Deserters Monument (Hamburg)

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Deserters monument in Hamburg

The “Memorial for Deserters and Other Victims of Nazi Military Justice” is located on Dammtordamm in Hamburg, next to two older monuments that also deal with war and war victims. The 227 victims of the Wehrmacht justice system of the Second World War in Hamburg, known by name, are particularly honored .

Emergence

The creation of the desert monument in Hamburg was decided on June 14, 2012 by the Hamburg parliament and in May 2013 with a budget of around € 850,000 by the Senate. The title of the design proposal is: “Memorial site for deserters and other victims of Nazi military justice ” . The memorial site should, if possible, include thematic and commentary on the existing monuments and enable a connection to decentralized places of remembrance in Hamburg. The type and design of the monument was determined through a restricted competition. The announcement of the competition was published by the responsible cultural authority through the Federal Association of Victims of Nazi Military Justice . In an upstream process, the Hamburg cultural authority selected 14 artists who were supposed to submit their designs to the Sroka architectural office in Berlin in an anonymous competition by around the end of April 2014. On June 5, 2014, an eleven-member jury awarded the first prize to the sculptor Volker Lang .

The monument

The war memorial on Dammtordamm
Counter monument by Alfred Hrdlicka

The monument was inaugurated in November 2015. It stands between the memorials on Stephansplatz, the 76 monument from 1936 by Richard Kuöhl and the counter monument from 1983–1985 by Alfred Hrdlicka . Volker Lang's deserter monument is a ground-level, isosceles, triangular, filigree housing. Two sides of the structure consist of bronze light and air-permeable grids, which are formed from scripts. They are based on a quote from Helmut Heißenbüttel from Germany in 1944 . The third side of the triangular structure towards the dam gate is a closed concrete wall. Inside the housing, on the concrete walls, there is general historical information on the deserters in German and English. Furthermore, the name, the date of execution and the place of execution of the deserters can be called up acoustically by selecting name blocks at the push of a button.

A subway tunnel runs under the monument.

Motivation and fate of the deserters

Motivation and appreciation

In addition to the desire to save one's own life, one of the reasons for deserting was to avoid acts of injustice during the Nazi era . The courage of the deserters of the Nazi era to put their lives on the line is recognized.

Types of execution

Memorial plaque, Hamburg, Wallanlagen: for the deserters executed in the Hamburg remand prison, Holstenglacis
Memorial plaque on the former shooting range

Some judgments were carried out by beheading in the Hamburg remand prison on Holstenglacis. In Höltigbaum near Rahlstedt , around 330 deserted soldiers, but also prisoners of war, were shot at the shooting range from 1940 to April 28, 1945 for desertion or disruption of the military . Those who were executed were buried in the military cemetery of the Ohlsdorf cemetery without any special identification . A memorial plaque at the shooting site commemorates the shootings.

A surviving deserter reported at the inauguration that he escaped execution after interrogation and torture by being transferred to a punishment battalion.

Ostracism and Rehabilitation

The surviving dependents received no compensation or pension; the deserters were accused of cowardice or treason. The Federal Association of Victims of National Socialist Military Justice achieved a subsequent overturning of the verdicts. In 2002 the judgments against Wehrmacht deserters and in 2009 the judgments for war treason and thus also for desertion at the front were overturned. The memorial in Hamburg is intended to rehabilitate the murdered deserters, the bereaved as well as the surviving deserters and to honor their moral courage.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Deserteurdenkmal (Hamburg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ - ( Memento of the original from April 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bv-opfer-ns-militaerjustiz.de
  2. ↑ Katja Engler: A memorial for deserters. In: Hamburger Abendblatt, June 6, 2014, p. 13.
  3. ↑ Matthias Schmoock: Am Stephansplatz deserters be honored soon the first time. In: Hamburger Abendblatt of July 11, 2015, p. 24.
  4. ↑ Matthias Schmoock: Am Stephansplatz deserters be honored soon the first time. In: Hamburger Abendblatt of July 11, 2015, p. 24.
  5. ↑ Alexandra Zykunov: A memorial for deserters of the Wehrmacht. In: Welt online from April 18, 2012
  6. ↑ Katja Engler: Late honor for deserters. In: Hamburger Abendblatt, November 25, 2015, p. 21.
  7. ↑ Katja Engler: A memorial for deserters. In: Hamburger Abendblatt, June 6, 2014, p. 13.

Coordinates: 53 ° 33 ′ 31.5 ″  N , 9 ° 59 ′ 21.1 ″  E