Lecture at the Archive Association Dessau, Heidestraße 21 (Old Water Tower)

Tuesday, 12 March 2024, at 7:00 pm
Lecture by Dr Frank Kreißler (Dessau-Roßlau)

The Franco-Prussian War of 1870/1871, in which soldiers from Anhalt fought, ended with a triumphant, comprehensive victory for the Germans and led to the unification of the Reich under the leadership of Prussia. This event prompted contemporaries to look for symbols that would visualise these achievements in a dignified form for the present and future and, in this context, also commemorate the fallen. The war memorials erected in many places fulfilled this function. In Dessau, a war memorial was erected in 1874 as a state memorial for Anhalt, which played a central role in commemorating the war in Anhalt until the First World War.

In his lecture, city archivist Dr Frank Kreißler explains who initiated the erection and with what intentions, describes the appearance of the memorial, which artists were involved in its design, which participants in the war were included in the commemoration and how they were identified. Finally, the enormous significance and culture of remembrance surrounding the memorial at times, but also its disappearance, will be analysed. The Dessau-Roßlau City Archive and the Dessau regional group of the Association for Anhaltic Regional Studies cordially invite you to this lecture on Tuesday, 12 March 2024, at 7 p.m. in the Dessau Archive Association (Alter Wasserturm, Heidestraße 21).