722, the first garrison church in Potsdam was built as a square half-timbered building on Breite Strasse and the city ​​canal . A single-storey tower placed on the steep tent roof was given a 35-part carillon by the Dutch bell founder Jan Albert de Grave. After the completion of the church, the Protestant military community moved in, mainly members of the body regiment of the Lange Kerle and the German Reformed civil community. From the beginning, the church had a special position, as it was under the direct patronage of the King of Prussia. As a result, both the military and the civil parish were subject to its sole control. The Catholic soldiers received pastoral care from the Peter and Paul Congregation established in the 1730s .

The marshy building land in Potsdam and the insufficient foundation of the building caused settlement cracks to appear just a few years later , and the building began to sag. After the carillon was outsourced, the dismantling and demolition of the tower and nave began in 1730. Since King Friedrich Wilhelm I had an interest in the welfare of his subjects and their spiritual education, he commissioned the architect Philipp Gerlach to build a new church.

Second building

Construction work for the second structure began in 1731 at the same location. The church consecration by court preacher Christian Johann Cochius and garrison preacher Johann Gottfried Hornejus could already take place on August 17, 1732 . As with almost all of his church buildings in Berlin and Potsdam, Friedrich Wilhelm I, who had frequently traveled to the Netherlands and admired the bell towers there, wanted the Berlin Parochial Church (also designed by Philipp Gerlach) for the garrison church in Potsdam, among other things a high and imposing tower as a special godly symbol of his firm belief. With the completion of the tower on August 2, 1735, construction work on the garrison church ended. On the same day, after having overcome a serious illness, the king climbed the 365 steps of the tower; on August 3, Crown Prince Friedrich followed.

Time of the monarchy

On June 1, 1740, Friedrich Wilhelm I was buried in the crypt of the garrison church, which he had laid out under the pulpit three years before his death. At the invitation of his successor Friedrich II. Johann Sebastian Bach visited Potsdam and the Garrison Church in 1747. He played the organ and was very impressed. In his opinion, she is a “very splendid Werck”. The wife of Friedrich Wilhelm I, Sophie Dorothea , who died on June 28, 1757 , chose in her will the Berlin Cathedral, which traditionally served as the burial place of the Reformed Hohenzollern, as the burial place. Their place in the crypt of the garrison church thus remained free. In his will, her son Friedrich II had not designated the garrison church but the terrace of Sanssouci Palace as the burial place. However, he was buried next to his father in the garrison church on the evening of the day of his death, August 18, 1786.

In November 1805, the royal couple Friedrich Wilhelm III visited. and Luise together with the Russian Tsar Alexander I. the royal crypt to strengthen their alliance against Napoleon Bonaparte . When he came through Potsdam the following year after his victory over the Prussian army near Jena and Auerstedt on his march to Berlin on October 25, 1806, he visited the royal crypt in the garrison church. Napoleon's words that one would not have come this far if Friedrich was still alive probably did not come from the garrison church, but rather from a visit to Friedrich's apartment in the city ​​palace . Out of respect for Frederick the Great, Napoleon placed the Garrison Church under his personal protection, while the French Church and the Church of the Holy Spirit had to serve as fourage magazines for the French cavalry .

In the course of the Prussian reforms, the first freely elected Potsdam city ​​councilors met on August 3, 1809 in the garrison church. On December 25, 1816, 24 eagles and 2 flags of the French army, which had been captured in the wars of liberation against Napoleon, were displayed in the garrison church . For this purpose, the figures Mars and Bellona by the sculptor Johann Georg Glume, who had previously stood to the left and right of the altar, were brought into the stairwell of the city ​​palace .

During the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of the Reformation , on October 31, 1817, a joint service of Reformed ( Calvinists ) and Lutherans took place for the first time . On August 3, 1809 by order of Friedrich Wilhelm III. had united to the Church of the Old Prussian Union . His successor, Friedrich Wilhelm IV. , Had already drawn up drafts for the redesign of the garrison church during his time as Crown Prince . However, proposals such as a new building in the form of a five-aisled basilica , the dimensions of which would have been ten times the size of the previous church, were never implemented. The only major change in his tenure was the installation of a decagonal baptistery in the southwestern anteroom (1856). This was followed by renovation work in the nave (also in 1856) and repairs to the tower (1880).

