Bismarck Fountain (Flensburg)
The Bismarck Fountain (more rarely: Germania Fountain ) in Flensburg was a Bismarck monument designed as a fountain by Helmuth Schievelkamp , which was built in 1903 on the Südermarkt and dismantled in 1937.
architecture
The fountain consisted of a large well basin, a stone base that resembled a rock formation and in which a niche with a relief with the face of Otto von Bismarck was set. A bronze Germania , crowned with an imperial crown , was enthroned on the stone plinth . On the sides of the rock were three gargoyles in the shape of a turtle, a lizard and a frog. At the edge of the rock and at the edge of the pool, four small figures made of bronze crouched and stood, facing the Germania. One of these sculptures was apparently kneeling on the edge of the Bismarck relief, had a hammer and chisel in its hand and was putting the finishing touches to the relief. The fountain stood at the northwest corner of the Südermarkt, where a wide staircase led to the fountain square.
history
Deployment and destruction
After the death of Bismarck, who had received the honorary citizenship of Flensburg during his lifetime , the city decided to dedicate a permanent memorial to him. On April 1, 1903, the memorial by the Berlin sculptor Helmuth Schievelkamp was inaugurated on the Südermarkt with broad public participation. A fountain had already stood on Südermarkt before 1882, now a new one has been set up. The installation of the monument was rated negatively in the Danish-oriented newspaper Flensborg Avis by the editor Jens Jessen . After the installation, the fountain evidently developed into a popular motif in Flensburg, in front of which people liked to be photographed.
On July 30, 1914, shortly before the German Empire entered the First World War , a large number of young Flensburgers singing patriotic songs ran over the Holm , on to the Bismarck Fountain and around it, and on to the Marienkirche , where they meet at the Marienkirchhof Kaiser Wilhelm Monument (see List of Kaiser Wilhelm I Monuments ). There they shouted three cheers for Germany. On August 1st, the day of mobilization, there was no enthusiasm for the war in Flensburg, but a depressed mood. The mood remained subdued in the period that followed.
In 1926, an access road to the station district was created in the southern part of the Südermarkt . Paul Ziegler created a corner building, which since then has been optically embedded in the structure of the square by means of inserted arcades . The actual Südermarkt and its fountain were not affected by this measure.
The fountain thus survived the imperial era and the Weimar Republic . However, he did not survive the Nazi era . The National Socialist Lord Mayor Ernst Kracht had the monument removed in 1937. The bronze components were melted down. The destruction of the Bismarck Fountain took place two years before the attack on Poland , so it did not result from a possible metal donation for the Second World War . The historian Broder Schwensen explained the reasons for the removal of the monument: "National Socialism, which sees itself as a revolutionary renewal movement, distanced itself from evidence of the imperial era."
The frog fountain and the fountain surround of the Bismarck fountain
The fountain surround of the Bismarck fountain was initially retained on Südermarkt, but was then moved to the southern area of the park at the train station at the end of the 1950s , where the surround became part of the frog fountain located there today ( location ), also an apparently popular motif. The fountain in today's Carlisle Park consists only of the eponymous frog, which looks with its pale eyes in the direction of the train station. At the edge of the fountain basin are the water nozzles, which run frequently during the summer weeks. The sculptor who created the frog is not known.
Further aftermath
Otherwise nothing has been preserved from the fountain. Although the Flensburg Beautification Association apparently campaigned around 1990 for the fountain to be rebuilt on Südermarkt, a reconstruction or partial reconstruction, even at another location, for example St. Jürgen Platz , has not yet been decided. In 2010, an open collection of ideas on the question of a fountain on the Südermarkt was in discussion on the part of the city opposite the Beautification Association, although alternative, new fountain designs beyond the Bismarck fountain were also in discussion. For a long time nothing more seemed to happen on the question of the Bismarck Fountain. The re-installation of a fountain on the Südermarkt has been discussed again since the beginning of 2015. Approval of the corresponding renovation funds was promised by the Ministry of the Interior in Kiel .
In Flensburg there is no monument that corresponds to the Bismarck fountain. There is also no other Germania statue in Flensburg, although there is a Flensburgia at the city theater , symbolizing the city of Flensburg. In addition, the motif of a Germania in combination with a fountain was evidently not common either (see Germaniadenkmal ). A Germania fountain is documented for the 1920s from Neustadt an der Weinstrasse . With this fountain, however, there was only a Germania statue behind a balustrade , above a small fountain, so that it was not a clearly recognizable part of the fountain. Said statue with the fountain apparently no longer exists today either.
Bismarck itself is otherwise only thought of in Flensburg through the Bismarckstrasse , which has existed since 1907, and the Bismarck staircase , which has existed since 1919. The Bismarck monument in Husby from 1900 and the Bismarck tower on the Scheersberg have also been preserved in the vicinity of Flensburg .
