Bismarck Monument

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Bismarck monuments have been erected since 1868 in honor of the longstanding Prussian Prime Minister and first German Chancellor, Otto Fürst von Bismarck, in many places in Germany at that time (today partly Denmark , France , Poland and Russia ), in former colonies and on other continents.

First Bismarck statue in Germany, erected in 1877 in Hausen near Kissingen , see Bismarck monument (Bad Kissingen) .
Bismarck Monument Hamburg (1906). Total height 34.3 m. Figure 14.8 m.

history

meaning

The Bismarck monuments were the most visible and permanent expression of Bismarck worship or the Bismarck cult in the Empire. The size and complexity of the realized monuments range from memorial plaques to extensive complexes with several groups of figures such as the Bismarck National Monument in Berlin. The flood of Bismarck monuments of all kinds was the third major wave of monuments of the German Empire after the war memorials and victory monuments for the so-called " Wars of Unification " of 1864, 1866 and 1870/71 and the Kaiser Wilhelm monuments .

Bismarck monuments were often directed “against the theatrical power pathos of Wilhelminism”, says Thomas Nipperdey . Unlike the Kaiser Wilhelm monuments, they were often initiated from below.

Monuments before 1871

First Bismarck tower from 1869 in Ober-Johnsdorf (today Janówek)

Even before the founding of the empire , at the time of the North German Confederation , monuments were erected in honor of Bismarck. The first Bismarck monument, a 12 m high obelisk with a marble portrait relief of Bismarck, was a private donation of the Count of Limburg-Stirum since it was unveiled on July 5, 1868 on his estate in Groß Peterwitz in Silesia. A year later, a Bismarck tower was inaugurated as a lookout tower in Ober-Johnsdorf in Silesia. Both monuments were created on the basis of private initiatives.

Monuments 1871 to 1890

Bismarck, Roon and Moltke in Hohenlockstedt
Bismarck Monument in Pangani German East Africa 1906

Shortly after the founding of the empire in 1871, Bismarck became a monument. Often Bismarck was not only honored with a memorial, but together with other people involved in the wars of 1866 and 1870/71 and the founding of the empire, such as Wilhelm I , Crown Prince Friedrich , Moltke and Roon, in the pictorial program of the victories erected in many places after 1871. or monuments to the founding of the empire included.

The first public Bismarck statues were created from 1877 (portrait relief on the Canossa column near Bad Harzburg). The first monument to show Bismarck in full size was the Bismarck monument erected in Bad Kissingen ( Hausen district ) in 1877 . Initially, the most common ones were bronze busts or statues . Most of them showed the larger than life cast figure of Bismarck as a soldier in a cuirassier uniform on a high plinth, based on the model of the second Bismarck statue, unveiled in Cologne in 1879. These monuments were usually used to decorate central squares of cities. In addition, over thirty Bismarck fountains were built. Bismarck monuments were erected on all continents, mostly in the German colonies, but also in countries with German emigrants such as the USA and Brazil.

Monuments 1890 to 1898

Immediately after Bismarck's dismissal in 1890, committees were set up in several places to plan the erection of representative monuments. The number of memorials now gradually increased. At the same time, new monument forms were designed. Few monuments show Bismarck as a private person such as B. the Leipzig Bismarck Monument , which depicted him as a hunter with his dog Tyras .

Bismarck towers in the medieval style were built more and more instead of the conventional busts or statues . In contrast to the figurative monuments, these were erected on elevated points outside of town.

Monuments and Bismarck Towers after 1898

Tower type Götterdämmerung

After his death in 1898, Bismarck's already enormous popularity increased again and with it the number of monument projects. The year 1898 also marked a turning point in terms of design. The figure of Bismarck was depicted several times in a medieval-style armor instead of the traditional costume. The formal language of the monuments became much more archaic and a lot more architectural monuments were built.

Ascent of stairs in a Bismarck tower of the Götterdämmerung type ( Hildesheim )

In 1899 (one year after Bismarck's death) the architect Wilhelm Kreis created a basic sample design “Götterdämmerung” in the form of a massive column of fire for a competition of the “German Student Union” , which was awarded 1st prize by the jury. This sample design was executed 47 times with individual differences up to 1911 and thus comes close to a type construction . In many places, however, a building based on this standard design was rejected. Regardless of the architectural design, according to the idea of ​​the student body, fire bowls should be installed on all Bismarckian columns on the tower head, which should burn on certain days in honor of the former Reich Chancellor - like a network throughout Germany. Lighting devices for different fuels were actually installed on 167 Bismarck towers. Since it was not possible to agree on a common day of fire (Bismarck's birthday on April 1st was during the semester break ), this network idea did not prevail. The Bismarckian columns were mostly financed by donations (mainly from the middle classes). Rock from the surrounding area (e.g. granite or sandstone ) should be used as building material . A total of 240 Bismarck towers were erected as observation towers or fire pillars.

