Urban Thiersch

Group of figures The Stauffenberg Brothers in the Württemberg State Museum

Urban Thiersch (born August 17, 1916 in Halle an der Saale ; † September 8, 1984 in Prien am Chiemsee ) was a sculptor and was in close contact with the events of July 20, 1944 .

Life

Childhood and teaching

Urban Thiersch was born on August 17, 1916 in Halle an der Saale. After the father's death, the family moved to Potsdam . During this time he began to do plastic work in wood, stone and clay. In turning to plastic or sculptural work a certain artistic family heritage asserted itself in the event of Urban Thiersch: He came from the Munich family Thiersch, you were well-known artists as the architect Friedrich von Thiersch , the painter Ludwig Thiersch and book artist Frieda Thiersch on . Urban's mother, the painter Fanny Thiersch (née Hildebrandt ) and his father Paul Thiersch , who was an architect and from 1915 to 1928 led and reformed the crafts and arts and crafts school in Halle an der Saale , also had artistic talent .

After graduating in 1935, Urban Thiersch completed an apprenticeship as a stonemason in Berlin and worked in a plaster molding shop. He had been in contact with the well-known German writer Stefan George since he was a child, and especially after his 16th birthday . When George died on December 4, 1933, he maintained the connection to his friends, which was mediated by Rudolf Fahrner . In particular, the contact with the sculptor Viktor Frank (actually Frank Mehnert ) deepened.

From 1937 to 1945 Urban Thiersch served as an officer in the Wehrmacht . After a serious wound in Russia , he was called up to serve in the replacement army .

Urban Thiersch and July 20, 1944

In 1944 he was first lieutenant in the reserve chief of a replacement battery in Regensburg . Peter Hoffmann describes how Urban Thiersch was accepted into the circle around Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg and the resistance against National Socialism as follows:

"Fahrner know said Claus Stauffenberg that he would expose a few of the risk of loss as possible, but he needed a reliable officer he of to the Chief Reich Security Main Office incorporated Amt Ausland / defense of the High Command , Colonel dG Hansen could provide, to the side who is too surrounded by informers. Fahrner named Lieutenant Urban Thiersch, the sculptor friend who was seriously wounded in Russia, and now the head of a replacement battery in Regensburg. Stauffenberg ordered Thiersch by telegram to Berlin and received him on July 1st, like Fahrner, with the words: 'Let's go into medias res, I am guilty of high treason with all the means at my disposal. "

According to the historian Peter Hoffmann , Thiersch's function within the circle of conspirators was the function of a liaison:

“On July 1st, Claus Stauffenberg told a sculptor friend, Lieutenant Artillery Urban Thiersch, who came to Colonel Hansen as Stauffenberg's liaison, that the upheaval could not change the inescapably hopeless military situation, but it could still prevent a lot of bloodshed and the disgrace of the present Government to be eliminated. "

Eberhard Zeller mentions Urban Thiersch under the name of the "other young participants [of July 20, 1944] who are to be mentioned with Haeften and with Stauffenberg". However, he does not go into detail on Thiersch's position or function. According to Urban Thiersch's adopted son, Paul Thiersch, his father is said to have served as Stauffenberg's personal aide in the last few days before the assassination attempt . Rudolf Fahrner states in his memoirs from 1903 to 1945 that Urban Thiersch was assigned to Colonel Hansen as an orderly officer. This source, together with those already listed above, at least suggests that Thiersch, thanks to his personal and very close contacts with central actors in the assassination (as has been proven to Stauffenberg), had deep insights and profound knowledge of the assassination plans.

In contrast to the main protagonists of the conspiracy , Thiersch was able to escape persecution and execution after the failure of the assassination attempt because of his relatively unknown involvement. Since Eberhard Zeller states that Thiersch performed “compulsory military service and military service from 1937 to 1945”, it can be concluded that he must have succeeded in evading any suspicion. In his Mein Leben mit Offa, Rudolf Fahrner describes the exact circumstances of Thiersch's successful escape from the Gestapo authorities :

“Urban’s planned work had not come to fruition because Hansen was absent on July 20th. Meanwhile he was arrested and a new SS chief had taken over the Abwehr. Urban then applied to be relocated to his location and the new manager carelessly agreed. Urban's regimental adjutant in Regensburg had destroyed the telegram for his transfer to Berlin and given him the only allowed 'hunting leave' for eight days. "

Urban Thiersch used his “hunting holiday” to find his friend Rudolf Fahrner and his sister Gemma Wolters-Thiersch at the “Haus am See” in Überlingen . On September 15 or 16, 1945, Count Alexander Schenk von Stauffenberg , the only survivor of the three Stauffenberg brothers, was also supposed to arrive at Lake Constance and become a member of the Überlingen “Haus am See” community.

After the Second World War

From 1948 to 1951 Urban Thiersch studied as a master student with Joseph Wackerle at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich . In 1950 he received the French State Scholarship and spent a study visit to Paris and southern France . Thiersch had already undertaken various study trips to Spain , Asia Minor , Greece , Italy , Sicily and Holland since 1934 .

Since 1948 Thiersch was involved in the founding and management of artisan workshop groups on the North Sea island of Juist , with his collaboration particularly in the areas of weaving and pottery . Urban Thiersch's brother Stefan was instrumental in building and completing the Weberhof Juist in 1934. In addition to the brothers Stefan and Urban Thiersch, their sister Gemma Wolters-Thiersch, Rudolf Fahrner and Nanna Cremer, who had initiated the Weberhof, were among the driving forces who committed themselves to maintaining and continuing the Weberhof in the difficult situation after the end of the war.

In 1955 Urban Thiersch set up his own studio in Nymphenburg and in 1965 in Schönau near Berchtesgaden .

Most recently he lived in Oberschönau , on the Königssee and on Juist. That Urban Thiersch spent the last years of his life mainly near Berchtesgaden was confirmed by his niece Ulla Thiersch von Keizer. Paul Thiersch specified this information by stating that his father spent about three months of the year with the above-mentioned management of the workshop groups on Juist and devoted the rest of the year to freelance studio work at his main residence on the Königssee. Urban Thiersch died on September 8, 1984.

Life's work

According to the current state of research, little is known about the scope and breadth of Urban Thiersch's life's work. If one wants to obtain or offer a representative overview of Thiersch's oeuvre, further research has proven to be inevitable on this point as well. The aforementioned publication by the Stefan George Foundation with the title “Urban Thiersch. 28 Sculptures. ”, Which reproduces a selection of sculptures from the years 1944 to 1972, at least gives the impression that the range of Thiersch's oeuvre includes both portrait busts and figurative sculptures that v. a. were worked in bronze, wood or clay, as well as included plastic representations of animals.

In July 2004 a memorial for the Stauffenberg brothers was set up in the old castle in Stuttgart , in which, in addition to memorial plaques, a group of bronze figures of the three brothers by Urban Thiersch was set up. An exhibition / memorial to the Stauffenberg brothers is being built in the archive building of the Old Castle and is due to be completed in 2006. The Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg is responsible for the conception of the exhibition .

literature

• Eberhard Zeller / Urban Thiersch: 28 sculptures. Küpper, Düsseldorf / Munich 1974; ISBN 3-7835-0101-6 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Urban Thiersch in the catalog of the German National Library