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Description
‘Nach dem Kampfe’ (‘After the Battle’)
Signed 1899.
Cast by H. Noack Friedenau.
Created in 1899 by Hermann Hosaeus, one of the leading sculptors of the Weimar Republic.
A cast of ‘Nach den Kampfe’ was displayed at the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung 1899. This work, the first which Hosaeus displayed in his career, was bought by the ‘Nationalgalerie Berlin’ for 1.200 Mark and is still in the possession of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin/ Alte Nationalgalerie.
The Kgl. Nationalgalerie Berlin displayed the cast in 1901 (described in ‘Kunst für alle’, Juni 1900, and in the ‘Kunst für alle’, September 1901).
The sculpture was also displayed at the ‘Internationalen Kunst-Ausstellung‘ of the Münchener Secession in 1900 in the Glaspalast (depicted in the exhibition catalogue).
Left: ‘Nach dem Kampfe’, cast in possession of the Alte Nationalgalerie.
Right: depicted in ‘Nationalgalerie Berlin. Das XIX. Jahrhundert; Bestandskatalog der Skulpturen/ Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin’, 2006.
Cast of ‘Nach dem Kampf’ by Hosaeus, displayed at the ‘Internationalen Kunst-Ausstellung‘ of the Münchener Secession in 1900 in the Glaspalast. Depicted in the exhibition catalog.
Hermann Hosaeus in his atelier, 1915. At the back a plaster model of ‘Nach dem Kampfe’.
Hermann Hosaeus and the ‘Ten Commandments of Memorial Art’
German central and provincial governments set up special advice centres during World War I in an effort to improve the artistic quality of future memorial projects. The Prussian centre, the ‘Staatliche Beratungssstelle für Kriegsehrungen’, published in connection with an art pressure group (the Vaterländische Bauhütte) the ‘Ten Commandments of Memorial Art’, as they were entitled. This guideline for memorial committees was drafted by Hermann Hosaeus, and circulated widely in the 1920s. Hosaeus recommended that war monuments should be adapted to their environment and be based on ‘the artistic traditions of our Altvorderen’.
The first of Hosaeus ‘Ten Commandments’ stated ‘You shall not plant Heldenhaine’. As a sculptor he considered ‘heroes’ groves’ an uncultivated and potentially short-lived memorial form, since ‘caterpillars and droughts can eat them up’. Hosaeus indicated a nightmare scenario of commemoration; a heroes’ grove slowly dying instead of growing for all eternity. A dying oak tree planted in remembrance of an individual fallen hero would have seriously undermined the Heldenhain concept (from: ‘The Great War and Medieval Memory’, by Stefan Goebel, 2007).
| – condition | : II |
| – size | : height 43 (excluding base), lenght 50 cm. |
| – signed | : at base: ‘Hosaeus 99’ and ‘Guss H. Noack Friedenau’ * |
| – type | : bronze |
* The cast in the possession of the Alte Nationalgalerie was created by C. Leyrer München. All other existing casts (exept the one in our gallery) were created by foundry ‘Gladenbeck & Sohn’; they do not bear the date ’99’, have rather untainted patina and were assumable created later.
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BIOGRAPHY: HERMANN HOSAEUS
Hindenburg Statue by Hosaeus, in front of the Kyffhäuserdenkmal
In 1939 Hosaeus created a huge Hindenburg Statue, which was placed in front of the
Kyffhäuserdenkmal. The memorial was revealed on 6 mai 1939.
Height 5 meters, weight 10.000 kg, executed in Bavarian Porphyr.
The Kyffhäuserdenkmal (Kyffhäuser Monument), also known as Barbarossa Monument, is an Emperor William monument in the German state of Thuringia. It was erected in 1890–96 at the site of medieval Kyffhausen Castle near Bad Frankenhausen. The Kyffhäuser Monument, 81 meters high, is the third-largest monument in Germany, after the Monument to the Battle of the Nations and the Emperor William Monument at Porta Westfalica.