The crowning highlight of all Bismarck monuments was actually supposed to be the so-called Bismarck National Monument on the Elisenhöhe near Bingerbrück , which was to be inaugurated on April 1, 1915 on the occasion of the centenary . Planning had been in progress since 1907, and a general competition was held in 1910. However, due to the escalating, highly controversial discussions about the outcome of the competition and the outbreak of the First World War  , the project was never carried out.

Many of the Bismarck monuments did not survive the Second World War and the subsequent political changes; they were melted down for armaments production, destroyed in bombings or removed after 1945. Today there are associations in many places that maintain the existing Bismarck towers and columns or collect funds for renovation.

Examples

Preserved monuments

Statues, busts, memorial plaques

The Bismarck statue in Kiel
The Bismarck monument in Bad Urach
Memorial plaque in Itzehoe
Bismarck National Monument in Berlin
Restored Jung-Bismarck monument in Bad Kösen . Unveiled in 2006
Langerwehe - Bismarck monument in the Kammerbusch landscape garden
Bismarckstein at the Hermannsdenkmal in Detmold
Bismarck Monument Karlsruhe, Bismarckstrasse

Abroad

  • Buea (Cameroon) - Bismarck Fountain, 1897, with picture medallion

Bismarck Towers

See: List of Bismarck Towers

Not preserved monuments

Bismarck Monument in Frankfurt am Main
Bismarck monument in Dortmund
Former monument with Reich dog Tyras II in Johannapark in Leipzig
Bismark relief at the Bismarck fountain on the Südermarkt in Flensburg
Bismarck monument in Opole on the station square

Statues, busts, memorial plaques

Brazil

  • Porto Alegre , built in 1902 on the site of the former rifle club, the bust disappeared during the Second World War, the sandstone base is now on the site of the “Clube dos Caxeiro Viajantes”.

Hesse

Brandenburg

former Bismarck monument in Ruhland , destroyed in 1945
  • Ruhland , 1895 dedicated to Otto von Bismarck on his 80th birthday by the Ruhland homeland association; Across from the upper parish on the church square, an oak was planted in April and a 2 ½ m high monument made of sandstone was inaugurated on June 9th . The front of the memorial had a plaque with the portrait and the inscription “1. April 1895 ". On the back it said "The Great Chancellor". The memorial was removed in 1945.

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

Lower Saxony

North Rhine-Westphalia

Saxony

  • Dresden - Bismarck memorial by Robert Diez , unveiled in 1903, demolished in 1946, melted down in 1947
  • Großschönau - Bismarck bust in the Kaiserhain on Hutberg , unveiled in 1892, destroyed in 1946
  • Freiberg , Bismarck monument, unveiled on September 2, 1895 on Postplatz (1925 to 1945 Bismarckplatz; today Platz der Oktoberopfer ) on the occasion of Bismarck's appointment as an honorary citizen. On July 15, 1942, the bronze monument was removed from its pedestal to make it available for war production. After the Second World War, it was finally melted down in Freiberg. Since July 30, 1998, a bronze plaque commemorates the monument on the site.
  • Leipzig - Bismarck monument in civilian clothes as a hunter with the Reich dog , the mastiff Tyras II , and an allegorical figure symbolizing him as the “blacksmith of unity”, by Adolf Lehnert and Josef Mágr , removed from the southern tip of Johannapark since 1897 , 1946 .
    In 1915, the design of a second Bismarck monument by Carl Seffner stood in front of the New Town Hall for about 14 days .
  • Sebnitz - Bismarck monument made of bronze by Victor Seifert , inaugurated around 1903, destroyed in 1946
  • Zwickau - Bismarck monument made of bronze by Josef Drischler on a granite base, inaugurated on April 1, 1898, on Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz (today Schumannplatz); Height of the figure 2.80 m and of the whole monument 5.60 m; The statue is said to have been melted down in 1943.

Saxony-Anhalt

  • Halle (Saale) - Monument with a statue on Bergschenkenfelsen in the district of Kröllwitz; by sculptor Paul Juckoff ; dismantled before 1933
  • Magdeburg - larger than life statue on today's Friedensplatz; melted down
  • Wernigerode - larger than life statue on the Harburg; Demolished in 1953

Schleswig-Holstein

Thuringia

  • Arnstadt - Bismarck fountain on the market square, 1909 based on a design by Georg Wrba , bronze parts dismantled and stored as a work of art worthy of protection during the Second World War, permanent fountain basin removed after 1950, reconstruction with preserved parts in a warehouse since 2006, public re-installation refused
  • Eisenach - Bismarck monument by Adolf von Donndorf , erected in 1903 at the entrance to the city ​​park , removed until 1963 ( picture )
  • Gotha - Bismarck monument on the corner of Bahnhofstrasse and Ohrdrufer Strasse (today Mozartstrasse) by Johannes Schilling , inaugurated on March 31, 1901, melted down during World War II, the Seeberg sandstone base has been preserved in its original location to this day
  • Nordhausen - Bismarck monument in the "Promenade" park, inaugurated in 1900, removed at the end of 1945

