Silcher Memorial: National Socialist Appropriation of the Arts
Station im Stadtrundgang: History Path to National Socialism
This memorial was erected in 1941 to honor folk song composer Friedrich Silcher (1789-1869). By doing this, the National Socialists made the "father" of the 19th century Sangesbewegung ("singing movement") a symbolic figure of their ideas and appropriated him for their ideological preparations for, and romantization of, the war.
After winning a design competition, Stuttgart sculptor Wilhelm Julius Frick was commissioned by the Schwäbischer Sängerbund ("Swabian league of male choirs") to execute a memorial for Silcher. His design completely satisfied the guidelines set by National Socialist Kreisleiter (district leader) Hans Rauschnabel. The design refers to the popular songs "Der gute Kamerad" ("The Good Comrade"), "Wer will unter die Soldaten" ("Who Wants to Become a Soldier"), as well as love and farewell songs. In the actual sculpture, two soldiers wearing Stahlhelme (German steel helmets), a little boy with a rifle, and a couple bidding farewell protrude from the back of the memorial. These idealized figures served National Socialist propaganda and the trivialization of war. The memorial venue with its stonewall circle and rostrum was intended to serve for Nazi ceremonies and parades.
After completion of the memorial in early 1941, an appropriate time for a war-glorifying dedication ceremony was waited for. But that time never came. The memorial was highly disputed after 1945. Citizens repeatedly asked for its removal. In 1977, to point to the memorial's National Socialist background, the Landesdenkmalamt (State Office for Historical Monuments) of Baden-Württemberg had the date "1941" added to the pedestal. It was only in 1995 that a plaque informing about the genesis and character of the memorial was added as well.
Image 1
A two-day ceremony accompanied the laying of the foundation stone on the 150th anniversary of Friedrich Silcher's death in July 1939. The National Socialists tried to disseminate their Weltanschaung via the poet's opus. The design of the venue had been an important criterion in the design competition: it was to serve National Socialist self-aggrandizement. Photo: City Archives Tübingen / Gebrüder Metz
Image 2
Philipp Friedrich Silcher (1789-1860) with his wife Luise Rosine Enßlin (1804-1871), ca. 1822. From 1817 until shortly before his death, he was the first music director of Tübingen University. He is especially famous for his compositions which often became folk songs later on. Image: H. Zwietasch
Image 3
The previous Silcher memorial, an obelisk with a portrait medallion, was situated behind the Neue Aula (New Auditorium) from 1874 to 1928. After the latter's enlargement, the memorial was relocated to this spot on the Neckarinsel (Neckar Island). But it did not serve the Nazis' political goals and was therefore removed and replaced in 1939. Photo: City Archives Tübingen / Friedrich Reichert