World War One Memorials

Almost none of the more than 800 cemeteries of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge is described in detail as the Totenburg of Quero, Italy, on the right bank of the Piave river, near the fighting lines of the Ww1st front. This testifies to the importance and the representativeness of this architecutre for the Third Reich abroad.

In the autumn of 1919 Lord Leconfield announced the establishment of commoners’ rights over the summit of Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England, donating the land to the National Trust ‘as a memorial to the men of the Lake District who fell in the War’.  At the same time the Fell and Rock Climbing Club of the English Lake District began deliberating how best to memorialize fallen club members.  After much debate they resolved to buy a large swathe of the high fells of the central Lake District.  Having failed to buy Pillar Rock and Napes Needle, the club raised the sum of £400 to buy ‘a vast acreage of the high ground on all sides of the Sty Head pass, embracing twelve fells – among them Broad Crag, Kirk Fell, Brandreth, Glaramara, Great End, and at the centre, Great Gable’.  The land was donated to the National Trust.  June, 1924 saw the inauguration of a bronze memorial tablet inscribed with the names of the fallen, surmounted by a relief model of the acquired land, the inscription dedicating the land ‘for the use and enjoyment of the people of our land for all time’.  This paper examines how land purchase and donation sacralised the Lake District landscape in the minds of many mountaineers.  Having appropriated the Lake District terrain into an imaginative sporting, athletic and exploratory territory, establishing the mountains as cenotaphs added new layers of meaning to the Lake District as a cultural landscape.  Far from being discreet sites of memory, the whole landscape itself became an extensive memorious landscape in which all action and human agency corresponded with fallen comrades.  Mountaineering as a recreational and sporting sub-culture was predisposed to acts of memory, with a strong sense of its own history and historicizing narratives.  Climbing accidents, each with their own geographical locus, had familiarized mountaineers with the presence of death in the landscape and shaped their response to the War.  The commonality of sacrifice in the Great War had reinvigorated arguments for the restorative nature of upland landscapes and renewed arguments for access to mountains.  In donating the land to the National Trust, the F.R.C.C. looked to the future of widened and more democratic access that was to be such a feature of the outdoor movement in the 1920s and 1930s.

This paper seeks to reveal the details of the Kumkale Memorial Project, which was conducted in Çanakkal-Orhaniye by the architecture firm Atölye Kolektif under Ass. Prof. Mehmet Kerem Özel’s supervision. In the summer of 2014 the project was commissioned by OPET within the scope of the social responsibility project Respect for History, launched in February 2006 within the borders of Gallipoli Peninsula Historical National Park. Kumkale Memorial was expected to be completed in early 2015 to keep up with the centenary of the Gallipoli Campaign. Unfortunately, it has remained unrealized until now due to the cancellation of the project by OPET.
The shores of the Kumkale town is the only area on the Asian/Anatolian bank of the Dardanelles where the Allied powers made a landing and where a battle between the French divisions of the Allied powers and the Ottoman artillery took place during the Gallipoli Campaign. The area of the anticipated memorial is the empty land with the altitude of 10 meters. It is between the existing Orhaniye Bastion and the sea radar which was placed there a few years ago.
The main aim of the project is to constitute a meaningful connection between the memorial and the physical, cultural and historical characteristics of its environments in the scale of its specific site as well as in broader scale. The intention is to relate the memorial to the site where the landing was made, to the landscape of the site, to the past of the landscape, and thereby to the public memory. In this sense the project was titled as The Trace Accompanying History. Above mentioned relations are established on three different scales: 1- on the site scale: Ground Track, 2- on the human scale: Memorial Wall and ceremonial area, 3- on the regional scale: Luminous Wall.
Ground Track, a walking line on the ground, connects the existing military buildings (Orhaniye Bastion dated to 1889 and artillery spots dated to 1938-1940) and the proposed features of the memorial project. By doing so, it provides the spatial continuity along the sightseeing route.
Memorial Wall, which is 1.25 meters high, contains the names of the 360 Turkish soldiers who were martyred during the battle in Kumkale on 28th-30th April 1915. It is strategically placed so that the visitors could see the battle spots in the Gallipoli Peninsula (Tekke Burnu, Cape Helles, Ertuğrul Bay, Kale Burnu, Seddülbahir and Morto Bay) and the memorials (Çanakkale Martyr’s Memorial, French Memorial at Morto Bay and the Cape Helles Memorial) at the eye level beyond the wall.
The main element of the memorial is the Luminous Wall. It is 1.5 meters wide, 90 meters long and 5 to 12 meters high. Positioned in the northwest-southeast direction, it is a visual, functional and semantic trace connecting the Gallipoli Peninsula with the Anatolia on the regional scale. Its dimensions allow the Kumkale Memorial site to be seen and to be perceptible from the Çanakkale Martyr’s Memorial on the Hisarlık Hill in the Gallipoli Peninsula during the annual commemoration ceremonies of the Gallipoli Campaign. Also, access to the site is possible from three points on the Anatolian side (from Troy, from Kumkale Village and from the 400-years-old Turkish cemetery which was used as bulwark by the Turkish soldiers during the Kumkale battle).
Luminous Wall contains 360 holes symbolizing 360 Turkish soldiers. Every hole has a slightly different direction from the others so that the individuality of every martyr could be emphasized. The directions of the 360 holes were designed according to the route of the sun from dusk till dawn between 25th–30th of April so that on every anniversary of the Kumkale Battle, the Luminous Wall gets sunlight throughout the day and the sunlight kindles the hollows on the wall.

