Trees Against Forgetting – A Memorial Site
Hindenburgplatz, next to the Stephani School, has become a memorial site for the history of the 20th century.
While in 1935, a large-scale memorial was erected there to glorify the Hitler regime, it wasn't until the following year that a monument to the fallen of the First World War (1914–1918) was built. Just a decade later, many families in the town mourned countless victims of this regime who lost their lives in the Second World War (1939–1945). People also remember them at this site today.
In issue 56/2001 of Alt-Gunzenhausen, Daniel Loy described the creation of this war memorial in detail, thus enabling us to present the following brief chronological account of the history of this site.
© Gunzenhausen City Archives
| 1935 The area north of the newly built Stephani School was laid out as a Nazi memorial grove/heroes' grove. Sixteen newly planted linden trees represent the sixteen comrades of Adolf Hitler who were killed during the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich in 1923. A wooden plaque bearing the name of a 'hero' stands at the base of each tree. |
| 1935 A 10-meter-high column made of Jura marble is erected centrally in front of the linden trees. It is crowned with an eagle, an oak wreath, and a swastika. |
| 1936 Below the grove, on the north side of the schoolhouse, six limestone block epitaphs were erected for the fallen of the First World War. A large cross is affixed to the front of each block. The names of the fallen soldiers from Gunzenhausen are engraved, arranged by year of the war. Missing soldiers are not mentioned. The names of those who were born here but no longer resided here were also not included. If relatives nevertheless placed great importance on having a fallen soldier named, a fee of 10 Reichsmarks was charged, which caused outrage and was not paid by everyone. Therefore, the list of names is incomplete. |
| 1945 Immediately after the victory over the Nazi regime at the end of World War II, American soldiers used heavy equipment to remove the upper part of the column and toppled it – eagle, oak wreath, and swastika. However, voices were also raised among the citizens demanding the felling of the 16 linden trees as well. After heated debate, the city council decided against this. While all the nameplates and information signs have been removed, the linden trees still stand today. Opinions on their continued existence remain divided. |
| 1958 A seventh block of Jura marble was erected for the victims of the Second World War. Since the disputes of 1936 were not to be repeated, and there was not enough space for the names of the 400 fallen, no one is named on this stone. |
| 1958 Subsequently, the names of the Jewish soldiers who fell in World War I are engraved on the epitaphs. The small Jewish community mourned six victims. |
| 1981 At the suggestion of the displaced persons living in Gunzenhausen, an epitaph was erected to commemorate those who lost their lives as a result of flight and displacement after World War II. The victims in the extermination camps were also to be remembered. |
| 1988 Mayor Willi Hilpert suggested that Epitaph 1 should receive an inscription commemorating the Jewish persecuted and victims. |
| 1989 Due to the renovation and expansion of the Stephani School, the memorial stones were in an inconvenient location and were moved under the linden trees. Today, this site is a war memorial for the victims of the First and Second World Wars as well as the Nazi dictatorship. In the same year, a fountain, planned as early as 1936, was constructed and surrounded by a bench for visitors. |
| 2018 At the suggestion of Prof. Shula Reinharz, a granddaughter of the Jewish physician Dr. Karl Rothschild, the Star of David was engraved next to the name of every Jewish soldier killed in action. |
| 2023 To mark the city's 1200th anniversary, a total of 1200 trees were planted throughout the city. As part of this initiative, maple trees were planted along the paths on the south side of Hindenburgplatz to commemorate the Jewish community, which existed in Gunzenhausen for 700 years. This is significant not only for their descendants but also serves as a reminder to the citizens of how enriching the social, cultural, and economic life of the city was for Jews. So far, eleven trees have been planted in this square. Every visitor who comes to the city of their Jewish ancestors and does not yet find a tree for their family has the opportunity to plant a maple tree, which will be marked with a nameplate. |
And so this memorial site unites many facets of the difficult history that the people of the 20th century had to experience firsthand.