Description
Sandstone pentagonal column of over 7 m high, the top is unfinished, to suggest that the struggle for the ideals of freedom, justice and unity continues. On the banderole winding around the column is the text:
der Traum von der Freiheit.
At the bottom on a circular band the text:
Für Freiheit, Recht und Einigkeit 1848/49.
At the foot are five relief portraits of the five major Sinsheim fighters for democracy:
- Friedrich Hecker (Eichtersheim 1811 - Summerfield, Ill 1881), German lawyer, politician and revolutionary. He was one of the most popular speakers and agitators of the 1848 Revolution. After moving to the United States, he served as a brigade commander in the Union Army during the American Civil War
(Wikipedia).
- Gustav Mayer, pharmacist of Sinsheim, emigrated later to the USA
- Karl Bauer, student of theology, emigrated later to the USA.
- Eduard Speiser, mayor of Sinsheim.
- Franz Sigel (Sinsheim 1824 - Morrisani, New York City 1902), German military officer, revolutionist and immigrant to the United States who was a teacher, newspaperman, politician, and served as a Union major general in the American Civil War.
(Wikipedia).
Annotation
The memorial commemorates the 150th anniversary of the first German democracy movement of 1848/49, and was erected at the initiative of the the association of Friends of the History of Sinsheimer history and museum director Holger Friedrich. The column was born inaugurated on 3 May 1998.
The City of Sinsheim was an important center of the democracy and freedom movement in Baden during the Revolution of 1848-49. Starting in April of 1848, Sinsheim City Hall was firmly in the hands of the revolutionary democrats that surrounded the pharmacist Gustav Mayer. He declared the democratic republic from this location and marched toward Heidelberg with 250 armed franctireurs to support the Hecker Revolt from the north. After the defeat of the German democracy movement, 80,000 residents of Baden emigrated to the USA, one tenth of every person in Sinsheim's administrative district.
Sculptor
- Hans-Michael Franke (Hanau 1963),
German sculptor
(Wikipedia).
Sources & Information
Tags
Locatie (N 49°15'11" - E 8°52'36") (Satellite view: Google Maps)
Item Code: debw186; Photograph: 30 September 2012
Of each statue we made photos from various angles and also detail photos of the various texts.
If you want to use photos, please contact us via the contact form (in Dutch, English or German).
© Website and photos: René & Peter van der Krogt
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