The following period was shaped by the “ Wilhelmine ” need for representation. The once sparsely furnished garrison church has now been given a completely new interior design by Fritz Laske (1854–1918). In addition to new cypress stalls , which have now been arranged differently, the boxes have been given a much richer design. The gallery balustrades were decorated with finely profiled decorations, cartouches and gilding. The wood carving work was carried out by Gustav Kuntzsch from Wernigerode . In addition to the creative tasks, Fritz Laske also had to meet all modern requirements (fire protection, heating, lighting, improvement of the visibility in the galleries, etc.). In the wars of unification , the number of trophies exhibited in the nave increased to 117 French, 25 Danish flags and 7 Austrian standard symbols. The Wagner organ was enlarged from 42 to 46 registers, but its prospectus was not changed. In 1907 a wrought-iron gate was placed in front of the tower portal and Kaiser Wilhelm II donated a magnificent altar table to the church in 1910. The structural changes were thus completed.

The direct structural contributions from Wilhelm II underlined the prominent position that the building enjoyed as a court church. In the center of the officer and aristocratic city of Potsdam, "whose identity was strongly influenced by German nationalism, monarchist and militaristic", "the garrison church [...] remained what it was since its establishment until its demise: the expression of a warlike alliance of throne and altar [...]. ”In addition to its function as a place of worship, it had to be considered a kind of Prussian Valhalla since the late 19th century .

Republic time

When, under Article 245 of the Versailles Treaty, the French trophies were to be returned, they were removed by an unknown hand in July 1919 and have disappeared to this day. In their place, flags of the now lost Prussian regiments were attached.

The "Spirit of Potsdam", which called for the Prussian reigns of Friedrich Wilhelm I and Friedrich II (1713 to 1786) idealized and authoritarian forms of rule as well as a strong military, made the garrison church a place of pilgrimage for opponents of the Weimar Republic, like it otherwise hardly any other building in Germany has been allocated. The Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten , Deutsche Reichskriegerbund "Kyffhäuser" or the Pan-German Association held their meetings here. On November 24, 1919, the German National People's Party (DNVP) organized a counter-event to the establishment of the Weimar Republic, with Erich Ludendorff as the main speaker .

In contrast, the garrison church was known as a place of church music care and was to establish itself there especially in the 20th century. Professor Otto Becker (1870–1954), who worked as an organist from 1910 to 1945 and played the carillon, made a particular contribution . Otto Becker also played the organ of the synagogue in Potsdam from 1915 to 1933. At that time, over 2000 bell concerts were sounded in the garrison church, there were organ concerts, oratorio performances , sacred concerts and chamber music . From 1925 to 1930 the garrison church was extensively repaired under the direction of the architect Karl Daubitz. A number of measurement drawings and hundreds of detailed photos are now available from this measure.

National Socialism and Resistance

Handshake between Adolf Hitler and Paul von Hindenburg on the day of Potsdam in front of the Garrison Church, 1933
Henning von Tresckow , community member and resistance fighter against National Socialism, 1944
The burned out garrison church after the night of Potsdam , 1945

In the Reichstag elections of March 5, 1933 , which took place in a climate of legal uncertainty and violence, the National Socialists hoped for an absolute majority of the votes. With this they planned to enforce the self-dissolution of parliament in order to finally be able to tread the path to dictatorship. After the Reichstag fire , the Reich Cabinet decided, at Hitler's suggestion, to move the opening of the Reichstag to Potsdam. On March 2, the cabinet made the preliminary decision for the garrison church as the location. A date at the beginning of April was considered as the time. After protests by the Protestant church leadership around Otto Dibelius , who also supported President Paul von Hindenburg , and objections from the monarchist Prussian Federation , it was agreed that only one solemn state act should be carried out in the garrison church and that the Reichstag should then officially meet in the neighboring Long Stall. On March 8, Hitler, Hermann Göring and Wilhelm Frick, on a site visit to Potsdam with reference to the first opening of the Reichstag on March 21, 1871 by Kaiser Wilhelm I in the White Hall of the Berlin Palace, decided on March 21 as the date Preparation time was shortened considerably and finally led to the relocation of the opening session of the Reichstag to the Berlin Kroll Opera .