Adolf Hitler visiting the ‘Hindenburg’ by Hosaeus on 12 June 1939. From left to right: Hauptmann von Below, Reichsleiter Martin Bormann, Hitler, Adolf Wagner and Obergruppenführr Brückner.
Left: Hosaeus working on a plaster model of Hindenburg in his atelier. One of these two depicted plaster models was displayed at the exhibition ‘Heroische Kunst’, NS-Kulturgemeinde, Städtischen Galerie, Lenbach-Haus, Munich, June 1936 (‘Gips, Entwurf für ein 5 Meter hohes Standbild’).
Right: postcard of the statue by Hosaeus.
2018, curious example of Germany’s political correctness
‘Erected by German veterans near the Kyffhäuser Memorial in Thuringia in 1939, it was encountered by Sovjet soldiers or local Communists after 1945. Kee to get rid of the memorial to the ‘Imperial Field Marshal’, they intended to blow it up. Because the statue was Bavarian porphyry, an exceptionally hard stone, however, they had to settle on pushing the statue over and burying it. In the 1970s, a recreation home for members of East Germany’s secret police, the Stasi, was built on the site. Construction workers discovered the statue during the laying of the building’s foundation and seemingly consigned it to an eternal fate underground; the statue’s feet were cast in concrete and a pavilion built above. Though probably unaware of the fact, Stasi spies on vacation now enjoyed their holidays on top of Hindenburgh’s effigy.
In 2004 a resourceful West German businessman who had bought the building and converted it into a hotel, decided to dig up Hindenburg. His plan to restore the statue aroused considerable controversy in Germany. After negotiations with the Bad Frankenhausen council, it was descided that Hindenburg remained underground, but he would be made visible through a glass plate with a panel explaining the statue’s eventful history. Laying on one side, Hindenburg’s face looks up at the observer form underground’ (from: ‘Hindenburg, Power, Myths, and the Rise of the Nazis’ by Anna von der Goltz).
Left: Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Der Soldat’ ( ‘The Soldier‘), World War I memorial, revealed on 26 June 1932. Location next to the St. Johannis Church in Hamburg. Height 10,5 meters, including base of 6 meters. Created with a surface of sheet-copper (‘Kupferblech’). Die text at the base reads:
‘Den für das Vaterland gefallenen 2000 Söhnen der Stadt Harburg zur Ehre u. zum Gedächtnis. Wunden zum Trotz tatbereit heute wie einst und in aller Zeit Deutschland für dich. Die Treue steht zuerst zuletzt im Himmel und auf Erden. wEr ganz die Seele dreingesetzt dem soll die Krone werden. E.M. Arndt’.
Right: ‘Der Soldat’ by Hosaeus depicted in ‘Die Kunst im Dritten Reich’, 1937. The same photo with the subtitle ‘Deutschland für Dich’ was depicted in ‘Die Völkische Kunst’, January 1935.
Left: Hermann Hosaeus working on ‘Der Soldat’ in his atelier.
Right: ‘Der Soldat’ in 1944. At the background the St. Johannis Kirche; allied bombing completely destroyed the church.
‘Der Soldat’was restored in 2010, whereby the core of iron was replaced by stainless steel. Holes and scratsches caused by the bombing in 1944 were deliberately not restored, and left intact.
Left: Hermann Hosaeus, World War I Memorial for the 400 fallen students of the Technische Universität, Berlin (Hosaeus was teacher and later from 1933-1945 professor at this University). Created in bronze, the names of the fallen students were inscribed on the wall behind the sculpture. The sculpture was destroyed by Allied bombing in 1944.
Right: depicted in ‘Deutscher Ehrenhain, -für die Helden von 1914/18‘, 1931.
The text on the base of the Grenade Thrower reads: ‘Wir wollen schwören und singen / In Nacht und Sturm hinein / Deutsch bis zum Todesringen / Und nichts als Deutsch zu sein (Walter Flex). At the back the names of the Fallen and a poem of Friedrich Hölderlin: Lebe droben, oh Vaterland, und zähle nicht die Toten; dir ist, liebes, nicht einer zu viel gefallen.
