OU blog

Personal Blogs

Steven Oliver

Munich

Visible to anyone in the world
Edited by Steven Oliver, Friday, 27 Sept 2024, 21:54

I thought I'd post a few photos from a recent holiday in Munich that have an A113 link. They are of a couple of memorials in the city to Kurt Eisner. He was the leader of the U-SDP in the city, and seized the initiative in declaring a socialist republic in Bavaria during the German Revolution. The first memorial is on the site of his subsequent assassination in February the following year. He was shot by a far-right sympathiser whilst walking through the street - he was actually on his way to resign following national elections in which the U-SDP had gained very limited support. The memorial itself is of a shape on the ground, like the 'chalk outline' of a murder victim. The second memorial is also in the city centre, set up more recently in 2008 - I'm not sure the location has any particular significance - the quote translates as 'every human life should be sacred', taken I think from the initial manifesto for the republic. 





I found it fascinating to see what is, and isn't, memorialised in Munich - and how the city is going about acknowledging and responding to its 20thC history in particular.

The modern building below is the NS-Dokumentationszentrum München, Munich's Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism. It's location has particular significance as it stands on the site of what was the 'Brown House', the original headquarters of the National Socialist Party. 


Just beside the Documentation Centre are the remains of one half of the two 'Ehrentempeln', 'Temples of Honour' built to house the coffins of the Nazi members killed during the 'Beer Hall' putsch in 1923. These were the site of annual memorial parades once the national socialist party came into power in Germany. The majority of these structures was destroyed in 1947 as part of a policy of 'denazification', and the remains were going to be built over in the 1980's. However, following a campaign for more open examination of the city's role in the rise of national socialism a decision was reached to preserve these sites, and to establish the Documentation Centre.


The image below shows a Nazi Party parade on Königsplatz, November 9, 1936, the Ehrentempeln are the pillared structures at the entrance to the square.



Other elements remain of what was a distinct 'Party District' - the building below was the 'Führerbau', Hitler's specially built residence in Munich, the location for the signing of the 'Munich Agreement' that sealed the fate of Czechoslovakia in 1938. After being taken over by the occupying American forces at the end of WWII this has now become the location of a performing arts college.



The 'Hitler Putsch' in 1923 ended at the Feldherrnhalle (Field Marshalls' Hall) on the Odeonsplatz in central Munich and it was here that a brief gunfight resulted in the deaths of four policemen and sixteen putschists. The site was made into a memorial to the Nazi 'martyrs' and passers-by were required to honour then with the Nazi salute.




To avoid having to pass the memorial it was possible
to cut through an alley at the rear of the Feldherrnhalle called the Viscardigasse and this street acquired the nickname of 'Drückebergergasse' or 'shirker's lane'.

These small acts of resistance are now celebrated rather than mocked, in 1995 a line of bronze cobbles was set into the street as a memorial to those individuals who resisted Nazi rule. 

 


Permalink
Share post
Steven Oliver

Dublin day-trip

Visible to anyone in the world
Edited by Steven Oliver, Sunday, 3 Mar 2024, 18:08

I was lucky enough to manage a day trip to Dublin last week and packed in a fair bit of A111 and A113 😀

The following are just a few snaps from the day.


The GPO building where the Republic was proclaimed in 1916 - the museum was good (but pricey at €15) few of video installations featured historians who contributed to OU materials.


Garden of Remembrance that features in A111 and was opened in 1966


The iconography of 'celtic' weapons broken and cast into water as a mark of the end of hostilities


The Children of Lir - rising, resurrected, redeemed, reborn....


Just outside the Garden is this memorial to the formation of the Irish Volunteer Force on that spot (it was I think an ice rink then) in 1913 - in response to the earlier establishment of the UVF that is discussed in A113. 


Apparently Parnell's statue caused some controversy when it went up in 1911, I presume because he was then still a divisive figure. Really interested in what I assume are Roman 'fasces' under all the drapes, I think at this point in time they may have been used as a symbol of Republican 'unity'. It's also a classic Roman sculptural pose that we encountered in A111. 


Second sculpture by Oisín Kelly (the first was Children of Lir) - this one of James Connolly's comrade, Jim Larkin. A co-founder of the Irish Citizens Army and a staunch revolutionary socialist. 

He used the quote below in one of his speeches - it apparently harks back to the French Revolution and is generally credited to Camille Desmoulins.



From A113 the 'Liberator' Daniel O'Connell (plus obligatory seagull) gets centre stage with a monument and of course the main street (since 1924)


Kilmainham Gaol


Corridor where most of the 1916 rebels were held before execution.


The classic 'panopticon' prison design in the Victorian wing of KIlmainham Gaol. Éamon de Valera was a prisoner here and Hugh Grant danced down the steps at the finale of 'Paddington 2' (Noel Coward also celebrated the apparent achievement of the 'Italian Job' here)


A final look back into the stone-breakers yard and the spot where James Connolly was executed. It was interesting, given the reflection in A111 on contested memories, to hear that the prison wasn't initially promoted in the Free State as a 'hallowed' site - the fact it was also the place of execution of some anti-Treaty rebels made its heritage a difficult one, at least until Fianna Fáil gained power.

Permalink
Share post

This blog might contain posts that are only visible to logged-in users, or where only logged-in users can comment. If you have an account on the system, please log in for full access.

Total visits to this blog: 29706