The Great War is arguably one of the most significant conflicts in recent history. In this centenary year of the beginning of the First World War, as the grand narratives about the conflict come under renewed scrutiny and debate this conference focuses on the alternative forms of war heritagisation and commemoration emerging globally. In exploring other voices disregarded by the mainstream grand narratives of European geopolitics, we aim to explore the weight of how we are inheriting 1914. With over 50 million pounds being invested in the UK in local communities' projects to re-establish claims on the memory of 1914 we are interested in exploring perspectives from the periphery (ie local, indigenous, former colonies and other previously overlooked regions). This 15th Cambridge Heritage Seminar seeks to bring together researchers and practitioners from a wide array of disciplines and communities of practice to explore the range of narratives being constructed.

Paper proposals are due by 15 February to 15heritageseminar@gmail.com. They should clearly outline the questions that will be addressed and the empirical evidence or case study that will be drawn on. The proposals should not exceed 400 words and should be accompanied by a short (150 word) biographical note.

"REZIME

Spomenik Jevrejskim vojnicima poginulim u ratovima
od 1912. do 1919. na sefardskom groblju u Beogradu

Deceniju nakon završetka Prvog svetskog rata, na sefardskom jevrejskom groblju u Beogradu, podignut je spomenik vojnicima Jevrejima, koji su učestvovali u Balkanskim ratovima i Prvom svetskom ratu. Podizanje ovog spomen obeležja bio je način da se istakne doprinos Jevreja u stvaranju države u kojoj su živeli. Proces memorisanja vojničkih žrtava i njihove heroizacije, obuhvatio je formiranje odbora koji se bavio prikupljanjem sredstava, građe o poginulima, izmeštanjem i prenosom njihovih posmrtnih ostataka, kao i izradom štampane Spomenice, kao neizostavne dopune i programske eksplikiacije same spomeničke celine. Ovo je trajalo gotovo deceniju nakon kraja Prvog svetskog rata, da bi 1927. godine proces bio okončan svečanim otkrivanjem spomenika, kao i izlaskom iz štampe prateće Spomenice.
Spomenik pozicioniran desno od ulaza na jevrejsko sefardsko groblje u Beogradu kao arhitektonsko-skulptoralna kompozicija izveden je od belog kamena, ova monumentalna zamisao arhitekte Samuela Sumbula, izvedena je u radionici kamenoresca Josifa Dajča, takođe pripadnika Jevrejske zajednice, potpisanog uz Sumbula na kamenim stubovima ograde spomenika. Vizuelno spomenik je uobličen kao plato polukružnog oblika, u čijem središtu se nalazi forma u vidu obeliska, sastavljena od četiri stuba, završena piramidalno sa dvoglavim orlom na vrhu ispod koga je Srpski grb. Levo i desno su potkovičasto raspoređene kamene nadgrobne ploče sa imenima sahranjenih ratnika. Celina je bočno flankirana sedećim figurama lavova, dok se strane spomenika polukružno  zatvaraju kamenom ogradom sa klupama. Zadnji plan zatvoren je masivnim segmentom trapezoidnog oblika koji se sastoji od pet ploča, po dve bočne sadrže uklesana imenima poginulih vojnika, dok središnja sadrži posvetu poginulim herojima. Ovo polje završeno je kamenim urnama sa zapaljenim plamenom. Prednji plan odvojen je od pešačke staze niskim stubovima i bakarnim lancem. Izvan sociopolitičkog narativa u kome spomenik nastaje i njegovog vojnog memorijalnog karaktera, njime se vizuelizovao Jevrejski identitet, iako različite religije, običaja i tradicije, Jevreji su dali trajan herojski doprinos u ratu. Afirmacija sopstvenog identiteta i potvrđivanje istog, postignuta je simboličkom upotrebom jevrejskih simbola poput Davidove zvezde, figura lavova kao i plamenih svetiljki za dušu, koje tvore neprekidni pomen umrlima, paralelno sa oficijelnim vojničkim i državnim simbolima, koji su konstituisali spomeničku celinu.
