Laboe Naval Memorial
The Navy Memorial in Laboe was from 1927 to 1936 as a memorial for the First World War fallen German Marines erected. The memory of the members of the Navy who fell in World War II was added later. Since it was taken over by the German Navy Federation on May 30, 1954, the cenotaph , which was rededicated as a memorial in 1996, has been a reminder of the seafarers of all nations who have stayed on the seas and admonishes peaceful seafaring on the open seas.
Together with the nearby U 995 museum submarine, the Laboer Memorial attracts numerous visitors - between 1954 and 2004, more than 14 million people visited the monument.
The creation of the structure
The First World War from 1914 to 1918 had claimed many victims in the Imperial Navy who had remained at sea, for whose relatives there was no place to mourn. In 1925, the former struck Petty Officer William Lammertz the German Navy League for the establishment of an official memorial to the fallen in World War I German Marines. He applied to the Congress of Representatives in Erfurt in 1925 for the establishment of a worthy memorial in honor of the 34,836 comrades who remained at sea. The Laboe community approved the establishment of the Naval Memorial a year later. The construction costs amounted to around 700,000 Reichsmarks , financed by donations and by the city of Kiel .
In 1927 an architectural competition was announced, for which Heinz Stoffregen's design (title: “The Sacrificial Thanks”) won first prize. However, the prize was only formally awarded to him; the selection committee preferred the expressionist design by the architect Gustav August Munzer , which, however, would have far exceeded the estimated construction costs of 500,000 Reichsmarks. The judges therefore recommended that Munzer's draft be implemented in a simplified form.
When designing the tower, Munzer, contrary to other, widespread opinions, did not envision a ship's sail, a bow or a submarine tower, but "a structure firmly rooted in the earth and the sea and rising towards the sky like a flame".
On August 8, 1927, the foundation stone was laid on the site of a former tank tower of the Kiel port fortifications. The construction of the tower and thus the first construction phase could be completed under the guidance of the architect in 1929 after just 101 days. Because of the beginning economic crisis and the resulting lack of money, construction had to be halted and the construction of the other components had to be postponed for an indefinite period.
Construction work on the site only resumed in June 1933. The memorial was completed three years later; it was inaugurated on May 30, 1936 in the presence of Adolf Hitler . In addition, a large fleet parade was driven with salute, which Hitler accepted on the Aviso Grille . At the end of the parade formation, the training ship Gorch Fock, with the crew standing in the yards, paid a special tribute.
The tower of the plant is 72 meters high; the upper edge of the parapet is 85 meters above sea level in the Baltic Sea . The viewing platform at the top can be reached via 341 steps or two lifts.
In addition to the tower, the 5.7 hectare monument complex also included a 7000 square meter inner courtyard fortified with Weser sandstone , a historic hall and another underground memorial. In the historic hall there is now an exhibition on German naval history up to the present day with many naval exhibits and ship models .
Building history and construction
Dimensions and ground
The most important part of the system, the tower, rises 68.20 m above the site, which is about 14 m above sea level. The overall length of the floor plan is 31.50 m, the width 13.80 m. The subsoil is formed by a 5 m thick layer of boulder clay , underneath clay, then 3 m of sand and again boulder clay. With the strongest wind, 225 kg / m² in the higher parts and 2.8 kg / cm² highest edge stress were permitted.
founding
The structure transfers its load partly through a cross-reinforced foundation slab 1.0 m thick to the building site, and partly through single-reinforced concrete strip foundations. The shape of the foundation plate of the spatially conceived and constructed building results from the endeavor to move the sum of all loads to the center of gravity of the foundation plate when the wind is calm. Part of the rear structure therefore remained without a foundation. For the static calculation of the foundation slab, the results of P. Pasternak's work "The structural theory of rigid beams and slabs on elastic bedding" were used.
Static conception
The building was conceived as a uniform support system , i.e. as a support structure clamped into the ground. For reasons of maximum safety, especially with regard to torques in gusts and hurricanes , the middle part - called the "box" - was designed so strong that it is alone capable of absorbing the wind forces that hit the building as a whole. Interesting is the incline of the very considerable forces of the longitudinal and transverse walls of the "box" (up to 145 tons per running meter) without receiving significant bending moments in the walls and ceilings in a one-sided wind.
This basic understanding of the static calculation explains the relatively small dimensions of the heavily loaded substructure. The reinforced concrete staircase rests on the cantilevered reinforced concrete platform slabs and was made up for immediately after the respective concreting sections had been stripped, so that they had already been concreted about 14 days after the structure made of iron Portland cement had been stripped. The banister located after the inside of the tower was subsequently installed in alumina cement A. With the help of a mold that was used ten times, 10 identical storeys were concreted in 10 days, as the parts concreted in the evening could be stripped out the following morning.
