War memorial 1870/71 (Spremberg)
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The war memorial in 1870/71 was a monument which the reminder to the campaign against France , fallen sons of the city Spremberg and the fallen stationed here Fusilier Battalion 6th Brandenb. Inf. Regts. No.52 was erected. The former location of the war memorial 1870/71 is today within the scope of the area monument " Ensemble of city park with festival meadow (meadow ground), open-air stage, swan pond, Slam cemetery, Bismarck tower, Loebenstein, Tietzstein ".
planning
After the victory over France, there was a desire everywhere in the country to thank and commemorate those who fell in the Franco-Prussian War. For the first time, both officers and crew ranks were commemorated in public. On April 27, 1871, a “Comitès for the erection of a memorial for the remnants of our battalion and the city” was founded from seven prominent citizens of the city, which made the following resolution :
" To those who, with their blood, fought for such a glorious victory with their blood in the tried and tested German bravery and loyalty, have become a victim of their heroism in front of the enemy and rest in foreign soil, in enemy territory, to erect a monument here by making voluntary contributions "
On June 27, 1871, the unit stationed here, the 3rd Battalion of the 6th Brandenburg Infantry Regiment number 52, returned to its location. More than half of the battalion's officers had died in France. The troops were enthusiastically received by representatives of the magistrate, a festival committee, the rifle guild and several associations and the population.
Thanks to the enormous willingness of the citizens and associations to donate , it was possible to get offers from various artists to erect a monument at the beginning of 1872 . On February 2, 1872, the sculptor Thomas from Görlitz was commissioned to plan and erect a war memorial. The Kugelplatz on the western tip of the Georgenberg was selected as a suitable location for the installation . At this point the war memorial was clearly visible even from the town's market square, which was about 200 meters away .
obelisk
The plans of the sculptor Thomas envisaged the erection of a war memorial in the form of an obelisk made of gray Silesian marble , which was mined in a marble quarry in Gnadenfrei in the Owl Mountains . The work required for this was carried out by three assistants of the sculptor Thomas in the workshop of the sculptor Kühn in Görlitz. The obelisk consisted of five individual elements that rested on a four-tier pedestal with a total height of 68 centimeters. A lower plinth, a name cube, an overlying cornice, an intermediate plinth and the pyramid on top. The monument was crowned with an eagle.
The memorial had the following dimensions:
- Lower base: height 630 mm, widest side at the bottom 1350 mm, width at the top 1035 mm
- Name block: height 1425 mm, width 1000 mm
- Chest cornice: height 380 mm, width below 1035 mm, widest side above 1350 mm
- Intermediate base: height 200 mm, width:?
- Height of the pyramid: height 3200 mm, width below 925 mm, width above 430 mm
- The eagle, which was made of cast iron , had a wingspan of 5½ feet and a height of 2 inches
- The foundation of the monument weighed approx. 693 quintals, the monument 230 quintals and the eagle 3 quintals.
- The monument had a total height of approx. 7 meters (including steps)
In the name of the block 172 names of the fallen were in on all four sides of gold deposited letters engraved. There were several decorative elements on the pyramid, also made of gray cast iron. In the middle of the back a 500 mm iron cross with the year 1870 at the lower end of the bar. In the middle there was a capital "W" for Wilhelm I at the upper end of the bar an imperial crown. To the right and left of the pyramid, also in the middle, there were two wreaths of oak leaves .
On the front of the pyramid was the following saying:
In memory of the war against France in 1870 a. In 1871 the famous soldiers of this city and the Fusilier Battalion 6. Brandenb. Inf. Regts. No.52 dedicated by the inhabitants of Spremberg in 1872.
The pyramid was crowned with an eagle made of gray cast iron and painted over in bronze. With its wings outstretched , it had a wingspan of 1500 mm. The costs for the entire project were originally estimated at 1000 thaler , but increased to 1500 thaler during the production.