Posvećena sećanju na vojne zasluge Jevreja, kao drugog etniciteta, koji se nesebično u vojničkom smislu žrtvovao za srpsku državu izložena spomenička celina, jedinstvena je u kontekstu jevrejske istorije na balkanskom prostoru. Vojničko učešće u ratovima za oslobođenje Srbije i Prvom svetskom ratu, Jevrejima je pored uvažavanja kao građana kadrih da u ratu i nevolji stanu uz zemlju u kojoj žive, donelo poštovanje srpske javnosti, da bi se potom rodila sintagma o njima kao Srbima Mojsijeve vere. Unutar kraljevine Jugoslavije, kao specifične društveno-političke tvorevine, Jevreji su svoje mesto i lojalnost vladarskom domu Karađorđevića, vizuelizovali i manifestovali upravo kroz programsku izgradnju spomenika, njegovog svečanog otkrivanja i jasne  kontekstualizacije važnosti borbe za ujedinjenje ističući sopstveno mesto u njoj.
"

This article represents the preliminary results of the author's research into the commemoration of conflict in the north west of England. More specifically, it considers a case study of the brass memorials from in and around the city of Liverpool, investigated over the past twenty years. In doing so, it examines the ways and means in which the people of the Liverpool region came to terms with death as the result of conflicts ranging from the Crimean War through to the Second World War. The preponderance of the memorials relate, not unsurprisingly, to the First World War. War memorials have been scarcely studied in this region, and the overall project aims to rectify this deficiency. Through a series of thematic investigations, individual case studies are used to show how memorials can reveal private, personal reactions to trauma-related anguish, but also how they can be used to demonstrate communal, community reactions. Very often these two sets of responses were in opposition to one another. Consideration of these issues is important, not least because the memorials, and acts associated with them, framed the memory of conflict.

The Western Front has become, once again, and after 100 years, an important and increasingly popular tourist destination. The Centenary is already encouraging large numbers of visitors to engage with this highly poignant landscape of war and to commemorate the sacrifice and loss of a previous generation. Interest is also being sharpened in the ‘places of war’ as battle-sites, trench-systems, bunkers and mine craters gain a clearer identity as war heritage.

For the first time this book brings together the three strands of heritage, landscape and tourism to provide a fresh understanding of the multi-layered nature of the Western Front. The book approaches the area as a rich dynamic landscape which can be viewed in a startling variety of ways: historically, materially, culturally, and perceptually. To illustrate these two dominant interpretations of the region’s landscape – commemorative and heritage – are highlighted and their relationship to tourism explored. Tourism is a lens through which these layers can be peeled away, and each understood and interacted with according to the individual’s own knowledge, motivation, and degree of emotional engagement. Tourism is not regarded here as a passive phenomenon, but as an active agent that can determine, dictate and inscribe this evocative landscape. 

The Western Front:  Heritage, Landscape and Tourism is a timely addition to our increasing interest in the First World War and the places where it was fought. It will be indispensable to those who seek a deeper understanding of the conflict from previously undervalued perspectives.

Author biography

Stephen Miles is an Affiliate Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow’s Crichton Campus in Dumfries. He studied at the universities of Durham and Sheffield before undertaking a PhD at the University of Glasgow which he completed in 2012. He has previously written on ‘dark’ tourism and sense of place at conflict sites.

