Germaniadenkmal (Gleiwitz)
The Germaniadenkmal in Gleiwitz was a memorial for the fallen and was erected in 1874. The memorial originally stood on Germaniaplatz (today's Plac Piastów) east of the main train station and was relocated to Wilhelmpark (now Chobry Park) in 1928 , where it disappeared in 1945. It commemorated the soldiers of the Tost-Gleiwitz district , to which the town of Gleiwitz belonged at the time, who fell in the Franco-Prussian War from 1870 to 1871 .
History and description
The monument was unveiled on Sedan Day , September 2, 1874. The location was Germaniaplatz, which was formerly called Neumarkt. The Germania sculpture standing on an octagonal stone pedestal , which represented the personification of united Germany, was designed and manufactured by the German sculptor Ferdinand Hartzer (1838–1906) from Berlin. The stone pedestal was made from sandstone by C. Hanke from Breslau. Germania held a sword in her left hand and a laurel wreath in her right. It was crowned with the Prussian-German imperial crown . There was armor on four sides. In addition to a reference to the war of 1870/1871, the names of 67 dead were entered.
When the Germaniaplatz was redesigned due to the increasing volume of traffic, the memorial was moved to the Gleiwitzer Wilhelmpark in 1928, probably for political reasons, in order to place the imperial symbols less prominently and exposed. While the memorial was previously surrounded by a grid and flower beds, the new location simply stood in the middle of a lawn. After the city came under Polish administration in 1945, it was probably destroyed and its remains disappeared. As with many other monuments from Gleiwitz the whereabouts of the Germaniadenkmal is unknown, it was assumed that its remains were buried somewhere in the park. Various investigations have so far not been able to contribute to the discovery.
At first it was assumed that the memorial had been demolished in 1945, but a photo dated 1952 was discovered that shows the memorial without the German inscription panels.
literature
- Gliwicki Magazyn Kulturalny , Volume 18, Number 6, 2012
- Tomasz Dudziński: Greetings from Gliwice. Ilustrowane kalendarium miasta Gliwice , 2008
Web links
- Pictures from the monument (Polish)
Coordinates: 50 ° 17 ′ 53 ″ N , 18 ° 40 ′ 38 ″ E