Kaiser Wilhelm Monument

Former Kaiser Wilhelm National Monument in front of the Berlin City Palace ( photochromic print around 1900)

Monument on the Hohenzollern Bridge in Cologne

Kaiser Wilhelm Monument in Dortmund- Hohensyburg

Numerous monuments were erected for Kaiser Wilhelm I. As early as 1867, the Berlin sculptor Friedrich Drake created the first equestrian statue , which, strictly speaking, still depicts Wilhelm I as King of Prussia . The Prussian Monument Institute e. V. can so far

63 equestrian statues
231 still images
5 seated statues and
126 busts (monuments)

evidence that were created and built between 1888 and 1918 in what was then the German Reich . There are also numerous Wilhelm I monuments on which the emperor is depicted in a relief medallion or which are intended to commemorate the emperor based on the dedication inscription. During the " Imperial Era ", 28 Kaiser Wilhelm I towers were built.

history

A basic distinction must be made between the monuments:

for King William I of Prussia (* March 22, 1797, † March 9, 1888), still during the Franco-German war 1870/71 in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles , at the instigation of Bismarck to German Emperor proclaimed was, and
for his grandson Wilhelm II (January 27, 1859 - June 4, 1941), who had to abdicate on November 9, 1918 after the end of the First World War.

It was not only since the imperial era that it was common in Prussia that no monuments should be erected for monarchs who were still alive. Before the planned erection of monuments, which were to be dedicated to members of the royal house, i.e. Prussia , a so-called sovereign permit had to be obtained. For this reason, almost all Kaiser Wilhelm monuments were not erected until after the death of Kaiser Wilhelm I in 1888. For the reasons mentioned, there were only a few monuments to the last German Kaiser Wilhelm II.

The starting point was the wish of the grandson, Wilhelm II., For a monarchical-national cult around Wilhelm I ("the great") as the founder of the empire. The Kaiser Wilhelm monument inaugurated in 1896 at the Porta Westfalica and the monument erected in 1897 at the Deutsches Eck in Koblenz bear witness to this “officially” initiated and supported memorial culture . The Kyffhäuser monument (1890–1896) suggested by the war clubs was of the unofficial type. All three monuments were designed by the Berlin architect Bruno Schmitz . Even if there were privately financed Kaiser Wilhelm monuments, it was usually the Bismarck monuments that were initiated and implemented “from below”.

The Kaiser Wilhelm monuments were mainly limited to Prussia and mostly to larger cities.

The first (and still preserved) monument to Wilhelm I, which shows him as King of Prussia on horseback, is on the bridgehead of Cologne's Hohenzollern Bridge (on the right bank of the Rhine, i.e. on the Deutz side).

The only monument that shows Kaiser Wilhelm I in civilian clothes is in the spa gardens of Bad Ems . It was ceremoniously unveiled on May 7, 1893 and shows the monarch as the people could see him when he was in town for a cure.

Equestrian statue with Wilhelm I, Wuppertal- Elberfeld

One of the 231 statues for Kaiser Wilhelm I was unveiled in Wiesbaden in 1894. The monument with a height of 6.8 meters was created by the Dresden sculptor Johannes Schilling and bore the inscription "The grateful city of Wiesbaden" on the base. The equestrian statue in Wuppertal existed from 1893 to 1943.

The official last memorial was the equestrian statue “for” Lübeck : the approval and the execution order were issued in 1914; When the model was ready for casting, no bronze was available because of the First World War. So the casting could not be completed until 1919.

In his 1918 novel Der Untertan, Heinrich Mann castigated the servile imperial imperial cult and used satirical means to mock the monument cult.