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Statue of Vasco da Gama at the Kornhausbrücke, Hamburg’. Height 3 meters. In 1903 four statues of famous explorers -Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Fernao Magalhaes and James Cook – were erected at the Kornhausbrücke, the entrance to the newly built storage quarter in the harbour of Hamburg. The statues were made from red sandstone by different artists. Described in ‘Die Kunst für alle’, Mai 1903.
A sketch of the statue was displayed at the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung 1902; the plaster model of Da Gama was displayed at the ‘Münchener Jahresausstellung 1902 im kgl. Glaspalast’, and at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung’, 1904.
During an allied air blitz in 1944 the Kornhaus brigde was badly damaged, the statue of Magalhães and Cook were destroyed. Columbus and Da Gama got over the bombardement. In 1988 the statues were restored.
‘Vasco da Gama’ by Hosaeus. Plaster cast displayed at the ‘Münchener Jahresausstellung 1902 im kgl. Glaspalast’. Depicted in the exhibition catalogue.
Left: Hermann Hosaeus, ´Die Nacht´ (´Night`). Before 1925. Height 44,5 cm. Including base. In the possession of the NordseeMuseum, Husum.
Right: Hermann Hosaeus, ´Der Tag´ (´Day`). Before 1925. Height 46 cm. Including base. In the possession of the NordseeMuseum, Husum.
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Bust of Bismarck’, iron cast. Until 1945 this bust of Bismarck was located in the Bismarck Turm on the Schlossberg (created 1897), north of Burg, near Cottbus. The bust is lost, and replaced in 2017 by an over life-size Bismarck bust after Bruno Kruse (1855-1934). Foundry Lauchammer used a model by Kruse from 1889.
The text below reads: ‘Ihm Der aus Volkes Nacht und Not Gegründet Reich und Kaisermacht und Ihnen deren Heldentod sein Riesenwerk erst ganz Vollbracht.‘
Tannenberg Denkmal: Hosaeus’ design executed in Poland!
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Design for the Tannenberg Memorial’. By the end of 1919, a competition for the design of the Tannenberg Memorial was announced. 389 projects prepared by 352 artists and architects were sent to the Commission. The idea to commemorate this German victory –‘the largest in history’– was born in 1919, at the fifth anniversary of the event. The act of the placement of the corner stone of the future Tannenberg-Denkmal was carried out by Field Marshal Hindenburg on 31 August, 1924, on the 10th anniversary of the famous battle.
The design by Hosaeus was one of the 7 awarded at the competition for the prospective monument of Tannenberg. However, the design by Hosaeus was awarded, but not chosen and executed; the design of Walter Krüger and Johannes Krüger had won.
Whenn the Red Army approached in 1945, German troops demolished key structures of the Tannenberg Memorial. In 1949, Polish authorities razed the site completely.
The Tannenberg Memorial does not exist anymore, but as we can see below, Hosaeus’ Tannenberg-design was finally executed in Staszkowka, Poland, and is still existing.
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Cemetery nr. 118, -from the Gorlice Battle, 2 may 1915’. Located in Staszkowka, near Gorlice (now Poland). The four high stone pylons are designed by Hermann Hosaeus. 439 German, 281 Austro-Hungarian and 43 Russian soldiers are burried there.
On May 2, 1915, the Russian fortifications on the hill, surrounded by abatises with barb-wire entanglement and minefields were attacked by the German infantry units of the Second Division of the Prussian Guarde du Corps. It turned out that the several-hour-long artillery fire by mistake omitted this part of the Russian lines and the First Regiment of Prussian Grenadiers, crossing through minefields, was caught under the enemy gun machine fire. Finally, thanks to the advances of the division on the remaining sections, this hill was also captured but the regiment was decimated and suffered the loss of over 600 killed or wounded soldiers. Also depicted in ‘Rache und Triumph, -Krieg, Gefühle und Gedenken in der Moderne’, 2014, by Loretana de Libero. 
Hermann Hosaeus, World War I Memorial, created in 1924. Located on the façade of the St. Petri-Kirche in Buxtehude (Lower Saxony).
