![]() Another discussion still going on pertains to the 12 to 18 million German inhabitants who were dislodged. Discussion closed, one is likely to think but occasionally, it erupts again like in 2004, for instance, when a few Germans demanded a compensation for expropriated possessions in the former German provinces. Its residents are mostly Polish, and only its buildings still betray traces of German origin. After 1945, the area permanently belonged to Poland. This resulted in Germany’s quest to reconquer the territory in 1939 and subsequent the Second World War. This caused a lot of debates during the 1930s since Germany refused to accept its loss, partly because of a sizable number of ethnic Germans still remaining. In total, Germany lost over 70.000 acres, or 1/8 of its territory.Įast-Prussia continued to exist as a German province in the shape of a small area bordering on the Baltic Sea, but separated by Polish territory. After the defeat following the First World War a significant proportion of these areas were assigned to Poland. The former Schlesien (Silesia), Posen, East- and West-Prussia were located in what is nowadays Polish and Russian territory. However, the country’s territory to the east in the direction of Russia was significantly larger. Between 18, Germany, also known as the "Kaiserreich", was a monarchy that verged on approximately the same western borders familiar to us today. It is important to understand that the European borders were subject to modification during the 20th century. One who tries to search a map for its location today would be disappointed. Yet, first we need to understand what East-Prussia exactly meant. In sacred silence and loneliness, the Totenburg is positioned in the wide Eastern landscape where the great field marshal rests among his soldiers.įront page of a magazine published during the inauguration. ![]() Now, no noise can disturb the peace of the dead anymore. In the direction of the World War’s battlefield the forest is laid bare and against its backdrop one can find its mountainous area, for whichy such fierce battles were fought. At the foot of the hill lies a lake surrounded by meadows and woodlands typical of East-Prussia. The landscape was significantly opened up and the memorial itself elevated. In the new Germany, the grand Totenburg Tannenberg received great prestige. It used to be inevitable that the noise of daily life and the irreligious warts of tourist traffic could be heard even below the walls and towers of the Tannenberg memorial. But it also proves that the national socialist philosophy was the first to create the conditions for such a significant monumental construction of these types of memorials. The Tannenberg memorial, designated an Imperial monument by the Führer, proves how such a communal remembrance can be realized in a special local landscape such as East-Prussia. These memorials expressed the reverence of the whole community for those who died during the war. During the years following the war, the ‘Volksbond voor de verzorging van Duitsche oorlogsgraven uit den wereldoorlog’ (People's Union for the care of German wargraves’) erected memorials for the front line soldiers in expansion of its tasks of looking after the soldiers’ graves from the war. A united nation honors the memory of those who died for the community. It is a perfect expression of the zeitgeist. ![]() Troost and published by Uitgeverij Westland in 1943, we can learn the following about the Tannenberg memorial. In "Het bouwen in het Derde Rijk" ("Engineering in the Third Reich") written by G. The Tannenberg memorial is such a monument. ![]() It is not surprising therefore that many memorials were erected to honor victorious battles, military leaders, and fallen soldiers. To die for the country was tragic yet honorable. Six decades before that, however, people thought very differently regarding this subject. This is not incomprehensible given the horrific events of the Second World War. People are rather pacifistic and tend to commemorate victims of the persecution and other acts of violence. These types of hero worship do not longer suit the 21st century. In today’s Germany, people in general do not commemorate military acts of heroism, heroic personages or memorials. ![]() Source: Maurice Laarman Collection Hero worship ![]()
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