See reviews of this book at:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Front-Landscape-Heritage-Archaeology/dp/1473833760

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13683500.2017.1303983

http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/The-Western-Front-Landscape-Tourism-and-Heritage-Hardback/p/12315

War memorials (in German, Kriegerdenkmäler) were built after World War I in almost every village and town in Czechoslovakia that had a German population, to commemorate those who had been killed in the war. After 1945, these memorials were either destroyed or recycled. The author shows how the new Czech inhabitants who replaced the traditional population of the borderlands coped with these memorials. Focusing her research on the Cheb and Mariánské Lázně regions, she considers the destruction of the monuments to be an example of managing a "dissonant heritage." Some of the monuments were demolished altogether; others were re-used for new purposes as parts of new objects. Applying Reinhart Koselleck's theory that war memorials serve the living more than they do the dead, by creating communal attitudes toward common social issues, the author analyzes patterns in the erection of German memorials of the Great War in the Czech lands. She also refers to Bernhard Böttcher's analysis of German war memorials in Czechoslovakia, which regards them as monuments commemorating a country which had ceased to exist. Her main thesis is that the "new life" given to war memorials after 1945 is connected to a new and different perspective among Czechs on World War I, to their hostile attitude towards the German heritage of Czechoslovakia, and to a different perception of memorials inherited from the past.

Ukratko posmatramo na koji način su se vršili očuvanje i zaštita Memorijalima Prvog svetskog rata u Srbiji od njihovog nastanka do današnjih dana. Navodimo i neke od uočenih problema koji su uslovili njihovo neadekvatno očuvanje i zaštitu, skrećući pažnju da se prilikom obnove memorijala mora sagledati ceo kontekst povezan sa njihovim nastajanjem i da se ne mogu posmatrati, usled svoje specifične namene, kao obične građevine ili skulpture.

U tеškim pоlitičkim vrеmеnimа, kаdа sukоbi izmеđu
hrvаtskih i srpskih pоlitičаrа nisu јеnjаvаli, pоdizаlе su
sе spоmеn-kоsturnicе nа Маčkоvоm kаmеnu i u Krupnju, kоје
vеličајu srpsku žrtvu u Prvоm svеtskоm rаtu. Držаvа
kоristi njihоvо pоdizаnje zа јаčаnjе svеsti stаnоvništvа о
јеdnој, јugоslоvеnskој nаciјi, аli u istо vrеmе nе mоžе dа
sprеči, ili ni nе pоkušаvа, slаvlјеnjе vеličinе srpskоg
vојnikа, а sаmim tim i srpskе nаciје. U isprеplеtеnе
rеlаciје srpstvо-јugоslоvеnstvо mеšа sе i
lоkаlpаtriоtizаm, оličеn u dоprinоsu izgrаdnji
nеkаdаšnjih stаnоvnikа tih krајеvа, аli i sukоbоm izmеđu
Rаđеvskоg i Аzbukоvаčkоg srеzа оkо mеstа pоdizаnjа
spоmеn-crkvе.

W artykule podjęta zostaje tematyka kulturowego recyclingu pomników ku czci poległych i zaginionych w I wojnie światowej na obszarze Pomorza Środkowego. Na użytek artykułu Pomorze Środkowe zostaje zdefiniowane jako obszar dawnego województwa koszalińskiego z lat 1950-1975. Autorka przedstawia historię tworzenia upamiętnień, jakimi były Kriegerdenkmäler oraz zarysowuje problem przerabiania ich po roku 1945 przez nowych osadników na lepiej znane elementy krajobrazu kulturowego. Wyróżnia dwie strategie, które nazywa kolejno (1) „strategią sygnałową”, polegającą na szybkim przerobieniu pomnika, który nie pełni następnie zakładanej przez wspólnotę funkcji, oraz (2) „adaptacyjną”, w której dochodzi do zmiany funkcji pomnika. Szczegółowa analiza zostaje przeprowadzona na studiach przypadku, jakimi są przerobione pomniki w miejscowościach Świeszyno (pow. koszaliński) i Sadkowo (pow. białogardzki). Artykuł został przygotowany na podstawie badań terenowych oraz archiwalnych.