The corner of Südermarkt, where the Flensburg Bismarck fountain once stood
The former edging of the former Bismarck fountain
The Frog Well (2013) in Carlisle Park
The frog from the side (2013)
Frog looks at the train station at night
Flensburgia at the city theater; the only sculpture in Flensburg with a certain resemblance to the lost Germania
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Anecdote from the inauguration of the Bismarck fountain
According to an anecdote, the inauguration of the fountain was also observed by a Flensburg native named Jehann (= Johann) from the Jensen & Bruhn building on the south side of the square. He reports to his boss: “I couldn't see Bismarck from Jensen & Bruhn. But Bismarck his wife, who is sitting on the stone above. She probably has more to say in the house than "Olle". "
Individual evidence
- ^ Gardens & Parks, Carlisle Park ; Retrieved on: July 1, 2014
- ↑ Flensburg street names . Society for Flensburg City History, Flensburg 2005, ISBN 3-925856-50-1 , article: Bismarck monument
- ↑ See Sister Erna ; Retrieved on: April 3, 2014
- ↑ Detailed views of the fountain can be found in the following books, for example: Flensburg as it was , Düsseldorf 1977, p. 30; Broder Schwensen in: Flexikon. 725 aha experiences from Flensburg !. Flensburg 2009, article: Brunnen
- ^ Broder Schwensen in: 725 Aha experiences from Flensburg !. Flensburg 2009, article: Brunnen
- ↑ Numerous postcards and photographs as well as an entry in the encyclopedia at the time bear witness to this. See, for example, postcard from the Bismarck fountain on Südermarkt and Meyer's Großes Konversations-Lexikon , 6th edition 1905–1909, article: Flensburg
- ↑ For example, there is a photo of Hugo Eckener posing in front of it. See Hugo Eckener, Life and Action of the Flensburg Airship, 1868-1954
- ↑ Harald Hohnsbehn: 1914 July crisis and August experience in Flensburg. Flensburg 2014, page 69
- ↑ Harald Hohnsbehn: 1914 July crisis and August experience in Flensburg. Flensburg 2014, page 146 f.
- ↑ Obviously different and incorrectly presented in: Flensburger Tageblatt : Flensburg: SH paves the way for Südermarkt conversion , from: February 19, 2015, accessed on: February 19, 2015; See for example: Broder Schwensen and Bernd Köster [eds.]: Paul Ziegler - Magistratsbaurat in Flensburg 1905–1939. Flensburg 1998, ISBN 3-925856-31-5 . (= Small series of the Society for Flensburg City History , Volume 29.)
- ↑ Broder Schwensen in: Flexikon. 725 aha experiences from Flensburg! Flensburg 2009, article: Bismarck fountain
- ↑ Obviously different and incorrectly presented in the Flensburger Tageblatt of April 23, 2015 in the margin of an article on the Bismarck Tower . In addition to a picture of the Bismarck Fountain with the headline “Moist Bismarck Memorial”, various facts were obviously misrepresented, including the probably urban fairy tale that the fountain was destroyed during the Second World War to serve as a metal donation. Literally it was stated in the said article: “[...] On top of it was the“ Germania ”. As a metal donation, it was melted down during World War II. The city removed the fountain. [...] “A variant of this claim can also be found in the book: Flensburg as it was , 1977, Droste Verlag Düsseldorf, page 30; in the variant: "[...] Germania became cannons in World War II. [...] "
- ^ Broder Schwensen in: 725 Aha experiences from Flensburg !. Flensburg 2009, article: Bismarck fountain
- ↑ See Flensburg Mobile, Carlislepark ; Retrieved on: July 1, 2014
- ↑ See Andreas Oeding, Broder Schwensen, Michael Sturm: Flexikon. 725 aha experiences from Flensburg !. Flensburg 2009, article: Carlisle Park
- ↑ Frog Fountain in Carlisle Park.
- ↑ a b Wolfgang Borm : Guided Walk - Flensburg - City of Fountains , in: Flensburger Tageblatt , August 4, 2010; accessed on March 20, 2014
- ↑ Flensburg street names . Society for Flensburg City History, 1st edition, Flensburg 1990, article: Am Soot
- ↑ See Flensburger Tageblatt : Flensburg: SH paves the way for Südermarkt conversion , from: February 19, 2015, accessed on: February 19, 2015
- ^ Lutz Wilde : Monument topography of the Federal Republic of Germany, cultural monuments in Schleswig-Holstein, Volume 2, Flensburg, page 240
- ↑ See postcard of the Germania fountain from Neustadt , accessed on: April 8, 2015
- ↑ Flensburg street names . Society for Flensburg City History, Flensburg 2005, ISBN 3-925856-50-1 , article: Bismarckstrasse and Bismarck stairs
- ^ Bismarck memorial stone and oak planted by King Waldemar ... ( Memento from December 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on: April 24, 2015
- ^ Paul Selk : Flensburger Anekdoten, Husum 1978, page 53 f.
Web links
- Hugo Eckener, Life and Action of the Flensburg Airship, 1868–1954 (curriculum vitae with a section on Hugo Eckener in front of the Bismarck Fountain)