Tuebingen/Derendingen and Tuebingen/Weilheim World War Memorials
Pictures and text by Mark R. Hatlie
These pictures were taken on August 17, 2005 at the Protestant church Tuebingen/Weilheim.
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The hurch is near the center of the village. At the back of the church, but next to the main road through town, the World War One monument just barely peaks up above a high wall. It is quite obvious, however, once inside the gate in the churchyard. |
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The World War One memorial is an obelisk. At the top is a simple cross which is almost, but not quite, the same shape as the military "iron cross". Each of the other three sides of the obelisk sites a Bible verse. |
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The names are listed chronologically, with the exception of the special section for "missing" a the end. Each name has a date of death followed by the location. |
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The names of all the fallen, their date of death, and the place they fell are engraved and colored on the side facing away from the church. |
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The World War Two memorial is a stone plaque placed on the outside wall of the church immediately behind the World War One obelisk. The cross is devoid of military connotaion and the words along the top read, as if spoken by the dead, We admonish to peace or, more loosely translating, Let us be a reminder to not go to war. |
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Closeup of the names of the fallen. A few things are worth pointing out. For one thing, one man went missing France in 1943. There were no allied troops and hence no major battles in France during that year. He must have been a pilot, killed by the resistance, or perhaps killed by Allied aircraft or killed in training. See how the rate of casualties increases so dramatically as the war progresses. Only one killed in 1939. Only one killed in 1940, at the hight of the war's popularity. Then, when the war in the Soviet Union starts, there are six killed in 1941. Then... |
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...eight in 1942, eight in 1943 and six in 1944,... |
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...and then the Red Army and the western Allies come crashing into Germany and eleven men die. |