The ‘Mozart Monument’ by Hosaeus
Awarded a Gold Medal by Kaiser Wilhelm II at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition 1908.
From 2010 the symbol of the ‘Dresden Peace Prize’.
Left: Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Mozart Monument’, revealed in 1907, Dresden. Under the auspices of the Mozart-Verein zu Dresden e.V. association, a Mozart monument created by Hosaeus was erected in Dresden’s Bürgerwiese park. The golden female figures -the Three Graces Aglaea, Euphrosyne and Thalia- are dancing around the name ‘Mozart’. They represent Anmut (Grace), Heiterkeit (Cheerfulness) and Ernst (Sternness). The monument was destroyed by bombing in the night of 13/14 February 1945 and replaced by a copy in 1991.
Der Dresdener Mozartverein beabsichtigt der Stadt ein Mozartdenkmal im Werte von 20000 Mark zu schenken. Er hatte zur Erlangung geeigneter Entwürfe fünf Dresdener Bildhauer aufgefordert; Jedoch ergab die Konkurrenz kein befriedigendes Resultat. Der Bildhauer Hosaeus in Berlin reichte dann freiwillig einen Brunnenentwurf ein, der so gefiel, daß man seine Erwerbung und Ausführung beschloß. Die Dresdener Bildhauer empfanden dies als eine Zurücksetzung und versuchten bei dem Rate der Stadt durchzusetzen, daß öffentliche Plätze für Aufstellung von Denkmälern nur dann hergegeben werden sollten, wenn diese von heimischen Künstlern geschaffen wären. Der Dresdener Rat hat dies Ansinnen zurückgewiesen und im Gegenteil für den Mozartbrunnen sofort einen Platz auf der Bürgerwiese geschenkt (From: ‘Kunstkronik‘, Leipzig, 1904).
Right: the Mozart Monument depicted in ‘Über Land und Meer, Deutsche Illustrierte Zeitung’, Deutsche Verlags-Anstallt, Stuttgart, 49 Jahrgang, Nr. 41, 1907.
The ‘Mozart Monument’ by Hosaeus, awarded a Gold Medal by Kaiser Wilhelm II at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition 1908.
Depicted under the name ‘Mittelgruppe des Mozartdenkmal in Dresden‘ in the exhibition catalogue. Displayed in room 17.
The ‘Dresden Peace Prize Sculpture’; made after Hermann Hosaeus
The ‘Dresden Peace Prize’ has been awarded annually since 2010 in the Semperoper, Dresden. Sculptor Konstanze Feindt Eißner created the ‘Dresden Peace Prize Sculpture’ after the fountain figure in Dresden, which was destroyed in the night of bombing from the 13th to 14th February 1945 (replaced by a copy in 1991). The sculpture-group of the Mozartbrunnen, built by sculptor Hermann Hosaeus in 1907, is composed of the Three Graces Aglaea, Euphrosyne and Thalia dancing around a Mozart memorial stone. The prototype of the Dresden Peace Prize bronze –the Grace Thalia– shows several bullet holes, also a part of its forefront had been blasted away and a hand is missing. The origin stands in the city’s lapidarium where to this very day about 2000 remnants of the demolished city, recovered by preservationists after the bomb attack, are kept safe.
The Dresden Peace Prize is a wonderful idea.
I am very moved by its symbolism.
Because of its fate, Dresden teaches us, on the one hand,
to always commemorate the victims. On the other hand, it teaches us that the destruction was, in fact, the result of irresponsible politicians.
The symbol of the Prize is to stand against such politics at all times.
Michail Gorbachev
Left: the ‘Dresden Peace Price Sculpture’, after Hermann Hosaeus.
Right: the ‘Mozart Monument’ by Hosaeus, depicted in ‘Velhagen & Klasings Monatshefte’, 1909.
Michael Gorbachev and Hans Dietrich Genscher (ex Vice Chancellor of Germany).
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Bell-ringers’, 1930/35, Buenos Aires. Two hammer bell-ringing giants, both 4 meters high, located on the top of the corner facade of former Siemens Building (Edificio Siemens) in Monserrat district of Buenos Aires.
