Bensberg war memorial
The war memorial Bensberg is facing the Schloss Bensberg at the cadet road just before the junction with the Jan-Wellem-Straße in the district of Bensberg in Bergisch Gladbach . It was entered as No. 60 in the list of architectural monuments in Bergisch Gladbach .
description
A soldier with an assault rifle stands on a high rectangular base in an attacking position. He is dressed in a long coat and wears nailed boots. Bags for provisions, ammunition and other small items hang on his belt, he wears a helmet on his head and a sword hangs on his side . He is protected by a goddess of victory standing behind him . She holds a protective shield over him with her left hand . In her right hand she carries a branch of laurel. She has large wings and a wide robe, and a bearskin hangs over her shoulder. Both walk over stones and a broken wagon wheel.
The following inscription was carved into the base:
The fallen to glory, the living to memory, the coming generations to the role model, the Mülheim district, 1882.
On the plinth of the group of figures, the sculptor Friedrich Reusch, who was born in Siegerland and has been teaching at the Königsberg Art Academy since 1881, signed and dated his work : F. Reusch, fec. 1881. Around the monument are four mortar cannons from around 1870, which were manufactured in Spandau .
history
The district of Mülheim am Rhein dedicated the war memorial to its fallen soldiers in the German-Danish War in 1864 , the German-Austrian War in 1866 and the German-French War in 1870/1871 . It was unveiled in a ceremony on June 25, 1882 in the presence of delegations from the high civil and military authorities from the surrounding mayor's offices and all cadets from the cadet institute in Bensberg Castle.
The memorial has a white marble slab on each side on which the names, the respective hometown and the year of death of the soldiers concerned can be read in black letters. In 1864 one soldier fell out of the circle, in 1866 there were fifteen and in 1870/71 even 47.
Until 1935 the monument stood about 30 meters further south in front of the main entrance to the castle. It had to be moved from there because it blocked the driveway and obstructed the view of the castle from the west.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Alexander Bind, Wolfgang Langbein, Wolfgang Lohmann: The district war memorial in Bensberg. In memorial and annoyance. Schoolchildren research Bergisch Gladbach war memorials. (= Contributions to the history of the city of Bergisch Gladbach , Volume 4.) Bergisch Gladbach 1997, ISBN 3-9804448-1-3 , p. 15 ff.
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 58 '2.04 " N , 7 ° 9' 35.08" E