The festivities in Potsdam began in the morning with two simultaneous church services in the Protestant Nikolaikirche and in the Catholic Peter and Paul Church . This was followed by a state act in the garrison church, which was strongly influenced by military traditions. The entire event, with speeches by Hindenburg and Hitler and a large military parade, was broadcast live across the country on the radio and specifically staged as " Potsdam Day " by Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels . There were several handshakes between Hitler and Hindenburg. A handshake in front of the garrison church, which was particularly fleeting, was captured by a US photographer and later stylized as a "symbolic handshake" by Nazi propaganda . With the Reich President Hindenburg, whom many participants saw as a “substitute emperor”, Hitler's seizure of power was presented as an alleged “rebirth of the nation”. The new closeness to Hindenburg, which was expressed, among other things, in the handshake, increased Hitler's reputation among the public. The antagonism between Hitler and Hindenburg, who had fought fiercely in the 1932 presidential election campaign, seemed to have overcome the previously divided center-right camp through the celebration at which Hitler celebrated the "marriage [...] of the old greatness and the young strength "conjured, united. In his speech, Hitler also dealt very skillfully with the person of the old Field Marshal, whom he extolled at the end of the speech, which also made the event a “breakthrough in the personal relationship” between Hitler and Hindenburg. The French ambassador at the time, André François-Poncet, described the event in the garrison church as a “Potsdam Comedy”.

At the same time, the garrison church was a symbol of Prussian values ​​that stood in opposition to the Nazi regime, and was closely linked to the traditional 9th Infantry Regiment , from which numerous resistance fighters against National Socialism emerged . The parish consisted of a total of 30 people as of July 20, 1944 , including Kurt von Plettenberg , Helmuth James von Moltke and Henning von Tresckow . On April 11, 1943, in a speech after his son's confirmation in the garrison church, the latter declared that a lot was said about Prussia without understanding what it really meant:

“It holds a great obligation in itself, the obligation to truth , to internal and external discipline, to fulfill one's duty to the last. But one should never speak of Prussia without pointing out that that is not the end of it. It is so often misunderstood. The concept of freedom can never be separated from true Prussia . "

- Henning von Tresckow

True Prussia is a "synthesis of bond and freedom, [...] between pride in what is one's own and understanding of others" and cannot be separated from Christian thought. One could “not stress this seriously enough right now” and “our old garrison church is a symbol”. Only a few days later, on April 23, 1943, the resistance fighter Hans von Dohnanyi , who had already been arrested at the time, wrote to Dietrich Bonhoeffer about their shared memories of “happy, serious hours in the garrison church”.

During the British air raid on Potsdam in the night of April 14, 1945 to April 15, 1945, it initially looked as if the church had remained undamaged. But the neighboring Long Stable was burning brightly, and a firestorm arose, which penetrated through the windows that had splintered the previous evening, first the wooden galleries, then the huge church roof and finally reached the tower. There were the wooden flaps for ventilation of the carillon drum, which contributed to the rapid spread of the fire. Since the water pipes had been partially destroyed during the attack, the source of the fire remained inaccessible to the fire fighting teams due to the insufficient water pressure in the hoses. So the tower burned slowly from top to bottom, until finally the wooden framework of the nave was also in flames. It was still possible to get some objects such as crucifix, candlestick and altar table to safety before a dud exploded in the nave due to the enormous heat . The individual bells of the carillon also began to loosen and fell almost 80 meters. When the blazing oak spire fell from the tower, the valuable instrument was finally lost. Only a ruin remained of the church , consisting of the surrounding walls of the nave and the towering brick tower stump. The coffins of Frederick the Great and his father, Friedrich Wilhelm I, had already been removed from the garrison church as a precaution in 1943, placed in a bomb-proof bunker of what is now the Bundeswehr command and control command and replaced with dummies.

