Bronze relief departure

Relief "Aufbruch" on the main building of the Karl Marx University Leipzig (1975)

The bronze relief "Aufbruch" is a work of art created in 1973 for the then new building of the University of Leipzig in the style of Socialist Realism . Since the head of Karl Marx , the namesake of the university at the time, is located in its center , it is generally referred to as the “(Karl) Marx relief”. In 2007 and 2008, on the occasion of the construction work on the campus at Augustusplatz, there was a broad social debate about the restoration of the relief.

Emergence

Memorial plaque on the university building (2006)

After the University Church of St. Pauli was blown up in 1968, the main building of the university on the west side of Augustusplatz (then Karl-Marx-Platz), which has since been demolished, was built in its place by 1974. In place of the gable wall of the Paulinerkirche, the massive, massive bronze relief was erected in 1974 on the 25th anniversary of the GDR on the main university building.

It was created from 1970 to 1973 by the artists Frank Ruddigkeit , Klaus Schwabe and Rolf Kuhrt . In a competition for the design of the monument, they prevailed against Bernhard Heisig and Willi Sitte , among others . The bronze relief is 14 meters long, 7 meters high and weighs 33 tons.

Debate about the re-erection

The monument at the current location on the Jahnallee campus (2014)

The relief was dismantled in 2006 as part of the renovation and new construction work for the new Leipzig university campus. A little later an intense social debate arose about its re-establishment. The rector of Leipzig University, Franz Häuser , is particularly committed to this . The writer Erich Loest, on the other hand, wanted to have the "Marx" object buried on the outskirts of the city together with the rubble of the blown up Pauline Church.

In 2008, the relief was set up on the Jahnallee campus along with an explanatory text . Rector Hauser called it "a historical testimony that one has to actively deal with".

Web links

Commons : Bronze relief departure  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Dispute over the Karl Marx relief in Leipzig. artour, MDR television, February 7, 2008, archived from the original on April 15, 2008 ; accessed on January 10, 2016 . 
• Christoph Seidler: A lot of gossip about Marx. Uni-Spiegel from February 28, 2008.
• Matthias Huth / Sandra Naumann: The “Karl Marx Relief” on Augustusplatz in Leipzig, Project Kunstorte Leipzig, University of Leipzig and HGB Leipzig, Leipzig 1999.

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Marx relief is set up in Leipzig with a display board. leipzig-seiten.de, October 16, 2008