War memorial (Waltenhofen)

The Waltenhofen war memorial is located on the north side of the parish church of St. Martin and Alexander in the Oberallgäu district in Bavaria.

history

In the First World War , 422 Waltenhofen residents were active. 330 returned partly unharmed, partly wounded, 75 fell victim to him, 21 were taken prisoners of war.

In 1920 the first plans for a memorial were made. Mayor Hengeler and Pastor Straub formed the building committee. The builder Adolf Kirmayr finally designed the concrete plan for the memorial.

The first cost statement was drawn up in March 1923. The cost of the raw materials came to around 220,000 marks due to inflation . The expenses for writing, 2050 letters for the names of the missing and fallen, amounted to approx. 410,000 marks. The greatest cost factor was the carving of the group of soldiers by a stonemason for 1.3 million marks.

The financing of the war memorial was initially in question. There was a savings account for the war memorial fund and papers to finance the memorial. Only after two collections in the community could the total costs be raised. The active help of 15 Waltenhofen citizens minimized the costs.

The inauguration took place on May 23, 1923. Nowadays, there is a memorial ceremony every year on Memorial Day .

description

According to Kirmayr's plan, the shell limestone sculpture of two soldiers, a dying warrior with his comrade supporting him, was created on a raised cement plinth with the inscription: “Our fallen heroes to be honored in memory”. The names of the fallen are noted on the base, broken down by year of death with details of the unit and place of death. The countries listed as places of death are: Belgium, France, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Russia and Italy.

A horticultural facility was set up around it.

publication

• Allgäuer Zeitung, May 24, 1923 (available in the Kempten City Library)

Coordinates: 47 ° 40 ′ 16.5 ″  N , 10 ° 18 ′ 15.6 ″  E