New beginning and end

Ruin of the garrison church, 1960

The civil parish of the garrison church, which was greatly reduced in its existence, came into possession of all the parish's land in the course of negotiations with the provincial government. Apart from the ruins of the church, the structural condition of the parish hall, the rectory and the two residential buildings were also very poor; repairs were sought and repairs were planned. For this purpose, aid could not only be obtained from the church but also from the state. On July 25, 1949, the parish council decided to rename the church to Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche . Less than a year later, the Holy Cross community moved into a chapel in the tower. With the help of two newly cast bells, the service could now be called again. In the 1960s, the renovation of the church ruins began. After registering with the sexton, visitors could climb the approximately 60 meter high tower. The first construction work for five new false ceilings in the tower was interrupted by a construction freeze suddenly imposed in 1966. The Holy Cross community used the building for community life and church services until 1968.

On August 12, 1966, the Potsdam district party leadership of the SED decided to remove the ruins, but without making this public in any way. Walter Ulbricht , the first secretary of the Central Committee of the SED, visited the city in 1967 and asked during a three-hour debate about the urban development of Potsdam "what the ruins are still doing there." Ulbricht, who was hostile to Prussia and the Church, explained just like the rest of Potsdam's war ruins are disappearing from the cityscape. Because the church disrupts the development of a socialist city center in Potsdam. Despite the fierce resistance from church representatives, monument protectionists, architects and citizens in and outside the GDR, the city council decided on April 26, 1968 to blow up the garrison church. It was noteworthy that this decision was not taken unanimously, as was common in the GDR at the time, but with four votes against. Pastor Uwe Dittmer held the last service in the Holy Cross Chapel in April 1968. Beginning on May 14, 1968, the nave was first blown up in several sections. The tower did not finally collapse until Sunday, June 23, 1968 after an unsuccessful attempt at blasting it on June 19, 1968, which left one half of it standing still. Following the removal of the church, the data center for the Potsdam district was set up on the property in 1971 - set back a few meters .

reconstruction

Reconstruction of the front and tower in August 2020
The tower of the Berlin Parochial Church, also designed by Philipp Gerlach , is similar to the tower of the Garrison Church

development

The initiative for the reconstruction of the garrison church came from the GDR opposition movement Neues Forum , whose members commemorated the demolition of the church 22 years ago on June 23, 1990. Committed citizens had a memorial plaque put up in the Breite Straße and a model of a church set up in the city. The resolution of the city council on October 24, 1990 to get closer to the historical cityscape finally paved the way for the reconstruction of the building. Representatives of the Protestant regional church created a concept that stipulated the use of the garrison church to be rebuilt for city church work, symbol church work as well as peace and reconciliation work .

The traditional community of Potsdamer Glockenspiel eV (TPG), which was founded in Iserlohn in West Germany, had the chimes of the chimes restored and handed it over to the city of Potsdam on April 14, 1991. Then she collected donations for the reconstruction of the garrison church. Between the controversial chairman of the TPG Lieutenant Colonel a. D. Max Klaar on the one hand and the Protestant regional church and the city of Potsdam on the other hand, no agreement could be reached on the later use of the garrison church. The Protestant Church pleaded for its use as a reconciliation center, which the TPG rejected. Therefore, in 2005, Klaar stopped collecting donations and had his association dissolved.

On January 15, 2004, more than 100 personalities from Brandenburg and Berlin signed the call from Potsdam calling for the complete reconstruction of the Potsdam Court and Garrison Church. The patrons of the reconstruction initiative are the former Bishop Wolfgang Huber , former Prime Minister. D. Matthias Platzeck and Minister of the Interior a. D. Jörg Schönbohm . In February 2004, citizens of Potsdam and Berlin founded the support company for the reconstruction of the Garrison Church on the initiative of Industrieclub Potsdam eV with the support of the Evangelical Church and the State Capital Potsdam . V. (FWG). The purpose of the FWG is to promote the reconstruction and maintenance of the Potsdam Garrison Church. The FWG is an association of people and organizations who want to advocate and support the reconstruction of the garrison church and the later work in it - regardless of whether for religious, intellectual and cultural-historical reasons or for urban planning reasons. The guide for their work is the call from Potsdam . The garrison parish itself has networked with the international cross of nails community in line with this idea of ​​reconciliation . At the same time, however, there were also several citizens' initiatives against the project that reject the reconstruction for Christian, historical, political and / or cultural reasons.