Poland

Russia

See also

literature

  • Reinhard Alings: Monument and Nation. The image of the nation state in the monument medium. On the relationship between nation and state in the German Empire, 1871–1918. (= Contributions to the History of Communication , Volume 4.) Berlin / New York 1996.
  • Thomas Gräfe: Bismarck Myth and Politics. The mythization and politicization of the worship of Bismarck by the parties and associations of the national camp during the Wilhelmine period 1890–1914. Hamburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-8428-9853-0 .
  • Werner Greiling: The Bismarck Tower. Civic engagement and national monument culture. Hain, Weimar / Jena 2003, ISBN 3-89807-045-X . (via the Bismarck Tower in Neustadt an der Orla )
  • Hans-Walter Hedinger: Bismarck monuments and Bismarck worship. In: Ekkehard Mai , Stephan Waetzoldt (ed.): Art administration, building and monument policy in the empire. Berlin 1981, pp. 277-314.
  • Jörg Koch: Bismarck monuments and Bismarck memorials on the Upper Rhine. Regional culture publisher, Ubstadt-Weiher 2015.
  • Kai Krauskopf: Bismarck monuments. A bizarre departure into the modern age. Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-935549-33-4 .
  • Andreas Leutzsch: Bismarck? We get corn from that, and it's good. In: Andreas Leutzsch (Ed.): Nomaden. Interdisciplinary walks in the field of forms and myths. Festschrift for Jürgen Frese. transcript, Bielefeld 2003, ISBN 3-89942-111-6 , pp. 64-88.
  • Michael CQ McGuire: Bismarck in Walhalla. The cult of Bismarck and the politics of national identity in Imperial Germany 1890-1915. Ann Arbor 1993.
  • Dirk Reinartz, Christian Graf von Krockow: Bismarck. From the betrayal of the monuments. Steidl-Verlag, Göttingen 1998, ISBN 3-88243-175-X . (Photo and text volume on the subject of Bismarck monuments and towers)
  • Sieglinde Seele , Günter Kloss: Bismarck Towers and Bismarck Columns. An inventory. Michael Imhof, Petersberg 1997, ISBN 3-932526-10-4 .
  • Sieglinde Seele: Lexicon of the Bismarck Monuments . Michael Imhof, Petersberg 2005, ISBN 3-86568-019-4 .
  • Jörg Bielefeld, Alfred Büllesbach: Bismarck Towers. Architecture, history, landscape experience. Morisel Verlag, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-943915-08-2 .

Web links

Commons : Bismarck Monument  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Nipperdey: German History 1866-1918. Volume II: Power State Before Democracy. Beck, Munich 1992, p. 599 f.
  2. ^ Illustrated newspaper. No. 1307 of July 18, 1868, p. 51.
  3. ↑ Max Schmid: One hundred designs from the competition for the Bismarck National Monument on the Elisenhöhe near Bingerbrück-Bingen. Dusseldorf 1911. ( Digitalisat the ULB Dusseldorf )
  4. ↑ Max Dessoir , Hermann Muthesius : The Bismarck National Monument. A discussion of the competition. Eugen Diederichs, Jena 1912.
  5. ^ Statues Hither & Dither: Bad Bentheim
  6. ^ Statues Hither & Dither: Bad Pyrmont
  7. ^ Statues Hither & Dither: Bielefeld
  8. ↑ Statues Hither & Dither: Detmold
  9. ^ Statues Hither & Dither: Eberbach
  10. ↑ Andreas von Seggern: "... a particularly serious duty, especially for those from Bergedorf ..." On the Bismarck monument in the castle park. In: Lichtwark issue No. 70, HB-Werbung publishing house, Hamburg-Bergedorf 2005, ISSN  1862-3549
  11. ^ Statues Hither & Dither: Hamburg
  12. ↑ Statues Hither & Dither: Hann. Münden
  13. ^ Statues Hither & Dither: Lienen
  14. ^ Statues Hither & Dither: Munich
  15. ^ Stadt-München.net
  16. ↑ Statues Hither & Dither: North
  17. ↑ www.ffmhist.de
  18. ↑ Horst Bormann: The Elster Chronicle still knows. . . Ruhland 100 years ago: Bismark oak and Bismarck monument. In: Official Journal Office Ruhland. 6/1995, p. 8.
  19. ↑ Elster Chronicle. April 1895 and June 1895.
  20. ↑ bahnhofsvorstadt.de
  21. ↑ Leipzig Lexicon
  22. ↑ Sieglinde Seele: Lexicon of Bismarck Monuments. Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2005, p. 424.
  23. ↑ Reinhold Brunner: That was the 20th century in Eisenach. Wartberg Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-970-1 , p. 65.
  24. ↑ 1895: Reich Chancellor and Prime Minister Otto Fürst von Bismarck
  25. ↑ Bismarck monument on NordhausenWiki
  26. ^ Sieglinde Seele: Breslaus Bismarck Monuments. ( Memento from December 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Mannheim / Berlin 2007, on: breslau-wroclaw.de
  27. ↑ Sieglinde Seele: Lexicon of Bismarck Monuments. Michael Imhof, Petersberg 2005, p. 300.
  28. ^ Ryszard Emmerling: 100 old postcards from Opole 1897–1938. Adan, Opole, p. 41.