Deserters Monument (Bonn / Potsdam)
The marble sculpture Memorial for the Unknown Deserter was created in 1989 by the Turkish sculptor Mehmet Aksoy, who was then living in Berlin, at the instigation of the “Bonn Peace Plenum” .
history
The requested installation on Friedensplatz in Bonn failed because of the majority in Bonn's city parliament at the time . Lord Mayor Hans Daniels ( CDU ) said:
"... I myself will speak out against your initiative and do everything I can to win a convincing majority for the rejection. There will be no vote for a monument in Bonn that glorifies desertion. "
With legal help, the disclosure could only be enforced for an hour and on a low-loader . The memorial initially found asylum in various locations in Bonn.
After the fall of the Wall in the GDR , the “Friends of Conscientious Objectors” campaigned in Potsdam for the monument to be erected in Bonn's twin city . Since September 2, 1990, the memorial has been on Unity Square in the state capital Potsdam . In 1997, the Potsdam city council meeting decided with an overwhelming majority of 100 to 8 votes that the monument should be permanently installed on the square. As part of the redesign of the square on the occasion of the Federal Garden Show 2001, the monument was given a central place in the landscape design concept.
inscription
We are missing other boards
and one is missing:
“Here lived a man who
refused
to shoot his fellow men.
Honor his memory! ”
Kurt Tucholsky , Die Tafeln , 1925
background
A brochure from the city of Potsdam describes the monument as follows:
“A male figure leaves its imprint in white Carrara blocks, where the drilling and breaking points remain partially visible and which appear unsuitable for human habitation. The sculpture offers new views and perspectives from all sides. The missing figure magically and essentially determines the mode of action of the monument and triggers mechanisms of reflection that are not entirely unexpected, but can be good for surprises. The absence thematizes fear. (...)
Analogous to the classical conflict between the soldier's oath and conscience the dilemma also shows linguistically: The used in the sense of absence word absence is attributable to the same origin as errors or wrong . The public discourse on honoring a minority that has hitherto been secretive or disdained is made possible, but also made more difficult, by the plurality of modern society. The breaking up of value systems and the individualization of social life create new demands on political culture, that is, on the democratic principle of prudence and tolerance. "
See also
- Repeal of Nazi injustice judgments
- Victims of Nazi military justice
- Deserters Monument (Bernau near Berlin)
- Deserters Monument (Erfurt)
- Deserters Monument (Cologne)
Web links
- Detailed documentation on the Bonn deserter monument
- Brochure. (PDF; 4.8 MB) City of Potsdam, 1999
- Homepage of the artist "Mehmet Aksoy"
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 52 ° 23 '51.9 " N , 13 ° 3' 31.3" E