On June 23, 2008, following a service with Bishop Huber, the church foundation Garrison Church Potsdam was founded in the presence of numerous prominent personalities. The founding date was chosen deliberately, forty years to the day after the ruins were blown up. The purpose and aim of the foundation is to rebuild the Potsdam Garrison Church. This is to be used in the future as an “open city church”, as a “symbol church” and as a “school of conscience”. Behind the former location of the garrison church, a temporary chapel with its own pastoral office was inaugurated on June 25, 2011, which in 2014 was named "Cross of Nails Chapel". In addition to a profile congregation that is open to all, it also houses an exhibition on the history and future of the garrison church.

Various parts of the church have already been restored, including the weather vane . With the clearing of the construction site and the redesign of the Breite Straße, essential requirements for the start of construction were met. In 2013, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media classified the Garrison Church as a nationally important cultural monument . The construction of the church tower began on October 29, 2017 for the Reformation anniversary in 2017 . Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier had previously assumed the patronage of the project. The reconstruction of the church tower will cost 40.5 million euros and should be completed by summer 2022. The federal government is funding the reconstruction with 20 million euros, the Protestant Church is supporting it with an interest-free loan of 5 million euros. By the time the tower base was completed at the end of April 2020, donations of 10 million euros had been received; around 5 million euros were still missing. The break of the rebuilt garrison church with the past is represented by the cross of nails from Coventry on the forecourt, the inscription "Put our feet on the path of peace" ( Luke 1.79  LUT ) on the facade and the reconciliation center in the interior.

The planning for the nave, for which there are various proposals for use - including non-ecclesiastical ones - should only begin after the tower has been rebuilt. For example, it is proposed that the nave be reconstructed based on the model of the Dresden Frauenkirche as a “house of worship and cultural church” for concerts, events, educational and youth work. Thomas Albrecht , the architect of the church tower reconstruction, is convinced that the reconstruction of the nave will continue after the tower is completed.

controversy

Despite the rebuilding that has started, the project remains controversial beyond the city of Potsdam. After the reconstruction of the church initially met with great public interest, the discussion expanded from the fundamental question of reconstruction to the question of its design.

Advocates

The proponents of reconstruction cite mainly urban planning reasons. The triad of the Potsdam church towers of today's Heilig-Geist-Residenz , the dome of the Nikolaikirche and the garrison church is an indispensable, characteristic and structuring element of the total work of art in the Potsdam city center . In addition, the garrison church is of outstanding architectural quality. The destruction of the building on the instructions of the GDR government should not last, but the injustice of blowing up the building must be corrected in a free society. Those who accept this destruction of a cultural monument, according to the central idea of ​​the advocates of construction, encourage further destruction, as this could obviously endure.

In addition, the supporters of the reconstruction also point to the positive events that took place in the garrison church: the visit of Alexander I and Napoleon to the coffin of Frederick the Great , the meeting of the first freely elected city ​​council assembly of Potsdam , the union of Lutherans and Reformed to the Prussian Union as well as the membership of many resistance fighters of July 20, 1944 in the parish.

The builder of the garrison church, King Friedrich Wilhelm I , is, according to the reconstruction friends, the actual founder of modern Potsdam in terms of regional history. During his reign, the number of houses and residents more than doubled, and only then did it become a city structure in the modern sense. The merits of Friedrich Wilhelm I are also undisputed, despite the controversy with his son Friedrich II : the introduction of compulsory schooling, the establishment of Prussian virtues such as honesty, thrift and incorruptibility are due to him and are still urgently needed today. Incidentally, contrary to the negative image of his son in public, Friedrich Wilhelm, in contrast to Frederick the Great, did not wage wars of aggression.

