Oberursel memorial

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Oberursel memorial at the Christ Church
Oberursel memorial at the Christ Church

The Oberursel Memorial is a round mosaic column standing on a pedestal in Oberursel (Taunus) , which was erected in 1930 as a memorial to 224 Oberursel citizens who died in World War I or who died as a result of the war. The memorial was designed by the Frankfurt artist Lina von Schauroth . It has been a listed building since 2010 .

Location and surroundings

The memorial is located in today's Rushmoor Park on Oberhöchstadter Strasse next to the Protestant Christ Church, which was inaugurated in 1914.

Construction and data

The 8.85 meter high column designed by Lina von Schauroth shows in the upper part a representation of Christ, on the side the words “In Memoriam”, underneath the inscription “Den mourning consolation - honor the dead - the living admonition - teach the youth ". Below are gray, almost faceless soldiers in uniform. The column stands on a square block about two meters high, also covered with mosaic stones, on three sides of which are the names of the 224 Oberursel residents who died or who died as a result of the immediate consequences of the war. On the front is an older version of the Oberursel city coat of arms with the inscription "1914-1918". On the back of the column is written in gold-colored letters who financed it: "Erected from voluntary donations from the citizens."

At first there was only a rectangular plate on the pillar, but it looked too bulky. At the request of the artist, a ball with a diameter of 75 centimeters made of sheet copper was added. According to von Schauroth, there should be an iron cross on it, which the city administration rejected with reference to the peaceful nature of the memorial. Thereupon the artist suggested to let an almost three meter high flame with three points blaze out of the sphere. But on the intervention of the city architect, in agreement with the artist, the sphere, which was completed in May 1932, remained.

The masonry work was awarded to the Oberurseler Handwerkerbaugenossenschaft. The reinforced concrete shaft, hollow on the inside, with a total length of 13.34 meters, was made by the Frankfurt company Franz Hof Chimney and Firing Construction, the glass mosaic by the Berlin specialist company Puhl & Wagner , Gottfried Heinersdorff .

The design of the horticultural facilities was taken on by the horticultural director of the city of Frankfurt am Main, Max Bromme, who was called in by the city of Oberursel . He had the outdoor facilities around the memorial laid out in such a way that the area in front of the monument on the bastion was surrounded by 216 hornbeams , one for each fallen crew rank , and eight pyramid oaks on the monument that stood for the fallen officers.

History of origin

Shortly after the end of the war, efforts were made in Oberursel to erect a memorial for the fallen soldiers, mostly buried far away and often in unknown places. But the economic decline made it difficult to finance the project. With the former mayor Josef Füller as the driving force, whose only son was among the war dead, 27 Oberursel associations, parties and societies came together in 1929 and founded a "main committee for a memorial for the sons of the city of Oberursel (Taunus) who died in World War I" . Against the resistance of most of the city councilors and the city council, who pointed out the difficult financial situation of the city, they managed to collect around 21,500 marks from house to house and through charity events. The city then made the land and 3100 marks available for earthfill work.

Originally, the design of the memorial should be tendered among local and foreign sculptors. But then the offer by the Frankfurt artist and sculptor Lina von Schauroth, who had designed a mosaic column for the courtyard of the Frankfurt Women's Peace Church, happened by chance . The architect Hans Herkommer did not like the designs provided by the sculptor . The pillar did not materialize. A friend of the artist managed to talk the main committee out of the tender and have Lina von Schauroth approve the column design without further examination. The fee agreed with the artist was transferred in advance, which was unusual, but the Mosaik project ultimately saved because the people of Oberursel had no choice but to realize the work of art that had already been paid for.

History of the building

About 1000 visitors came to the inauguration of the memorial on October 12, 1930, including the district president Wilhelm von Meister . Clergy of all denominations spoke blessings. Choirs sang, musicians played. The main committee handed over the memorial to the city and disbanded.

Klaus-Peter and Anna Dyroff restoring the base.
Restoration of the base at the Oberursel memorial.

