Torchbearer Pillar

The torch-bearer column and the Fischreiter- Putto at the Maschsee, also created by Hermann Scheuertstuhl

The torchbearer column in Hanover is a listed stele with the figure of a torchbearer. The location is the north bank of the Maschsee , on Kurt-Schwitters-Platz, named after Kurt Schwitters , in the Hanover district of Südstadt .

history

After the founder of the "probably first canoe club in Germany", the rowing athlete Karl Thiele , had already founded a Maschsee Commission in 1904, the Hanoverian Citizens' Board decided in 1932 to build the Maschsee in the Weimar Republic with the help of the Reich government Job creation measure program. After long planning, however, construction did not begin until the National Socialist era .

In the course of the planned beautification work for the north bank of the Maschsee, the Hanoverian Senator Fritz Beindorff launched a competition endowed with 50,000 Reichsmarks , which the sculptor Hermann Scheuertstuhl won with his design. Originally, the sculpture was only intended as a memorial to the construction of the Maschsee - and was also completed in time for the opening ceremony of the lake on May 21, 1936.

However, since the Olympic Games in 1936 were also held in the same year , contemporaries interpreted the stele with the torchbearer on the one hand as a "symbol of the victorious artist of a new era". She arranged for the 18.5 meter high stele to do this, but above all the 20 hundredweight, 4.5 meter tall, gilded figure with the raised right hand and the inscriptions

"Willingness to build up gave work-
happy hands the blessing of work Joy, health and strength give you from now on the lake
1934–1936"

such as

"Herald of the good and the strong"

with imperial eagle , laurel wreath and swastika (which was removed in 1945).

On the other hand, when the stele was being completed, there were rumors that “ Masonic symbolism was being depicted here”. As a result, the sculpture itself was only officially inaugurated later on June 26, 1937.

The sculpture "Fischreiter" was erected nearby in 1938, also by the sculptor Hermann Scheuertstuhl.

The symbolic content of the torchbearer column has been viewed critically by the public since the 1990s.

• 

  The partly as Hitler salute interpreted greeting the torch runner

• 

  The imperial eagle with the wreath around the swastika , which was knocked out in 1945,
  and the sprayed glorification from the time of National Socialism

• 

  Inscription with reference to the founder Fritz Beindorff

• 

  German and English legends on the stele ;
  City board number 135

See also

• Art under National Socialism
• Street art in Hanover
• List of architectural monuments in Südstadt-Bult

literature

• Waldemar R. Röhrbein (Ed.): The lake is created. In: Waldemar R. Röhrbein: The Maschsee in Hanover. Its origins and history , with contributions by Ernst August von der Haar, Hanover: Schlueter, 1986, ISBN 3-87706-046-3 , p. 66f.
• Ludwig Zerull : Art without a roof. Sculptures and objects in the cityscape of Hanover , Hanover: Ed. Libri Artis, Schäfer, 1992, ISBN 3-88746-278-5
• Karljosef Kreter : The Maschsee. Buildings and sculptures from the time of National Socialism , leaflet of the project culture of remembrance in cooperation with the City of Hanover, the Lord Mayor, Department of Education and Qualification, as well as the District Council of Südstadt-Bult, City of Hanover, February 2012; downloadable as a PDF document
• Helmut Knocke , Hugo Thielen : Maschsee. In: Hannover Art and Culture Lexicon , p. 170f.
• Ines Katenhusen : Torchbearer column. In: Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein (eds.) U. a .: City Lexicon Hanover . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-89993-662-9 , p. 173.

Web links

Commons : Torchbearer Column (Hannover)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wolfgang Ness: Maschsee. In: Monument topography of the Federal Republic of Germany , architectural monuments in Lower Saxony, City of Hanover, Part 1, [Bd.] 10.1 , ed. by Hans-Herbert Möller, ISBN 3-528-06203-7 , pp. 133f., as well as the Südstadt appendix . In: List of architectural monuments according to § 4 (NDSchG) (except for architectural monuments of the archaeological monument preservation) , status July 1, 1985, City of Hanover, Lower Saxony State Administration Office - Institute for Monument Preservation , p. 7ff.
2. ↑ Helmut Zimmermann : Torch-Carrier Column , in ders .: Hanover in your pocket. Buildings and monuments from A to Z . 2nd Edition. Feesche, Hannover 1988, ISBN 3-87223-046-8 , p. 33
3. ^ Helmut Zimmermann: Kurt-Schwitters-Platz , in ders .: The street names of the state capital Hanover . Verlag Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1992, ISBN 3-7752-6120-6 , p. 152
4. ↑ Dirk Böttcher : THIELE, Karl. In: Hannoversches Biographisches Lexikon , p. 358; online through google books
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Waldemar R. Röhrbein: Maschsee. In: Stadtlexikon Hannover , p. 430ff.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Ines Katenhusen: Torchbearer column. In: Stadtlexikon Hannover, p. 173
7. ↑ ^{a b c} Helmut Knocke, Hugo Thielen: Maschsee
8. ↑ Simon Benne: Controversial sculpture: How brown is the torch runner on the Maschsee in Hanover? Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung , April 17, 2011
9. ↑ Johanna di Blasi, Dirk Altwig: Isn't there any Nazi art on the Maschsee? , [[Neue Presse (Hanover) |]], November 8, 2012

Coordinates: 52 ° 21 ′ 46 ″  N , 9 ° 44 ′ 18.6 ″  E