By Maik Ullmann & Alexander Kraus

While the oak leaves in Germanic mythology stand for the unwavering courage shown by the fallen on the battlefield, the cannon barrel underscores the conflict with France, which has not been overcome.

At the time of the founding of the German Empire in January 1871, the eagle was still considered a symbol of the united German people. After 1918, its symbolism shifted in reactionary circles to become a symbol of German revanchism:-__-0000-__- As an expression of longing for the past empire, it was at the same time a sign of the effectiveness of conservative structures in the still young Weimar Republic. It is not by chance that he looks with proudly raised head to the west in the direction of the then "hereditary enemy" France; at the same time he has extended his claws and spread his powerful wings protectively over oak leaves, a bare flag and the monument. It seems as if the eagle protects the fallen of the place like a madonna. -__-0001-__- Through the steel helmet, a heroization of the death of the Almker soldiers takes place, this stands in connection with a laurel wreath - similar to the oak leaves - symbolically for the courage of the fallen, who gave their lives for the "German fatherland".

Unfortunately, no records of the foundation of the monument have survived. Also the local newspapers do not announce anything about the event, which was so significant for the village. All the more valuable, therefore, are two photographs of the dedication of the war memorial, which Councilman Joachim Sievers made available to the Institute for Contemporary History and City Presentation in 2017. They provide an impressive picture of the continuing effectiveness of militarism in the young Weimar Republic.

The first shot is apparently initiated by the Landwehr-Verein Almke itself. It is quite obviously arranged by the photographer and shows four military uniformed men each to the right and left side of the monument, looking closed in the direction of the camera. The heels of their marching boots folded together, the butt of the repeating rifle placed on the ground and holding the barrel in the right hand, a soldier dressed in a simple field-grey tunic forms the beginning of the rows starting from the monument. On the basis of the characteristic headgear, a so-called chapka, decorated with a golden Peninsula emblem in the form of the two-headed imperial eagle, three former royal Uhlans can be identified among the remaining six soldiers. Likewise, the portepee on the hilt of the sword of the soldier at the end of the left row suggests that he served in a cavalry regiment. The center of the picture is the memorial decorated with wreaths and garlands.

According to the minute book of the Landwehr-Verein Almke, this "-__-0000-__- previous meeting formed on the 18th -__-0001-__-".-__-0002-__- The 24 men, among them former soldiers of the German Imperial Army, dedicated themselves to the preservation of the "old-__-0003-__- comradeship" and the "support of the bereaved of fallen war comrades". Barely two months later, the association recognized the normal statutes of the right-wing conservative Kyffhäuserbund,-__-0004-__- whose goals included the continuation of militaristic traditions and the fight against the "Dictate of Versailles." Thus, the Landwehr-Verein Almke officially became part of the German Imperial Warriors' League "Kyffhäuser". It is one more proof of the continuity of militarism and the persistence of "authoritarian and anti-democratic structures" in the Weimar Republic -__-0005-__- - and this especially in rural regions.-__-0006-__-.

A second historical photograph shows the day of the flag consecration of the warriors' association and corresponds with the first. Taken on May 14, 1923 - immediately before the first anniversary of the founding of the association - the photograph shows 36 men and 15 women dressed in white, staggered in four superimposed rows to the side in front of the monument. To emphasize their attachment to Prussianism, they all wear black-white-black sashes. The 36 men, most of them wearing a field cap with cockade and some of them decorated with medals, look in a good mood and with raised heads in the direction of the camera. Central in the lowest row, a belly band knotted around the hips: Hermann Niebuhr, second chairman of the Landwehrverein and former King's Ulane during the First World War. Above the ranks centrally to recognize: the consecrated flag. On this flag is a black eagle framed by oak leaves. To the left of it flies in the background, to emphasize the right-wing conservative attitude, the flag of the defunct German Empire. In front of the first row, once to the left and once to the right, four carbines are leaning against each other, precisely those rifles that were predominantly used by the German infantry during the war. Thus, this photograph also documents the social significance of militarism, which had solidified and established itself in the course of the wars of unification in the 1860s and early 1870s. Hierarchical structures from the military, such as the iron principles of command and obedience, extended to all levels of society - even to education.-__-0000-__- Therefore, it can be assumed that the symbols used on the Almker memorial, such as the eagle or the steel helmet, were easy for viewers to decode.-.__-0001-__- The special position of the military and the heroization of soldiering -__-0002-__- lasted in Germany within right-wing conservative circles until well after the end of the First World War. - The Almk memorial was extended after the Second World War - when exactly, could not be determined so far - by two plain side wings, on which the Almk fallen of this war are recorded. The names of at least four soldiers who posed in front of the memorial in the early 1920s in honor of their fallen comrades can also be found on them.

In February 1947, the State of Prussia ceased to exist "as the bearer of militarism and reaction in Germany" according to the decision of the Control Council Law No. 46. Identified by the Allied victorious powers as the origin of the war propaganda that had been disseminated for decades and in three forms of state, the dissolution of the state was intended to bring about a rupture within the German culture of remembrance and thus prevent the continuation of reactionary structures, as had happened after 1918. At that time, the first war clubs were formed only a few weeks after the revolutionary events of November 9. The Allies now counteracted a possible repetition at a correspondingly early stage: Having been absorbed into the SA reserve regiments in the mid-1930s, the various Kriegervereine were considered part of the shattered NSDAP apparatus and were therefore legally barred from being re-established after October 1945. Whereas after World War I the Weimar Republic was haunted by the "stab in the back" legend and the widespread myth of the "army undefeated in the field," the postwar reality in 1945 was different: The Wehrmacht was simply defeated. Therefore, a seemingly innocent culture of remembrance distanced from militarism established itself. Reservation and silence inherited German postwar revanchism.

Sources:

-__-0000-__- Meinhold Lurz, War Memorials in Germany. Volume 4: Weimar Republic. Heidelberg 1985, p. 241.
-__-0001-__- Ibid, p. 242.
-__-0002-__- Almker minute book from the possession of Joachim Sievers, foundation of the association in May 1922.
-__-0003-__- Ibid, 2nd Ordinary General Meeting of July 16, 1922.
-__-0004-__- Geoff Eley, Wilhelminism, Nationalism, Fascism. On Historical Continuity in Germany. Münster 1991, p. 209.
-__-0005-__- Sabine Behrenbeck, "Zwischen Trauer und Heroisierung. Vom Umgang mit Kriegstod und Niederlage nach 1918," in Jörg Duppler/Gerhard P. Groß (eds.), Kriegsende 1918. Ereignis, Wirkung, Nachwirkung. Munich 1999, pp. 315-339, here pp. 323f.
-__-0006-__- Emilio Willems, Prussian-German Militarism. A cultural complex in social change. Cologne 1984, p. 92.
-__-0007-__- On this, Jens Jäger, "Reflections on a Historiographical Image Analysis," in Historische Zeitschrift, vol. 304 (2017), pp. 655-682, here p. 674: the "conventional meaning -__-0008-__- results from the depiction of an everyday and well-known act, d-__-0009-__- abandoning a ship, the recognition of the protagonists, the indissolubly linked textual addition, the place of publication, and the then current knowledge."
-__-0010-__- Manfred Messerschmidt, Militarism, War of Annihilation, Historical Politics. On German Military and Legal History. Paderborn/Munich/Vienna/Zurich 2006, p. 4.


Published 07.11.2018