The brave Swabian in iron

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The Wackere Schwabe in Eisen is a sculpture carved out of wood that was made and installed in Stuttgart in 1915 . Colored nails were hammered into them as part of the war nailing customary in World War I , which was used to raise funds for the Red Cross. The model for the monumental sculpture is a group of carved wood pictures "The brave Swabian with a horse".

prehistory

The creator of the "Hans im Glück Fountain" , the artist Josef Zeitler , carves into a 500-year-old oak beam from the demolition of the Stuttgart City Hall (in front of the new buildings from 1901 to 1905 and 1956) or - depending on tradition - from the bell tower of the collegiate church the small group of wood pictures "The brave Swabian" with his emaciated horse. True to Ludwig Uhland's Swabian customer, it bears the inscription on the pedestal, which has become a winged word :

"The brave Swabian is not scared."

The other lines of verse are:

"Walked his way step by step, / had the shield spiked with arrows / and only looked around mockingly."

- Ludwig Uhland : Swabian customer

"Uhland sings about [...] a Swabian knight who literally smashed his opponents to pieces during" the Third Crusade . The fatal sword blows were referred to in the poem as 'Swabian pranks'. " Shown in 1914 in the Glaspalast at the Munich Secession , the small picture was praised as the best war sculpture in the newspapers. She also finds favor with the then King of Bavaria , who is said to have said to the artist prince Franz von Stuck :

"It's a shame we don't have a brave Swabian."

- Ludwig III. from Bavaria

The monumental sculpture "The brave Swabian in iron"

Decision and assignment

As in many other cities, a decision was made in favor of large-scale war nailing in Stuttgart . At the request of the Württemberg royal couple Wilhelm II and on the recommendation of Robert von Haug (1857–1922), the choice fell in 1915 on the "Wackeren Schwaben". Josef Zeitler, who was more opposed to the contemporary “nailing evil”, consented to at least one nailing of the knight in his armor, pressured from all sides.

Manufacture and description

Under the patronage of Her Majesty, Queen Charlotte of Württemberg , and the State Association of the Red Cross , together with the carpenter Hauser and two sculptors assigned from the war, in two weeks, without personal compensation for a good cause, a "brave Swabian" was made out of things that were easier to nail Created limewood. Three meters high and resting on a 90 cm thick base with the inscription “DERWACKERESCHWABE / FORCHTSICHNITT1914 | 1915”, it was set up in the arched hall of the two-year-old art building on Schlossplatz .

Installation and ceremony

On the unofficial national holiday ( Sedan Day ) of September 2, 1915 at 11.00 a.m., all sorts of high-ranking representatives from state and society celebrated the inauguration ceremony and the subsequent nailing from 2 p.m. with charity nails for the charitable donation. At the same time, entries are made in the foundation book with leather binding and rag paper.

Donation income and award

Within a few days, the royal family, the honorary citizen Count Zeppelin and around 39,200 people generated net proceeds of 75,483 marks through the purchase of the nails. The hard-working Zeitler, who in peacetime was not one of the contemporaries often given medals, titles and decorations, was awarded the Charlotten Cross by the Queen on the occasion of this ceremony with patriotic-national significance and the daughter Carola, who was still alive at the time, received a gold pin with a name on it .

Further whereabouts

Castle fire

After the revolution and the end of the war in 1918, the picture moves from a corner in the east wing of the Old Palace to an anteroom on the first floor, where after the fire in January 1932 it miraculously reappears between the rubble, even if it was slightly damaged comes and has been repaired. Wilhelm Schussen and Gottfried Graf (1881–1938) commemorate the event with a ballad and a woodcut cycle.

End of World War II

In its new place of honor, the entrance hall in the central wing of the New Palace , the sculpture did not survive the bombing nights of World War II . In 1941 the original model from 1914 was shown once at an exhibition of the Künstlerbund and in 1965 on the occasion of '50 years of the statue of "Wackeren Schwaben" 'in the new Wilhelmspalais.

Trivia

There was a series of carved lighting fixtures, including “The brave Swabian with a horse” for the Vaihingen air barracks. In addition, there was the motif of the “Wackeren Schwaben” as a pendant for watch chains, as welfare postcards and postcards.

literature

  • Wilhelm Kohlhaas: Stuttgart as it was , Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf, 1970, b / w ill. No. 129, p. 73
  • Dietlinde Munzel-Everling : War nailing, A-list (without school nailing), status: August 2012. Without location 2012, page 143, online:
  • Wilhelm Schussen: The recovery of the brave Swabia after the fire of the old castle in Stuttgart in January 1932 [ballad Der Wackere Schwabe by Wilhelm Schussen with woodcuts by Gottfried Graf in favor of the castle fire aid], publisher of the monthly Wuerttemberg, without location, 1932
  • Felix Schuster: For the sixtieth birthday [of the Federation for Homeland Security]. In: Schwäbisches Heimatbuch 1932, pages 127–130, here: 127–128
  • Felix Schuster: The sculptor Josef Zeitler. In: Schwäbisches Heimatbuch 1937, pages 56, 60
  • W. Weber: "The brave Swabian is not researching ..." A memory of the Stuttgart war landmark that was nailed down in World War I 50 years ago , in: Stuttgarter Wochenblatt September 16, 1965, p. 19
  • Bernd Holtwick: World Wars and the Interwar Period 1914-1945 , in: Landesgeschichten | The German Southwest from 1790 until today | The book for the permanent exhibition in the House of History Baden-Württemberg ' , publisher. House of History Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, Red. Joachim Baur, Stuttgart, 2002, pp. 130–197, 159 ISBN 3-933726-16-6

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Tilman Osterwold: The Twenties , in: 150 Years Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart , Nov. 18 to Dec. 11, 1977, Stuttgart 1977, b / w. Fig. P. 60 of the smaller wood group
  2. ↑ Bernd Holtwick: World Wars and the Interwar Period 1914-1945 , in: Landesgeschichten | The German Southwest from 1790 until today | The book for the permanent exhibition in the House of History Baden-Württemberg ' , [Hrsg. House of History Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, Red. Joachim Baur ...], Stuttgart, 2002, pp. 130–197, 159 ISBN 3-933726-16-6
  3. ↑ Color picture poster on the Dutch website http://www.wereldoorlog1418.nl/spijkeren/ similar to the source “Landesgeschichten” .

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