Tannenberg Memorial
| Tannenberg Memorial | |
|---|---|
| Hohenstein, East Prussia (Olsztynek) | |
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| Coordinates | 53°34′53″N 20°15′39″E / 53.58139°N 20.26083°ECoordinates: 53°34′53″N 20°15′39″E / 53.58139°N 20.26083°E |
| Site information | |
| Open to the public |
Yes |
| Condition | Overgrown rubble |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1924-1927 |
| Built by | Johannes and Walter Krüger, Berlin |
| Demolished | 1945, 1950, 1980s |
The Tannenberg Memorial was a monument to the German soldiers of the second Battle of Tannenberg in 1914 which was named after the medieval battle of the same name. The victorious German commander, Generalfeldmarschall Paul von Hindenburg, became a national hero, and was later elected Reichspräsident.
Dedicated by Hindenburg on the 10th anniversary of the Battle of Tannenberg in 1924 near Hohenstein (Ostpreußen) (now Olsztynek, Poland), the structure, which was financed by donations, was built by the architects Johannes and Walter Krüger of Berlin and completed in 1927. The octagonal layout with eight towers, each 67 feet (20 m) high, was influenced by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II's Castel del Monte, and by Stonehenge.
When Reichspräsident Hindenburg died in 1934, his coffin and that of his wife, who had died in 1921, were placed there despite his wishes to be buried at his family plot in Hanover.Adolf Hitler ordered the monument to be redesigned and renamed "Reichsehrenmal Tannenberg". As the Red Army approached in 1945, German troops removed Hindenburg's remains and partly demolished key structures. In the 1950s, Polish authorities razed the site, leaving few traces.
The memorial embraced the Anglo/French concept of the Unknown Soldier. In doing so, the architects anticipated the concept of Totenburgen (Fortresses of the Dead) housing mass graves of soldiers. This ideology was mooted in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. The architects imagined the memorial to be a new volkish "community of the dead" and incorporated the burial of 20 unknown German soldiers from the Eastern Front into the project concept.
The memorial was built in a prominent place in a shape reminiscent of the castles of the Teutonic Knights. The monument's location on a hilltop was accentuated by massive earthworks and landscaping designed to look as if nature alone had shaped the site. The design influenced other projects undertaken by architects and builders during the era.
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