In addition, a profile congregation of several hundred people has formed within the Protestant Church and has developed an active congregational life. The reconstruction was also supported by the church parliament with a two-thirds majority. The city ​​council of the state capital Potsdam also supported the project with votes from the SPD, CDU, the Greens and the citizens' alliance and created the legal requirements for reconstruction with a development plan. The German federal government is also one of the sponsors of the building and is adding 12 million euros to the reconstruction. Around 25,000 people publicly signed the call for reconstruction.

Numerous celebrities, including Günther Jauch , Wolfgang Joop and Christian Thielemann , support the project. The British Queen Elizabeth II , Angela Merkel and Lea Rosh also donated bricks for the reconstruction. In January 2018, multiple Olympic figure skating champion Katarina Witt and the writer Helga Schütz committed to rebuilding the Potsdam Church.

opponent

Detlef Karg , director of the Brandenburg State Office for Monument Preservation , also expressed criticism of the planned reconstruction of the garrison church . In 2012, he criticized the fact that the Protestant regional church wanted to participate in the reconstruction of the garrison church, but at the same time the 1,164 village churches and 700 parish churches in Brandenburg were seriously endangered. It is “not the task of the preservation authority to rebuild a lost building. ... If you want to build a church at the old location in Potsdam, you can do so in today's architectural language. "

On March 20, 2014, the citizens 'initiative For a Potsdam without a garrison church started a citizens ' initiative with the aim of the city of Potsdam using all legally permissible options to work towards the dissolution of the Potsdam Garrison Church Foundation. On July 21, 2014 it was declared successful. On July 30, 2014, the city council decided in an extraordinary meeting at the request of the mayor to "accept" the petition. Thus, the mayor was commissioned to use all legally permissible options for the city in order to work towards the dissolution of the Potsdam Garrison Church Foundation.

On September 1, 2014, church members founded the nationwide initiative “Christians don't need a garrison church”, including the politicians Herta Däubler-Gmelin (SPD) and Almuth Berger as well as the pastor of the Potsdam Church of the Redeemer , Konrad Elmer-Herzig , supported by the theologian Friedrich Schorlemmer and since March 2015 from the Martin-Niemöller-Stiftung eV

On September 1, 2015, around 200 artists moved into the neighboring data center in Potsdam to run a temporary art and creative center. The Potsdam data center was built during the GDR era and is seen by many citizens as an architectural witness. The attempt to rebuild the garrison church is therefore countered by the destruction of an urban identification from the GDR era, since the Potsdam data center is to be demolished for the construction of the nave. The lease for the artists should end in 2023 at the latest. In addition, there are voices calling for a redesign without the data center and garrison church - an object to be designed on their property through an architectural competition. As quarters for the artists, however, a long stall to be rebuilt and other locations such as on Schiffbauergasse are also under discussion. On June 26th, 2020 the Martin-Niemöller-Stiftung eV initiated the project "Lernort Garrisonkirche" in cooperation with the University of Kassel, which aims to educate the public about their view of the history of the place from the historical garrison church to the data center and the reconstruction project; a scientific advisory board was convened.