Execution details
Particular attention was paid to the risk of buckling in the walls of the “box”, which are more than 10 m long, due to considerations relating to the buckling strength of columns. By horizontal double reinforcement and arrangement of haunches was encountered this risk of buckling. The building has rough formwork in all internal parts, and the parts that are visible from the outside are veneered . Granite from the Baltic Sea is used as facing on the lake side and for the tower head , which was carved in a rectangular shape in the visible areas, but otherwise shows its natural shape. The remaining components received a half-stone facing made of Bockhorn clinker bricks.
A special task was the reliable connection of the 68 m high facing with the reinforced concrete . The iron framework was laid, the inner formwork was made on it, the facing was bricked up in alumina cement A. The facing, which penetrated the reinforced concrete structure with its heads or granite stones, was temporarily connected to the inner formwork and reinforcement by means of walled-in anchors. As a result of the high hardening energy of the high-alumina cement, the night shift was able to fill the cavity formed by the facing and formwork with concrete and in this way achieve that the supporting structure and the facing are interlocked in such a way that the temporary iron anchoring of the facing is no longer of any importance for the long-term existence of the building.
Concrete pumping
The concrete pump , patented at home and abroad, designed by the construction company Max Giese Stahlbaubeton, Kiel, was used to deliver concrete , up to a height of 30 m. For the higher parts, the concrete was lifted up in the middle of the "box" and fed to the point of use through pouring channels. The pump model used, the output of which was around 8-10 m³ / h, was originally intended for normal buildings and was used at the same time for the construction of the German House in Flensburg. Pumped concrete has a higher material strength than material from the mixer. For the first time, the concrete could be pumped more stiffly with the use of the concrete pump than with the casting tower.
construction time
On August 1, 1929, the erection of the formwork for the substructure began, and on November 15, i.e. after 3 ½ months, the height of 68.20 meters was reached.
Time after World War II
The structures survived the war with relatively little damage, but numerous exhibits were destroyed or stolen. After the end of the Second World War, the memorial was confiscated by the British occupying forces in 1945. The German Navy Federation was dissolved.
In 1946 the Allied Control Council passed the resolution to destroy all National Socialist museums and monuments in Germany. The idea of blowing up the naval memorial as well was rejected because it did not glorify the war, but rather a "personal tribute (for) ... members of the navy who died in the service of the country". As a result, the mayor of Labo was appointed managing trustee for the memorial in the same year.
After the German Navy Federation was re-established in 1952, the Allies returned the Navy Memorial in 1954.
From 1993 to 1998, extensive renovation work was carried out on the site of the memorial, which had become necessary due to the age of the building and the effects of the weather. This included extensive grouting work on the clinker as well as further renovation work on the tower and the open spaces. The renovation cost over four million D-Marks, which the German Navy Federation received from entrance fees and donations. Funds from state or federal budgets were not available.
Change of meaning
The memorial received its first meaning when the foundation stone was laid in 1927. This was still completely under the influence of the events of the First World War. The defeat of Germany and the terms of the Versailles Treaty , which many Germans perceived as shameful, as well as the hope for revenge are clearly reflected in the dedication, as well as the goal of rebuilding the German fleet:
"For German sailors'
For Germany's floating weir
For both return"
The spirit of revenge that this dedication carries was also taken up by the National Socialists at the ceremonial opening of the memorial complex in 1936 and appropriated for the Nazi ideology.
The memorial underwent a significant change in meaning when it was festively returned to the German Navy Federation in 1954. The new dedication, entirely in the spirit of reconciliation with the former war opponents, was intended to express respect for other nations and thus also concluded the memory of all fallen soldiers of the world wars a.
"In memory of all
dead German
seafarers from both
world wars and
our dead
opponents"
The last rededication took place in 1996 when the memorial complex was declared a memorial to those of all nations who remained at sea. The meaning of the memorial is now completely turned away from the context of the war.
"Memorial for those of all nations who remained
at sea, memorial for peaceful seafaring on the free seas"
At the request of the German Navy , a separate dedication was created especially for the memorial for the dead of the Navy in the Federal Republic of Germany . This is placed on the left in the entrance hall:
"In honor of the members of the German Navy who have died in service since 1955."
On the right side of the entrance area it says:
"We remember the dead in civil shipping and sea services"
The function of the marine monument as a museum
In the course of the post-war period, and especially since the 1990s, there has been a change in meaning and new accents with regard to the presentation of the museum's content. So you can now find hints u. a. on the murders of soldiers of the Imperial Navy between 1904 and 1908 against the Herero and Nama in German South West Africa and on the early involvement of the naval leadership in the armament plans of the Nazi regime and on the use of slave labor , for example in the construction of submarine bunkers .
The historic hall, which is located at the eastern end of the tower, serves as a museum exhibition space. The exhibition tells of the development of shipping , of the history of the German Navy, of merchant shipping and of current, defense-political issues. The topic is brought closer to the visitor with large diagrams, extensive map material and many exhibits. Faithful ship models complete the exhibition.
