Fall of the Knight Memorial

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Rittersturz viewpoint with the monument
Memorial to the Rittersturz conference at the viewpoint Rittersturz
The memorial stone in front of the column

The Rittersturz Memorial in Koblenz is a memorial that commemorates the Rittersturz Conference that took place there in 1948. It is located on the Rittersturz in the city ​​forest .

history

From July 8 to 10, 1948, the mountain hotel on the Rittersturz in Koblenz was the scene of the conference of the same name. The Koblenz resolutions made here were a fundamental decision for the merger of the three western zones of occupation to form the Federal Republic of Germany and thus for the temporary separation from the Soviet zone . The mountain hotel had to be demolished in October 1972 for safety reasons because of the risk of rock falls. A bronze commemorative plaque attached to the hotel to commemorate the Knight Fall Conference is now in the foyer of the Koblenz State Archives .

In 1978, a few years after the hotel was demolished, a memorial was erected on the open space at the instigation of a citizens' initiative. The design by the Koblenz sculptor Rudi Scheuermann prevailed in a nationwide competition . In memory of the historical conference, the Knight Fall Memorial was inaugurated on July 8, 1978. For the 60th anniversary of the Rittersturz conference in July 2008, the memorial was extensively restored and the green area around the basalt column redesigned.

construction

The Rittersturz monument is a six-meter-high tripartite stele made of basalt which, in its three bundles, represents the pillars of the democratic state: legislative , executive and judicial . According to another opinion, it symbolizes the three zones of occupation. Its inclination to the east indicates the missing fourth. On a stone in front of the basalt column is written: “ Here on the Rittersturz, the conference of the German Prime Ministers met on July 8th, 9th and 10th, 1948. Their deliberations led to the adoption of the Basic Law and the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany via the Parliamentary Council. "

See also

literature

  • Energieversorgung Mittelrhein GmbH (ed.): History of the city of Koblenz . Overall editing: Ingrid Bátori in conjunction with Dieter Kerber and Hans Josef Schmidt
    • Vol. 1: From the beginning to the end of the electoral era . Theiss, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-8062-0876-X .
    • Vol. 2: From the French city to the present . Theiss, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-8062-1036-5 .
  • Wolfgang Schütz: Koblenz heads. People from the city's history - namesake for streets and squares. Verlag für Werbung Blätter GmbH, Ed .: Bernd Weber, Mülheim-Kärlich 2005 (2nd revised and expanded edition), p. 466f.

Web links

Commons : Rittersturz monument in Koblenz  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 19 ′ 41.1 ″  N , 7 ° 34 ′ 56.1 ″  E