Inauguration in 1872
On October 25, 1872, representatives of the city of Spremberg, members of the fallen and representatives of the Fusilier Battalion 6th Brandenb consecrated. Inf. Regts. No.52 with great sympathy of the population, the obelisk. To this end, all participants met at 11:30 am on the town's market square and then went "in a moving funeral procession to the ringing of bells and funeral music up to the Georgenberg". Excerpts from the speech of the Comitès chairman district court director Seemann:
“ We deeply mourn these victims of the war, especially and with the most painful sadness those of them who belonged to our city and our battalion. This memorial has been dedicated to their memory by the inhabitants of Spremberg. "
“ So you should stand here until the end of days. From this beautiful hill on which a thousand beloved dead want to go to the graves of their loved ones, from this beautiful hill you should look down meaningfully on our city from generation to generation, as a sign of honor and glory for the fallen, as a sign of Thank you from the world around you and as a reminder for the generations to come, loyalty and devotion to the king and fatherland, to the emperor and the empire, if need be, even to death. "
Superintendent Tietze gave the blessing for the monument . The memorial was then handed over by the chairman of the Seemann Committee to Mayor Nakszynski and thus to the city of Spremberg.
Demolished in 1946
The obelisk survived the turmoil of World War II with almost no damage. According to reports from witnesses, the eagle after was merely taking Spremberg damaged by shelling.
In 1946 the obelisk was razed on the instructions of the Neugebauer district administrator . To this end, the latter either subconsciously misinterpreted Directive No. 30 of the Allied Control Council , published in May 1946 , which required the removal of all military and Nazi monuments, or acted with anticipatory obedience . Because this directive explicitly referred to monuments that were erected after August 1st, 1914 .
Find the obelisk
In the 1970s, the entire complex was built over with a viewing terrace (bastion), which is about 40 cm above the location of the obelisk. After the political change in the GDR there were repeated attempts to find the obelisk. However, the statements of contemporary witnesses were imprecise and sometimes contradicting, so that they were repeatedly searched for in the wrong places. There were also statements that parts of the obelisk were removed.
From 2005 onwards, the local "Association for the Redesign of the Georgenberg Cemetery in Spremberg NL eV" (Georgenberg Association) increased efforts to find the obelisk, which, however, met with little official support.
In documents from archives in Potsdam , which were only discovered by chance in 2017 , the following emerges in a letter from the building authority Spremberg dated December 4, 1946:
"During the elimination of Nazi and militaristic monuments was by Messrs. Philipp Holzmann eliminated: War Memorial 1870/71. Demolition with simultaneous crushing of the marble stone. The rubble was buried on the spot, since removal would only be possible with great difficulty. "
Probing
Documents found in archives in 2016 clearly demonstrated that the obelisk had not been removed, but was still in its original location. On May 21, 2016, on the initiative of the Brandenburg State Office for Monument Preservation , soil monument preservation department, a georadar investigation was carried out on the area of the bastion. Several parts could be located that were clearly not of natural origin. The problem with lifting these parts was that the viewing terrace (bastion) located there was classified as a building worthy of preservation in the GDR by the Upper Monument Authority .
Decision in 2017
The main committee of the city of Spremberg decided in January 2017 (G / IV / 17/0010) that the obelisk should be set up again at its original location after it has been successfully recovered.
Search digs
1. Search excavation in 2018
In 2017, the Lower Monument Authority granted permission to carry out search excavations at the locations located using georadar. However, the permit restricted the lifting of only two of the five localized parts.
On March 17, 2018, two intact parts of the war memorial were uncovered and lifted by members of the "Georgenberg Verein" and many volunteers. It was the name die with the engraved names of the fallen and the pyramid of the monument with the inscription “In memory of those who died in the war against France in 1870 a. In 1871 the famous soldiers of this city and the Fusilier Battalion 6. Brandenb. Inf. Regts. No.52 dedicated by the inhabitants of Spremberg in 1872. “All metal applications on the pyramid had been removed, the eagle was missing. Some names on the name cube still had gold letters on them. Both recovered parts were stored at a local stonemason. The parts found were only about 20 centimeters below the original ground level, but due to their size they were buried up to about 1.50 meters deep.
Due to the observation platform built in the 1970s, which exactly covered all parts, it can be assumed that the local political forces at the time wanted to prevent the obelisk from being accidentally found again.
