Memorial to the fallen of the First World War (Aurich)

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Memorial to the fallen of the First World War (Aurich), Joseph Hammerschmidt (September 2015).
Memorial to the fallen of the First World War (Aurich), Joseph Hammerschmidt (September 2015).
Memorial to the fallen of the First World War (Aurich), Joseph Hammerschmidt (September 2015).
Memorial to the fallen of the First World War (Aurich), Joseph Hammerschmidt (September 2015).
Memorial to the fallen of the First World War (Aurich), Joseph Hammerschmidt (September 2015).

The memorial to those who fell in World War I has been standing in the East Frisian district town of Aurich (today: Aurich district , Lower Saxony ) on the corner of Bahnhofstrasse and Burgstrasse since 1926 . The monument was erected at the suggestion of a citizens' initiative. A year earlier, the latter had launched a competition, which the Düsseldorf sculptor Joseph Hammerschmidt won with his design. The memorial commemorates the soldiers of the Infantry Regiment "Duke Friedrich Wilhelm von Braunschweig" (East Frisian) No. 78 and the Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 92 who fell in World War I.

description

Hammerschmidt made the elaborate memorial out of sandstone. The relief on the front bears the title Valhalla . It shows soldiers wearing a wreath and a dead comrade. The fallen man in the center of the picture is only clad in a loincloth. A sword lies on his lap, "which is also supposed to represent a Latin cross here". The narrow sides are also provided with wreaths.

Hammerschmidt's design is based on the model of the megalithic tomb and the choice of motifs from the Christian tradition of the Pietà . This makes it “another typical example of the sacralization of war memorial in the mid-1920s”.

The memorial does not contain the names of the fallen. On the front it bears the inscription It is up to you, on your actions and efforts, whether we died or live forever, and Hammerschmidt's signature. The inscription comes from the Aurich lawyer and poet Gustav Adolf Gerbrecht (1886–1967). On the back are the words Our Heroes in Grateful Memories 1914–1918.

Web links

Commons : Memorial to the Fallen of World War I  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Herbert Reyer (ed.): Aurich in National Socialism (Treatises and lectures on the history of East Frisia, Volume 69), Verlag Ostfriesische Landschaft, Aurich 1993, ISBN 3-925365-49-4 .
  2. ↑ Images of the monument can be found at: René & Peter van der Krogt: Aurich. War memorial 1914-18 . Retrieved October 14, 2014.
  3. ↑ a b Hinrich Schoolmann: Our dear little town - A walk through the old Aurich. Verlag AHF Dunkmann KG, Aurich 1976, DNB 780061063 , p. 61
  4. ↑ a b Anonymous in the book of the month February 2010 of the Ostfriesische Landschaft, year of publication not specified, with reference to an article from 1920 (i.e. before the design of the monument), accessed on January 17, 2019
  5. ^ René & Peter van der Krogt: Aurich. War memorial 1914-18 . Retrieved October 14, 2014.
  6. ↑ Michael Hütt: Unhappy the country that needs heroes: Suffering and dying in the war memorials of the First and Second World Wars . Jonas Verlag, Marburg 1990. ISBN 3-922561-91-8 . P. 64
  7. ↑ Gerhard Lübbers: Aurich (Burgstrasse), Aurich district, Lower Saxony: In: denkmalprojekt.org (accessed on October 14, 2014)

Coordinates: 53 ° 28 ′ 9.3 "  N , 7 ° 28 ′ 39"  E