Quedlinburg Victory Monument
The Quedlinburg Victory Monument, also known as the Cuirassier Monument or Equestrian Monument, was a monument in the town of Quedlinburg in what is now Saxony-Anhalt .
location
It was located on what is now Friedrich-Ebert-Platz , east of the historic Quedlinburger Neustadt. Opposite the memorial there was another memorial that no longer exists today, protected by arms .
history
On September 30, 1890, the population was asked to donate money for a memorial in memory of the fallen and wounded in the wars of 1866 and 1871 . The most important sponsor of the monument was the district judge Hahn, who later received the Order of the Red Eagle, 4th class. An association for the erection of a victory memorial in Quedlinburg had been founded. Special emphasis was placed on the contribution of the Cuirassier Regiment “von Seydlitz” (Magdeburgisches) No. 7 in the battle of Mars-la-Tour on August 16, 1870.
The Quedlinburg sculptor Richard Anders was commissioned with the production and submitted drafts to the Quedlinburg magistrate. For the rider, the cuirassier Wilhelm Rahmsdorf (* 1843, † 1917) sat as a model, who had served as the standard bearer of the cuirassier regiment during the Battle of Mars-la-Tour.
The memorial was erected on what was then Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz, today's Friedrich-Ebert-Platz, north of Bahnhofstrasse. The inauguration took place in the presence of Rahmsdorf on October 27, 1895.
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The citizens of Quedlinburg, who donated this memorial in 1890, wanted a simple soldier to be represented because of the high number of casualties at the Battle of Mars-la-Tours. Many of the victims were located in Quedlinburg - the size of the monument was therefore consciously based on the contemporary Kaiser Wilhelm I monuments , one of which was subsequently created by the Quedlinburg sculptor Anders for the city of Cologne (1897). The cast was carried out by the bronze foundry Martin & Piltzing Berlin. The cost of the monument stipulated in the contract amounted to 50,000 marks, another 14,000 marks were earmarked for the base, reliefs and inscriptions.
During the Second World War , on July 5, 1942, the Reich Ministry of Science, Education and National Education issued an instruction to remove the bronze plates, as well as bronze eagles, chains and wreaths on the memorial. It was carried out on July 14, 1942.
After the end of the war, on February 7, 1946, the Antifa-Block Quedlinburg, headed by Mr. Wolf, decided to remove the monument. The scrap dealer Schiller tore down the memorial on March 6, 1946 using a rope around the horse's neck and a Lanz Bulldog tractor. On July 6, 1946, the statue was melted down in the local Steinle & Hartung factory , and 1770 kilograms of bronze were received, valued at 902.70 Reichsmarks . Standard and the side plates with the names of those who fell were saved from being melted down. While the plates had to be handed over and came to the scrap dealer Winter, the standard was hidden in the attic of Herbert Zabel from Quedlinburg. After the political change in 1989 , the standard came to the Garrison Museum in Quedlinburg .
layout
The bronze memorial had a height of eight meters without a standard and represented a rider seated on a horse jumping over a cannon barrel. The rider was 3.60 meters high. In his right fist the rider was carrying a pallash raised for a thrust . On the left he held the standard and reins. The horse was on a base made of polished gray Innsbruck granite, on the sides of which relief plates were attached. On the narrow front sides there was a console crowned by an eagle. On the narrow front was the inscription: Your sons, the fighters for the rebuilding of the German Empire, the grateful homeland.
On the back there were two stanzas from a poem by Ferdinand Freiligrath :
They spewed death and ruin -
we did not suffer.
Two columns of foot soldiers, two batteries -
we rode them down.
But it was a blood kick, a death ride,
Well they gave way to our blows;
But from two directors, what rode and what fought,
our second man stayed.
On the plate on the left long side the exodus of the soldiers of the 4th (Magdeburg) Infantry Regiment No. 67 and the Seydlitz cuirassiers from the city of Quedlinburg was shown. The scene took place on the market square in front of Quedlinburg town hall . The units were adopted by the city notables. Various people were specifically depicted. From right to left you can see: Court Assessor Hahn, the father of the sculptor Pensionner Anders, the poet Julius Wolff , banker Hermann Vogler, pensioner Wilhelm Wolff, Superintendent Theune, City Councilor Palm and to the left of him the 1st Mayor Gustav Brecht , giving a speech held. As part of his speech, below the board was the text So go! Think of your homeland and come back victorious, led by Wilhelm, the Emperor of the Germans to read. To Brecht's left was Senior Teacher Dr. Brinkmann, art and trade gardener Gustav Dippe, the commander of the 67s, Major von Wittich, the company chief Hauptmann Grüson, who also belongs to the 67s, the lieutenant in the 7th (Magdeburg) Cuirassier Regiment von Campbell, the Rittmeister in the Cuirassier Regiment von Heister , Sergeant Melcher of the 4th Squadron of the Cuirassier Regiment, the chief of the 4th Squadron, Rittmeister von Beulwitz, and ultimately the sculptor Anders at the bottom left.
On the right relief there was a picture of the proclamation of the emperor in Versailles . Underneath the tablet was the inscription Forget, my people, not the faithful dead. On the back of the memorial there were plaques with the names of 231 people who died in the two wars.
The Quedlinburg Victory Monument in Literature
The poet Julius Wolff, who comes from Quedlinburg, described the memorial with the words: “There is the equestrian image, cast in ore. A brave young Seydlitz cuirassier, sword in fist, tightly closed in the saddle, he blows up there with his animal ”.
literature
- Guide through Quedlinburg , Quedlinburg 1920, published on behalf of the municipal transport office by Dr. Selmar Kleemann, p. 22 ff.
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 47 '9.9 " N , 11 ° 9' 4.3" E