The German Michel

Illustration of the statue in the Koenigsberger Woche , 1912

The German Michel is an allegorical representation of the German Michel , that is, the German itself, by the sculptor Friedrich Reusch .

Friedrich Reusch had already created the statue in 1895 in his studio at the Königsberg Art Academy . For a long time it stood around there as an unsalable shelf warmer; later it was placed in the garden of the Prussia Museum . The statue of German Michel was created for the garden of the former Königsberg Prussia Museum (formerly the royal house ) at Königsstraße 65/67 and was given to the city of Königsberg in 1904 as a gift from Johann Friedrich Reusch. Although spurned at first, the statue attracted attention and became an eye-catcher. The figure stood in the museum garden for a long time. When in 1913 the Wrangelturm , which had lost its military importance, was converted into an art gallery according to plans by Friedrich Lahrs , there was still no external reference to it. It was not until 1924 that the statue was placed on the outer wall of the Königsberg Wrangelturm. The memorial was completely destroyed in the battle for Königsberg .

A three-meter-high statue that the Würzburg sculptor Artur Schlegmünig (1864-1956) had created on April 1, 1916 as a symbol of war and to raise donations in Würzburg (between cathedral and Neumünster ) was also referred to as Der Deutsche Michel Lord Mayor Max Ringelmann had been inaugurated.

literature

Robert Albinus: Königsberg Lexicon. City and surroundings . Flechsig, Würzburg 2002, ISBN 3-88189-441-1 .
Richard Armstedt: history of the royal. Capital and residence city of Königsberg in Prussia. Reprint of the original edition, Stuttgart 1899.
Fritz Gause : The history of the city of Königsberg in Prussia . 3 volumes. Böhlau, Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-412-08896-X .
Jürgen Manthey : Königsberg - history of a world citizenship republic . Hanser , Munich 2005, ISBN 3-446-20619-1 .
Gunnar Strunz: Discover Königsberg. Berlin 2006, IS.

Individual evidence

↑ cf. Heinrich Meinhard Mühlpfordt: Königsberg sculptures and their masters 1255–1945. In: East German contributions from the Göttingen working group. Würzburg 1970, p. 135.
^ Harm-Hinrich Brandt : Würzburg municipal policy 1869-1918. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes; Volume III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. Theiss, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1478-9 ), pp. 64-166 and 1254-1267; here: p. 118.

[1] . Heinrich Meinhard Mühlpfordt: Königsberg sculptures and their masters 1255–1945. In: East German contributions from the Göttingen working group. Würzburg 1970, p. 135.

[2] Harm-Hinrich Brandt : Würzburg municipal policy 1869-1918. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes; Volume III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. Theiss, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1478-9 ), pp. 64-166 and 1254-1267; here: p. 118.