literature

Web links

Commons : Garrison Church Potsdam  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ^ Andreas Kitschke: Garrison Church: North German Baroque in Perfection . In: THE WORLD . May 8, 2014 ( welt.de ).
  2. ↑ For the carillon program, see Andreas Kitschke: Die Potsdamer Garrisonkirche. »NEC SOLI CEDIT«. Potsdamer Verlagsbuchhandlung, Potsdam 1991, ISBN 3-910196-00-4 , pp. 28–31.
  3. ^ Martin Lezius: flags and standards of the old Prussian army. Franckh'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1935.
  4. ↑ Kitschke, p. 93
  5. ↑ Catalog raisonné by Alexander Schuke Potsdam Orgelbau GmbH ( Memento from April 23, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ More information on the Wagner organ ( Memento from February 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 1.8 MB)
  7. ↑ Domstiftsarchiv Brandenburg: Finding aid for the deposit. Parish archive of the Garrison Church Potsdam 1613-1986. (PDF) Domstift Brandenburg, 2012, p. 4 , accessed on March 8, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Domstiftsarchiv Brandenburg: Finding aid for the deposit. Parish archive of the Garrison Church Potsdam 1613-1986. (PDF) Domstift Brandenburg, 2012, p. 5 , accessed on March 8, 2018 .
  9. ↑ A wooden plaque in the carillon chamber has since reminded of the events. Wording from Andreas Kitschke : The Garrison Church Potsdam. Crown of the city and the setting for history. Bebra, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-86124-694-7 , p. 90.
  10. ^ Tillmann Bendikowski : Frederick the Great. C. Bertelsmann Verlag, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-570-01131-7 , p. 156, on the controversy p. 311, note 18.
  11. ↑ Gustav Lehmann: The trophies of the Prussian Army in the Royal Court and Garrison Church of Potsdam, Berlin, Mittler and Son 1898, p. 36 f.
  12. ^ Felix Genzmer : Fritz Laske †. In: Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung . published by the Ministry of Public Works. Volume 38, No. 46/1918, Verlag Wilhelm Ernst & Sohn, Berlin 1918, p. 225 f. ( online )
  13. ↑ R. Lang u. J. Habicht (Hrsg.), German year of construction book for assessment and contracting, 5th year, North, East and Central German edition, publisher "Das Deutsche Year of construction" JJ Arnd, Leipzig 1908, advertisement between p. 209.
  14. ^ Andreas Kitschke : Churches in Potsdam - From the history of churches and communities , Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Berlin 1983, p. 30.
  15. ↑ Holger Catenhusen: "A Prussian Walhalla". Interview with Martin Sabrow, head of the Center for Contemporary History in Potsdam. In: Potsdam's latest news. Tagesspiegel, July 5, 2017, accessed March 8, 2018 .
  16. ^ Matthias Grünzig: The place of longing for the New Right: The Potsdam Garrison Church. In: www.blaetter.de. January 2018, accessed March 8, 2018 .
  17. ↑ Kitschke, p. 172
  18. ^ Matthias Grünzig: For Germanness and Fatherland. The Potsdam Garrison Church in the 20th century . Berlin 2018, p. 148-157 .
  19. ↑ Kitschke, p. 174
  20. ↑ Christoph Raichle: Hitler as a symbol politician . Stuttgart 2014, p. 94-99 .
  21. ↑ According to the article in the magazine DER SPIEGEL - Wissenschaft + Technik published on May 27, 2017 History: Can stones be guilty? This snapshot was not used by the Nazis, because they "the kicker of Hitler was too deep and therefore embarrassing".
  22. ↑ Max Domarus: Hitler. Speeches 1932 to 1945. Commented on by a German contemporary . Volume I, first half volume. Wiesbaden 1973, p. 227 .
  23. ↑ Christoph Raichle: Hitler as a symbol politician . Stuttgart 2014, p. 87-90 .
  24. ^ Wolfram Pyta: Hindenburg. Rule between Hohenzollern and Hitler . Munich 2007, p. 824 ff .
  25. ↑ Kitschke, p. 176
  26. ↑ Kitschke, pp. 303–307 and Geschichte: 20. Jahrhundert , garnisonkirche-potsdam.de, accessed on December 18, 2017
  27. ↑ Speech on the occasion of the confirmation of his two sons in the garrison church on April 11, 1943 (excerpt)
  28. ↑ Anke Silomon: Plowshares for swords. Swords to plowshares. The Potsdam Garrison Church in the 20th century . Berlin 2014, p. 111 f .
  29. ↑ See the report on the bombing and fire of the garrison church on April 14, 1945 by Pastor Gerhard Schröder, in: Domstiftsarchiv Brandenburg / Havel Po-G 479/387.
