The Mausoleum in Wałbrzych, Schlesier-Ehrenmal (Silesian Monument of Glory) is a

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty grave, tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere or have been lost. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although t ...

commemorating 170,000 Silesians who died during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, victims of accidents in mines, and 25 local fighters of the

National Socialist Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequen ...

movement. It represents the style of

monuments A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

commemorating the victims of the war, while being at the same time an example of a

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

monument to glory, typical of the monumental architecture of the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

Location

The building is located east of the center of

Wałbrzych Wałbrzych (; ; or ''Walmbrich''; or ) is a city located in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in southwestern Poland, seat of Wałbrzych County. Wałbrzych lies approximately southwest of the voivodeship capital Wrocław and about from the Czec ...

(Waldenburg), on the northern slope of Mount Niedźwiadki, commonly called the 5th Festival Hill, by the blue tourist trail and the red walking trail, at an elevation of approximately 510 to 530 m.

History

The main idea was to be a monument commemorating the inhabitants of the region who died during World War I and victims of mining accidents, but because the Nazis had no social support in this area(cn) (The inhabitants of Waldenburg did not come in crowds during

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's visit in 1932, and therefore they brought supporters from other regions.) 25

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor, the German Workers ...

militants were added. This emphasized that the soldiers, working people and fighters of the Nazi movement had an equal share in shaping the Nazi state. The mausoleum in Waldenburg was built from 1936 to 1938 based on a design by Robert Tischler at the initiative of the People's Union for the Protection of German War Graves (VDK). It was made by companies from Waldenburg and stonemasons, who also worked on the construction of the mausoleum at Mount Saint Anna.

Architecture

The structure is in the shape of a quadratic fortalice with dimensions of 24 × 27 meters and 6 meters high. The massive structure resembles ancient

Mesopotamian Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary o ...

buildings. The

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

and the

cloisters A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a warm southe ...

had a

basement A basement is any Storey, floor of a building that is not above the grade plane. Especially in residential buildings, it often is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the Furnace (house heating), furnace, water heating, ...

. On the sides there are small square

mastabas A mastaba ( , or ), also mastabah or mastabat) is a type of ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with inward sloping sides, constructed out of mudbricks or limestone. These edifices marked the burial sites ...

, topped with sculptures of eagles taking flight, resting on stone balls with

swastikas The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...

. In the center of the courtyard there was a metal column with a

torch A torch is a stick with combustible material at one end which can be used as a light source or to set something on fire. Torches have been used throughout history and are still used in processions, symbolic and religious events, and in juggl ...

designed by Ernst Geiger and cast in the Würtembergische Metallwarenfabrik Geislingen-Steige factory. On the pedestal there were four lions with their mouths open, inspired by the sculpture of the

Brunswick Lion The ''Brunswick Lion'' () is a Middle Ages, medieval sculpture, created in bronze between 1164 and 1176, and the best-known landmark in the Germany, German city of Braunschweig, Brunswick. The ''Brunswick Lion'' was originally located on the Bur ...

. The column was decorated with a net ornament and

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

leaves, and the torch was supported by sculptures of three naked young men. In front of the mausoleum there was a parade ground with flagpoles.

Bibliography

* Dorota Grygiel: Schlesier Ehrenmal – in memory of the Silesians in Wałbrzych
Digitalisat
* Janusz L. Dobesz: ''Wrocławska architektura spod znaku swastyki na tle budownictwa III Rzeszy'', Wrocław 1999 * Krzysztof Krzyżanowski, Tomasz Jurek, Wałbrzyskie Mauzoleum, "Odkrywca", 10/2019, str. 42-50.

External links

https://polska-org.pl/535784,Walbrzych,Mauzoleum_ruina.html https://www.radiowroclaw.pl/articles/view/80174/Totenburg-Jedyny-taki-obiekt-w-Europie-Swiatynia-Hitlera-k-Walbrzycha-ZOBACZ

References

{{reflist Cultural history of World War II History of Silesia Culture of Lower Silesian Voivodeship Nazi Germany Culture of Silesia Sudetes Buildings and structures in Wałbrzych Nazi architecture