Monuments for Deserters
from the Nazi Military (Wehrmacht)
Right click any image to enlarge.
July 1916 - "The Deserter," from The Masses, New York City, New York (USA). Cartoon by Boardman Robinson [1876-1952]. "The creator of the Masses, Max Eastman [1883-1969] - who faced prison along with Robinson, Minor & others - had this to say about what is probably Robinson’s most famous cartoon: "Surprisingly as it may seem, he actually introduced into America the idea, as old as Daumier, that cartoons should have the values of art as well as of meaning. When Mike 'blew in' with a picture of a white-clad, saintly Jesus standing against a stone wall facing the rifles of a brutish firing squad, I felt that number [of The Masses] deserved a place in the history of art."
D E N K M A L October 1986 - Denkmal für den unbekannten Deserteur / Monument to the Unknown Deserter, Gustav-Heinemann Büergerhaus, Bremen-Vegesack, Bremen (Germany). "A one meter high pedestal [and] a sculpture of a soldier's head, covered with a helmet and camouflage net. The inscription reads, 'For the unknown deserter'. The memorial was commissioned by a group called 'Gruppe Reservisten verweigern sich' / 'Group of resisting reservists.'" Gustav Heinemann [1899-1976] "was German Minister of Interior Affairs from 1949 to 1950, Minister of Justice from 1966 to 1969, and President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1969 to 1974. He was famous for being open-minded with respect to the student protests of 1968, and he tried to keep his office as down-to-earth as possible. In the Weimar Republic, Heinemann was member of the Christian Social People's Service (CSVD). After World War II he was one of the founders of the CDU and became mayor of the city of Essen. He was Minister of the Interior in the first cabinet of Konrad Adenauer. He left the cabinet in 1950 and the CDU in 1952 to form the All-German People's Party (GVP) with Helene Wessel and other CDU and Center Party members. In 1957 he, and most GVP members, joined the SPD. In the grand coalition (1966-69) he was Minister of Justice. In 1969 he became the first SPD member to be elected President of Germany since the death of Reichspräsident Friedrich Ebert (president since 1919) in 1925. The Gustav-Heinemann-Friedenspreis für Kinder- und Jugendbücher / Gustav Heinemann Peace Prize for Children's and Youth Books is awarded every year for a book judged to have best promoted the cause of world peace."
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Proposed in 2004 - "The Welcoming," Nelson, British Columbia (Canada). Also known as the "Draft Dodger Monument." "Roughly 125,000 Americans crossed the border into Canada during the 1960's and 1970's because of their opposition to the Vietnam War. Many settled in the Nelson area. The planned statue depicts a Canadian reaching out to help a two US draft dodgers. The plan got the attention of FOX-TV News in the U.S. and has come under fire from Americans, veterans groups and some Canadian politicians. As a result of the criticism, the city of Nelson, afraid of alienating US tourists, has distanced itself from the proposal." "More recently, servicemen deserting from America's war with Iraq have found their way to Nelson."
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KAugust 8, 2006 - Franz Jägerstätter Park, Braunau am Inn, Upper Austria (Austria). Franz Jägerstätter [1907-1943] was an Austrian conscientious objector sentenced to death and executed by Nazi Germany during World War II. He was beatified by the Roman Catholic Church on October 26, 2007, in Linz (Austria). Park identified by Gerard Lössbroek (Pax Christi) who attended the opening ceremony. 2006.
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TNovember 19, 2005 - Memorial to Deserters, Lehrertal entrance, university botanical garden, Ulm (Germany). Creation of Hannah Stuetz Menzel. Memorializes men who deserted the Wehrmacht during World War II. (15,000 were executed.) Information courtesy of Mark Hatlie.
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October 24, 2014 - Deserteursdenkmal / Deserters Monument, Vienna (Austria). Opposite Austria's federal chancellery building. X-shaped monument with "all alone" etched multiple times across its top. "It follows a decision by Austria's parliament in 2009 to rehabilitate thousands of soldiers criminalised by the Nazis for desertion." Information courtesy of Gerard Lössbroek.
November 24, 2015 - Deserteursdenkmal / Deserters Monument, City Center, Hamburg (Germany). Google translation: "For deserters & other victims of Nazi military justice. Before the war Klotz now stands a small wall with the inscription: 'The Second World War was a war of extermination and Anggriffs-, an indebted by Nazi Germany crimes' [and] the words Helmut Heissenbuttel [1921-1996]... completed by an integrated Hörcollage, grows with biographical data of those executed. All in all a thoroughly exciting and modern memorial installation. Pity the Hannover did not have to go a similar way open heart..." /// Information courtesy of Gerard Lössbroek (Pax Christi International).