Overall monument conservation concept 2018/2019
Through the discovery of parts of the obelisk and the application of the Georgenberg Association to the monument authority to be allowed to set it up again at the original location, as well as a separate application from the Laga Association, which is also active on the Georgenberg, for the establishment of an imagination of the Georgenberg Chapel , the town of Spremberg was defeated by the Upper The monument authority requested to create an overall concept for the preservation of monuments in which all planned and necessary activities can be bundled and assessed for the area monument "Ensemble Stadtpark with Festwiese (Wiesengrund), open-air stage, swan pond, Slamer cemetery, Bismarck tower, Loebenstein, Tietzstein".
The overall concept for the preservation of monuments was created by the landscape architects' office Hamann from Berlin and accepted by the city council on May 8, 2019. Both the Hamann office, the Laga and Georgenberg Association and representatives of the city of Spremberg worked on this concept.
In the overall concept for the preservation of monuments, the following is stated in relation to the obelisk under the item “Preservation objectives”: “The area of today's viewing platform was the location of the obelisk from 1870/71. Since the obelisk as a landmark of Spremberg was an important element on the Georgenberg, it should be put back in its original location. "
The Upper Monument Authority restricted this requirement to the effect that the obelisk may be re-erected, but not in its original location, “since this means partial destruction of the monumental substance and design as well as historical falsification.” However, this does not mean that it is free There is a choice of location in the area monument. The main reason for this requirement is that the viewing platform, which was built over the original site in the 1970s and consists of simple exposed aggregate concrete pavement slabs and a flat sandstone wall , must be protected and preserved. An appeal by the Georgenberg Verein to the Upper Monument Authority was rejected on the grounds that in the course of the transformation of the Georgenberg cemetery into a public park in the 1970s, the obelisk was deliberately removed and a viewing platform was built at this point. Later, the monument authority changed the wrong facts in a renewed justification with the same conclusion.
2. Search excavation in 2019
In July 2019 there was another permission from the Lower Monument Authority, through which it was now possible to lift the last localized parts. On July 20, 2019, two parts of the obelisk were exposed. These are the lower plinth and the cornice. Both parts were right next to each other and show some larger breaks compared to the first finds. In addition, fragments of the intermediate plinth as well as parts of the eagle and the oak leaf applications of the pyramid were found. The fragments of the eagle and the oak leaves that were found suggest that they were completely destroyed. The cornice was recovered on July 20, the lower plinth on July 22, 2019. The found fragments of the intermediate base, which had the lowest height, clearly indicate that this was crushed on site, which was not possible with the larger parts.
On the fragments of the eagle that were found, clear traces could be established through bombardment with small-caliber ammunition . This claim, handed down by contemporary witnesses, has now been confirmed by the findings of July 20, 2019.
Salvage of the pyramid on March 17, 2018
Name pad before recovery
Upper cornice before recovery in July 2019
Fragment of the eagle's head, found in July 2019
Fragment of oak leaves (right and left of the pyramid)
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swell
- Spremberger Blatt No. 129, Thursday, October 31, 1872 - The war memorial on the Georgenberg
- Home calendar CITY OF SPREMBERG AND SURROUNDING AREA 2019 “The memorial on the Georgenberg for the fallen in the war of 1870/71” by Eckbert Kwast
Footnotes
- ↑ Looking for old memorial plaques . In: Lausitzer Rundschau May 23, 2016.
- ↑ The lost obelisk is here . In: Märkischer Bote November 25, 2016.
- ↑ The city park should get the obelisk back . In: Lausitzer Rundschau January 25, 2017.
- ↑ A miracle on the Georgenberg . In: Lausitzer Rundschau March 19, 2018.
- ↑ War memorial on the Georgenberg in Spremberg Landamt expresses concerns . In: Lausitzer Rundschau February 19, 2019.
- ↑ The city council decides on the overall conservation concept . In: Official Gazette of the City of Spremberg Edition 6/2019.
Coordinates: 51 ° 34 ′ 28.5 " N , 14 ° 22 ′ 42.7" E