  30. ↑ Friedrich Schlotterbeck dedicates a chapter to his visit in: In the rose garden of Sanssouci. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale) 1968.
  31. ↑ For the history of the demolition efforts see Hans Berg: Die verlorene Potsdamer Mitte. Self-published by Hans Berg, Berlin 1999, pp. 14–19, here p. 16.
  32. ↑ Quoted from Christina Emmerich-Focke: Urban planning in Potsdam. Berlin 1999, p. 160.
  33. ↑ According to Martin Sabrow ( The "Day of Potsdam" - On the history of a continuous formation of myths , p. 1 and p. 6) the decision was also based on the "Day of Potsdam".
  34. ↑ taz , Berlin
  35. ↑ Kitschke, p. 255 ff.
  36. ↑ Website Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia : Remembering History - Learning Responsibility - Living Reconciliation
  37. ↑ Preparatory work for the construction of the garrison church tower started , PNN.de, November 20, 2017
  38. ↑ rbb24.de ( Memento from July 4, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
  39. ↑ https://www.pnn.de/potsdam/etappenziel-am-mittwoch-sockelbau-der-garnisonkirche-vor-finstellung/25774202.html
  40. ↑ https://garnisonkirche-potsdam.de/das-projekt/ Wiederaufbau /
  41. ^ Henri Kramer: Garrison Church in Potsdam - Construction of the tower started in October 2017. Potsdamer Latest News, December 5, 2016, accessed on April 6, 2017 .
  42. ↑ https://www.maz-online.de/Lokales/Potsdam/Mitteschoen-steller-Vision-fuer-komplette-Garnisonkirche-vor
  43. ↑ Architect convinced: Garrison church will be completely reconstructed , kathisch.de, April 26, 2019
  44. ^ Controversial reconstruction - start for the Potsdam Garrison Church , ZDF, October 29, 2017
  45. ^ Statute for the protection of the monument area city center of the state capital Potsdam (monument area statute city center Potsdam) . In: State capital Potsdam . April 26, 2016 ( potsdam.de [accessed December 25, 2017]).
  46. ↑ https://garnisonkirche-potsdam.de/das-projekt/geschichte/
  47. ↑ Hans Kania: Potsdam architecture . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin 1926, p. 13 .
  48. ^ Benjamin Lassiwe: Synod of the regional church helps garrison church in Potsdam: loan for garrison church decided . In: Potsdam's latest news . April 9, 2016 ( pnn.de [accessed December 25, 2017]).
  49. ^ Garrison Church Foundation: Twelve million euros for the tower. October 27, 2017. Retrieved December 25, 2017 .
  50. ^ Citizens for the recovery of the former court and garrison church Potsdam | Garrison Church Potsdam. Retrieved December 25, 2017 .
  51. ↑ “Don't judge, but draw conclusions”. Retrieved September 9, 2019 .
  52. ↑ Lea Rosh supports the reconstruction of the garrison church in Potsdam. Retrieved September 9, 2019 .
  53. ↑ Katharina Witt supports Garrison Church , pnn.de, January 31, 2018
  54. ↑ New Years Reception: Potsdam finally has an honorary citizen , MAZ, January 26, 2018
  55. ↑ Brandenburg's top monument protector criticizes the reconstruction of the garrison church. In: Potsdame Latest News February 2, 2012.
  56. ↑ Church existence in acute danger. In: Märkische Oderzeitung. February 1, 2012.
  57. ^ Citizens' petitions against the reconstruction of the Garrison Church - campaign start on March 20, 2014 , at www.ohne-garnisonkirche.de, accessed on April 17, 2014.
  58. ↑ Citizens' petitions Garrison Church permitted. Press release from the City of Potsdam.
  59. ↑ Follow-up decision on the referendum for the "dissolution of the Potsdam Garrison Church Foundation"
  60. ^ Foundation of the initiative “Christians do not need a garrison church” on September 1, 2014 ( memento from June 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), at Potsdamer Latest News August 28, 2014.
  61. ↑ Press release of the Martin-Niemöller-Stiftung eV and the initiative “Christians don't need a garrison church” on March 26, 2015 , at www.christen-brauchen-keine-garnisonkirche.de/, accessed on April 18, 2015.
  62. ^ Letter from the Foundation to Federal President Steinmeier, October 27, 2017
  63. ^ Künstlerhaus Rechenzentrum Potsdam
  64. ↑ learning location | garrison church. Retrieved on July 4, 2020 (German).
  65. ↑ Scientific Advisory Board - learning location | garrison church. Retrieved on July 4, 2020 (German).

Coordinates: 52 ° 23 ′ 45 ″  N , 13 ° 3 ′ 13 ″  E