Every year a lot of tourists visits a land tongue at the confluence over the rivers Mosel and Rhein: the Deutsches Eck at Koblenz. On it you can find the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Denkmal, a problematic memorial when looking at the design and the inscriptions. It features the monarchy and nationalism, it includes the former eastern parts of Germany (east prussia, silesia and pomerania) in the list of German federal states.
The name of this place goes back to a nearby location of the Teutonic Order (‘Deutscher Orden‘). When William I died in 1888 a location was searched to honor him and money was collected to create a monument. Until 1897 this impressive building with a statue of William riding was created, the statue itself was destroyed in World War II. Afterwards the place was transformed to a monument of German unity: the names of the German federal states were added and where once the rider was standing, flags were placed.
‘Nimmer wird das Reich zerstöret, wenn Ihr einig seid und treu.’
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Denkmal, Deutsches Eck, Koblenz
In 1993, after long controversial debates, William I returned and the monument is finally restored. If that was really necessary can be doubted. But the Deutsches Eck is today part of the UNESCO world cultural heritage site ‘Oberes Mittelrheintal‘ and now protected as it is.
Deutsches Eck
Koblenz
Germany
Loading map...