Years later, the monument was damaged. Ingress of water caused the mosaic stones to loosen. The coating of highly calcareous plaster applied by the builders and a cement-containing filler layer onto which the mosaic glass stones were glued, did not withstand the ingress of water and the seasonal temperature changes. Concrete column, plaster and mosaic have different thermal expansion behavior. Water penetrates the coating in the cracks caused by the material tension, which accelerates the chipping of the mosaic when it freezes in winter. There were repeated attempts at repair, but they could not stop the increasing deterioration. In 1988 the State Office for Monument Preservation removed the memorial from the list of monuments . In autumn 1995 an emergency backup and investigation took place. There were plans to dismantle the column and to rebuild it in an interior protected from the weather. Only the pedestal with the names of the fallen was to remain. The renewed inclusion of the structure in the state's list of monuments in 2010 nullified such plans.

At the instigation of Christoph Müllerleile , a citizens' initiative “Save the Memorial” was formed, which was under the patronage of State Secretary a. D. Gerd Krämer and Kai von Schauroth, a grandson of Lina von Schauroth, chaired by the pastor of the Christ Church, Reiner Göpfert, collected 111,000 euros in donations. The restoration was carried out by Matthias Steyer in Niedernhausen . During the repair work, it turned out that the column swayed in strong winds. With the approval of the Monument Office, a steel rod was inserted into the hollow column shaft and the hollow area was filled with flowable concrete.

The restored mosaic column was inaugurated on July 23, 2014 during a ceremony. In October 2017, Klaus-Peter Dyroff from Schmiedeberg began restoring the base.

Web links

Commons : Ehrenmal Oberursel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Eva Rowedder: Hochtaunuskreis . Ed .: State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen (=  monument topography Federal Republic of Germany , cultural monuments in Hessen ). Konrad Theiss Verlag, Darmstadt 2013, ISBN 978-3-8062-2905-9 , pp. 463 .
  • Kerstin Stoffels: How Lina from Schauroth came to Oberursel. In: Communications from the Association for History and Local History Oberursel (Taunus) eV , year 2012, issue 51, pp. 65–67.
  • Christoph Müllerleile: What's wrong with the memorial? The restoration should be completed after four years in early summer 2014. In: Communications of the Association for History and Local History Oberursel (Taunus) eV , year 2013, issue 52, pp. 82–83.
  • Christoph Müllerleile: The memorial at the Christ Church - an unloved gift from the citizens to the city. In: Communications of the Association for History and Local History Oberursel (Taunus) eV , year 2010, issue 49, pp. 1–9
  • Christoph Müllerleile: The memorial is now stable. In: Announcements of the Society for History and Local History Oberursel (Taunus) eV , year 2012, issue 51, pp. 68–70

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Christoph Müllerleile: The memorial at the Christ Church - an unloved gift from the citizens to the city . In: Communications of the Association for History and Local History Oberursel (Taunus) eV, year 2010, no. 49 . Association for History and Local History Oberursel (Taunus) eV, Oberursel, S. 1-9 .
  2. ↑ Kerstin Stoffels: How Lina from Schauroth came to Oberursel . In: Communications of the Association for History and Local History Oberursel (Taunus) eV, year 2012, No. 51 . Association for History and Local History Oberursel (Taunus) eV, Oberursel (Taunus), p. 65-67 .
  3. ↑ The inauguration of the memorial . In: Oberurseler Bürgerfreund . Born in 1930, no. 239 . Oberursel (Taunus) October 13, 1930, p. 2 - 3 .
  4. ↑ The mosaic on the memorial is falling apart. In: Taunus Zeitung . Born in 2005, No. 237 . Bad Homburg October 12, 2005, p. 16 .
  5. ↑ Christoph Müllerleile: What's wrong with the memorial? In: Communications of the Association for History and Local History Oberursel (Taunus) eV, year 2013, no. 52 . Association for History and Local History Oberursel eV, Oberursel (Taunus), p. 82 .
  6. ^ Bernhard Biener: Mosaic as a reminder for future generations . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . Born in 2010, No. 198 . Frankfurt am Main August 27, 2010, p. 61 .
  7. ↑ Christoph Müllerleile: The memorial is now stable . In: Communications of the Association for History and Local History Oberursel (Taunus) eV, year 2012, No. 51 . Association for History and Local History Oberursel (Taunus) eV, Oberursel (Taunus), p. 68-70 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 11 ′ 55.3 "  N , 8 ° 34 ′ 42.7"  E