Memorial in Pestschanka
The Memorial in Pestschanka is a memorial in Pestschanka , a place 20 kilometers west of Volgograd , which is supposed to commemorate the Battle of Stalingrad . The place is now in the Gorkowski district of Volgograd.
Location and description
The memorial is a ten meter high steel sculpture. A free-standing plate with an inscription in the shape of a spearhead is inclined to form a cross. The rust of the sculpture creates additional effects depending on the position of the sun. The design comes from the architects Wilhelm Holzbauer and Dieter Pal. In addition, there are three concrete blocks with inscriptions in front of the memorial. It was built by the Republic of Austria in cooperation with the Austrian Black Cross (ÖSK). There are no soldiers' graves at the memorial itself, they are all at the German war cemetery at Rossoschka .
At the inauguration on June 8, 1996, it was emphasized that the memorial should commemorate all victims on both sides. This is shown by the inscription:
“This memorial is dedicated to all the victims of the battle (1942/43). It commemorates the suffering of the soldiers who fell here and that of the civilian population. For the fallen soldiers and those who died in captivity from all countries, we ask for eternal peace in Russian soil "
The memorial is looked after by students from secondary school 114 from the village of Peschtschanka , who have also been invited to Austria several times and who in turn visit the military cemeteries of Soviet victims, as was the case last time in 2015.
Emergence
In 1992 an international conference on captivity in Russia was the topic. This was followed by an excursion to the battlefields, which were restricted areas until 1990. Representatives of the ÖSK also took part. As a result of this visit, the ORF also made a documentary about the battlefields, which have not been changed since the war.
In the same year a personal committee was formed around the editor-in-chief Walter Seledec. If a military cemetery was to be built together with the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge for the time being , the plans changed and a memorial should be erected in the city of Volgograd on Reconciliation Square . Out of consideration for the local population, however, they refrained from doing so and looked for a place that would provide a historical background to the battle of Stalingrad. In this way the decision was made on Pestschanka. Historically, the place is in the former area of operations of the 297th Infantry Division , which mostly consisted of Austrians.
As a result, internal political discussions arose, which almost brought the project to failure. Only through the compromise that the memorial should remember all victims and not like originally German and Austrian victims could it be saved.
literature
- Cornelius Lehnguth: Waldheim and the consequences: The partisan handling of National Socialism in Austria , S. 344ff online
Individual evidence
- ↑ Building bridges over the graves on ORF from March 29, 2015, accessed on March 31, 2015.
Web links
- Stalingrad - 70 years later on service with the armed forces
- Austrian Black Cross
Coordinates: 48 ° 39 ′ 14 " N , 44 ° 19 ′ 21.4" E