In the so-called flag room, the exhibition room for the “flags of the German naval forces” inside the memorial, there is a presentation of “authentic-looking” war flags. Here, the imperial war flags of the empire, the imperial war flag of the war navy with the swastika of the Nazi state, the service flag of the people's navy of the GDR and the service flag of the federal navy are shown together.
In the context of historical flags of German naval history, in addition to the war flag of the Reichsflotte (1848-1852), the Prussian naval war flag and the flag of the Brandenburg Maritime Force (or the " Brandenburg-African Compagnie ", 1682-1711), the flag of the kuk Kriegsmarine ( Austria-Hungary) presented before 1918.
Another museum aspect is the memorial book of the organization Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge . It records 63,686 members of the former German navy during the Second World War who remained at sea or who went missing. This book was ceremoniously handed over to the German Navy Federation in June 1985 and is on display for interested visitors to view in the hall of honor of the Navy Memorial, next to a book of names of those who fell in the Imperial Navy during World War I.
The submarine U 995 , which can also be viewed from the inside, was erected in 1972 as a technical museum and memorial on the beach in front of the memorial.
Since 2008, the Marine Memorial has been part of the Street of Monuments , a network of German monuments and places of remembrance.
Honorary Testimony
Warships of many nations testify to their honor when passing the memorial, the ships of the German Navy with the honor " Front ".
See also
- Kiel-Möltenort submarine memorial
- Memorials of the Bundeswehr
- Monumento al Marinaio d'Italia - Cenotaph of the Italian Navy
literature
- Harald Schmid : From the “Heldenhain” to the controversial place of remembrance. The Laboe Marine Memorial and the long history of its reinterpretations, in: Karl Heinrich Pohl (Ed.): Historical museums and memorials in Northern Germany , Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Husum 2016, pp. 139–164.
- Dieter Hartwig : The naval memorial in Laboe. A national memorial with international recognition . In: Eckardt Opitz (Hrsg.): Strategic maritime concepts from the imperial striving for world power to out-of-area operations of the German Navy (= series of publications of the Scientific Forum for International Security . Vol. 22). In cooperation with the German Navy Federation. Ed. Temmen, Bremen 2004, ISBN 3-86108-049-4 , pp. 323-334
- Dieter Hartwig: The naval memorial in Laboe. Continuity and change of a national memorial . In: Bea Lundt (Ed.): Northern Lights: Historical Consciousness and History Myths North of the Elbe (= contributions to historical culture . Vol. 27). Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 2004, ISBN 3-412-10303-9 , pp. 413-438.
- Dieter Hartwig (text), Reinhard Scheiblich (photos): "For eternity, timeless, clear ...". The Naval Memorial in Laboe . Convent, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-934613-75-6 .
- Thorsten Prange: The naval memorial in Laboe - history of a German national symbol . Brune, Wilhelmshaven 1996, ISBN 3-930510-63-4 (dissertation University of Kiel 1996).
- The naval memorial on the Kiel Fjord . In: Die Baugilde , Vol. 12, 1930, Issue 19, pp. 1778–1781
Web links
- Prices & opening times - German Navy Federation
- German Navy Federation V. History of the monument
- kiel-magazin.de Marine Memorial Laboe
- Virtual tour of the Laboe Naval Memorial
- Zeit Online: Sight people like to come. The naval memorial in Laboe has been redesigned. DIE ZEIT, Issue 44, 1996.
- Street of the Monuments
- Free 360 ° all-round view from the top viewing platform (labeling of visual targets can be activated)
Individual evidence
- ↑ D. Hartwig in Northern Lights: Historical consciousness and historical myths north of the Elbe. , P. 415.
- ↑ a b c Marine - memorial, history . Website Deutscher Marinebund e. V .; accessed on December 11, 2018.
- ^ Nils Aschenbeck: Heinz Stoffregen 1879–1929. Architecture between modern and avant-garde. Vieweg, Braunschweig / Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-528-08746-3 .
- ^ Archive information from the Deutscher Marinebund e. V.
- ↑ Beton und Eisen , Issue 9 a. 10, Zurich 1926
- ↑ “Nazis out. It is Germany's largest war memorial: the former Nazi naval memorial in Laboe near Kiel. For a long time a place of pilgrimage for people of the past, it has finally and thoroughly renewed itself in recent years. ”In: Die Zeit , September 24, 2015, p. 20.
- ↑ Internet site The Gray Wolves . 1. U-Flotilla Weddigen: the naval memorial in Laboe near Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein. 7. Photography from above. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ↑ Flag room (virtual tour of the Marine Memorial). Retrieved August 26, 2019 .
- ↑ lippisches-landesmuseum.de
Coordinates: 54 ° 24 ′ 44 ″ N , 10 ° 13 ′ 50 ″ E
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