the collective memorial
Käthe Kollwitz's sculpture located inside the memorial
Berlin has suffered through many failed oppressive regimes and as a result, built many memorials in order to commemorate the people who died. One famous war memorial located on Unter den Linden commemorates a line of victims who suffered through wars, Fascism, and Communism. The Neue Wache (New Guard House) has been a popular memorial used by various systems of government in Germany to commemorate war victims, soldiers who died fighting, and innocent victims. Throughout the years, the Neue Wache has been altered many times, and as a result has been ‘blanked’ various times in order to commemorate new victims of terror. Changing the use of a memorial alters its purpose and redefines what it is meant to commemorate. Although the Neue Wache is seen as a historical monument that reminds us of the tragedies of war, the history of its possessors including the monarchy, the Weimar Republic, and the GDR has altered its original purpose and history. What was originally meant to be a Royal guardhouse for the Crown Prince of Prussia is now a “Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Victims of War and Tyranny.”
The Neue Wache, built by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1816-1818, was commissioned by King Friedrich Wilhelm III to house his troops. The building served as a royal guardhouse until the end of World War I when the Prussian monarchy ended in 1918. The building lost its intended purpose and was decided later in 1931 for the interior to be redesigned in order to commemorate those who lost their lives in WWI. The Weimar Republic commissioned Heinrich Tessenow to redesign the building as a “Memorial for the Fallen of the War” and his interior design of the building brought a modern approach to a Classical style exterior. This was the beginning of the many war memorials to be displayed inside the Neue Wache.
War memorials enable "survivors to come to terms with loss [and] can reflect and encourage either an explicit mourning of the reality of death or its melancholic occlusion and transfiguration for identity-forging purposes" (Forner).* The previous German nationalism and pride was shattered with the defeat of World War I and by building a war memorial to remind people of those who died, Germany slowly approached an understanding of the tragedies of war. Unfortunately this did not last with the failure of the Weimar Republic and the rise of power and radical ideas of the Nazis leading Germany into another disastrous battle.
Near the end of World War II, many prominent buildings of Berlin were badly bombed and damaged. Consequently, the end of another world war divided the German people even further and most of Eastern Berlin was occupied by the Soviet Union including the Neue Wache. The German Democratic Republic (GDR) decided to restore the Neue Wache and in 1960, dedicated the building to house the “Memorial to the Victims of Fascism and Militarism." In 1969, as a commemoration for the 20th anniversary of the GDR, an eternal flame was placed in the center of the hall inside of a glass cube. The remains of an unknown soldier, an unknown resistance fighter, and urns with soil from concentration camps and battlefields were added to the memorial.
Lastly, when the Berlin Wall came down and the reunification of Germany was finally established, German chancellor Helmut Kohl announced in 1993 that the Neue Wache would become a national memorial that would address all victims of war in Germany. At this point, the idea to make a memorial that would display a collective unit of victims angered some people. Moreover, for the fourth time, the Neue Wache was used as a memorial now by the unified Federal Republic which made the site even burdened. The public was highly aggravated by the idea that the Neue Wache would once again house another memorial that dedicated itself to “victims” of war.
Today, the Neue Wache displays an enlarged sculpture by Käthe Kollwitz called Mother with her Dead Son is placed in the center of the building. Kollwitz’s bronze sculpture is considered a pieta and there were some debates about the allusion to Christian iconography (Brunberg). Nonetheless, Kohl was determined to display this sculpture saying it is a "Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Victims of War and Tyranny" symbolizing the final unity of Germany as a democracy.
Interestingly, what makes the Neue Wache different from other memorials is that it is a collective one, one that was altered throughout the course of history and managed to survive and adapt as a memorial. Although the Neue Wache has ‘blanked’ its past memorials, it has nonetheless become a memorial that commemorates all victims who have suffered under oppressive regimes. This is an example of where art still manages to function even after the use of a public space has been altered many times.
*Forner, Sean A. "War Commemoration and the Republic in Crisis: Weimar Germany and the Neue Wache." Conference Group for Central European History of the American Historical Association 35.4 (2002): 513-49. JSTOR. Web.
The Neue Wache, built by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1816-1818, was commissioned by King Friedrich Wilhelm III to house his troops. The building served as a royal guardhouse until the end of World War I when the Prussian monarchy ended in 1918. The building lost its intended purpose and was decided later in 1931 for the interior to be redesigned in order to commemorate those who lost their lives in WWI. The Weimar Republic commissioned Heinrich Tessenow to redesign the building as a “Memorial for the Fallen of the War” and his interior design of the building brought a modern approach to a Classical style exterior. This was the beginning of the many war memorials to be displayed inside the Neue Wache.
War memorials enable "survivors to come to terms with loss [and] can reflect and encourage either an explicit mourning of the reality of death or its melancholic occlusion and transfiguration for identity-forging purposes" (Forner).* The previous German nationalism and pride was shattered with the defeat of World War I and by building a war memorial to remind people of those who died, Germany slowly approached an understanding of the tragedies of war. Unfortunately this did not last with the failure of the Weimar Republic and the rise of power and radical ideas of the Nazis leading Germany into another disastrous battle.
Near the end of World War II, many prominent buildings of Berlin were badly bombed and damaged. Consequently, the end of another world war divided the German people even further and most of Eastern Berlin was occupied by the Soviet Union including the Neue Wache. The German Democratic Republic (GDR) decided to restore the Neue Wache and in 1960, dedicated the building to house the “Memorial to the Victims of Fascism and Militarism." In 1969, as a commemoration for the 20th anniversary of the GDR, an eternal flame was placed in the center of the hall inside of a glass cube. The remains of an unknown soldier, an unknown resistance fighter, and urns with soil from concentration camps and battlefields were added to the memorial.
Lastly, when the Berlin Wall came down and the reunification of Germany was finally established, German chancellor Helmut Kohl announced in 1993 that the Neue Wache would become a national memorial that would address all victims of war in Germany. At this point, the idea to make a memorial that would display a collective unit of victims angered some people. Moreover, for the fourth time, the Neue Wache was used as a memorial now by the unified Federal Republic which made the site even burdened. The public was highly aggravated by the idea that the Neue Wache would once again house another memorial that dedicated itself to “victims” of war.
Today, the Neue Wache displays an enlarged sculpture by Käthe Kollwitz called Mother with her Dead Son is placed in the center of the building. Kollwitz’s bronze sculpture is considered a pieta and there were some debates about the allusion to Christian iconography (Brunberg). Nonetheless, Kohl was determined to display this sculpture saying it is a "Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Victims of War and Tyranny" symbolizing the final unity of Germany as a democracy.
Interestingly, what makes the Neue Wache different from other memorials is that it is a collective one, one that was altered throughout the course of history and managed to survive and adapt as a memorial. Although the Neue Wache has ‘blanked’ its past memorials, it has nonetheless become a memorial that commemorates all victims who have suffered under oppressive regimes. This is an example of where art still manages to function even after the use of a public space has been altered many times.
*Forner, Sean A. "War Commemoration and the Republic in Crisis: Weimar Germany and the Neue Wache." Conference Group for Central European History of the American Historical Association 35.4 (2002): 513-49. JSTOR. Web.
Neue Wache (1922)
|
Nazis marching in front of the Neue Wache (1931)
|
Picture of the Eternal Flame (1970)
|
Changing of the Guards (1984)
|