The Bellp-ringers and clock were restored by Siemens in 1992.
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Löwendenkmal vor der Rudelsburg‘ (‘Lion-memorial at the foot of the Rudelsberg’). The Lion Monument was erected in 1926 in memory of the 2.360 members of the Kösener Senioren Convents Verband (the oldest union of student fraternities with delegates from all German-speaking countries) who had fallen in World War I. It shows in relief an oversized lion standing on a bundle of lances, ready to fight, turned to the west. At the inauguration on October 26, 1926, all 116 Corps were represented. Present were Max Le Blanc (University of Leipzig) and Paul Menzer (University of Halle) as well as the mayors of Bad Kösen and Naumburg.
After the Reunification, the overgrown monument was restored and new plaques in memory of those who fell in both World Wars were added.
‘Leewer dod as Slav’: ‘Rather Dead Than a Slave’
Hermann Hosaeus, War Memorial 1914-1918, created in 1927. Located on the façade of the Glockenturm in the village Norden (Lower Saxony).
The inscription in Low German dialect above the soldier reads: ‘Leewer dod as Slav’: Rather Dead Than a Slave’
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Der Schlaf’ ( Sleeping’), created in 1907. Partly destroyed grave monument at the cemetery ‘Friedhof Schöneberg’, Abteilung 11, Berlin.
‘Wer auf die preußische Fahne schwört, hat nichts mehr, was ihm selbst gehört‘
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘War Memorial in the city of Lübbenau’, revealed at 25 November 1934. Executed in westfälischem Dolomit. Height 5 meters. Destructed in 1962; only the base is still existing.
The text on the monument reads: ‘Unseren Gefallenen 1914 – 1918 Wer auf die preußische Fahne schwört, hat nichts mehr, was ihm selbst gehört‘. in English: ‘Our Fallen Soldiers 1914 – 1918 He who swears on Prussia’s flag has nothing left that belongs to himself‘ (Prussian Virtue formulated by the German author and soldier Walter Flex, 1887–1917).
Right: the monument survived WWII, but was destructed in 1962.
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Schifferbrunnen’ (‘Sailor Fountain’), 1914. Sandstone. Located in Berlin, next to the Hansabrücke.
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Liegender Krieger‘ (‘Laying Warrior‘), World War I Memorial in Wanne-Süd. Revealed in 1934. The inscription reads: ‘Des Feindes Erde in fester Hand / So schützten wir Volk einst und Vaterland / Den Tapferen zur Ehre / und unsern Gefallenen zum / Gedenken.‘
The city of Wanne-Eickel decided in 1995 not to restore the monument, and to let it deteriorate….(….).
Right: ‘Liegende Krieger’ in 1935.
‘Liegender Krieger’ by Hosaeus, depicted under the name ‘Grabenkämpfer’ (‘Trench-fighter’) in ‘Das Bild’, 1934.
Left: Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Ehrenmal für die gefallenen Garde-Pioniere an der alten Garnisonkirche zu Berlin’ (‘Monument for the fallen soldiers of the Garde Pionier Bataillon, at the Garnisonkirche in Berlin’). Depicted in ‘Deutscher Ehrenhain, -für die Helden von 1914/18’, published 1931.
Right: revealing of the monument in 1929 at the Kaiser-Friedrich-Platz (after 1938 named Gardepionierplatz, after 1947 named Südstern).
Nowadays, a non-restored, neglected headless-monument..(…….).
Hermann Hosaeus, Design for a projected monument to Richard Wagner, Berlin. 1901. Hosaeus was awarded the III Price; the results of the contest were presented at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition 1901 (described in ‘Kunst für alle’, August 1901, and depicted in the December 1901 edition).
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Drei Schwerter’. Design by Hosaes -awarded the second price- for a Bismarck monument in Stettin (‘ein Bismarck-Denkmal der Provinz Pommern auf dem Weinberge bei Stettin‘).
Depicted in ‘Deutsche Bauzeitung’, nr. 36, Jahrgang 1911.
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Löwen Denkmal’, 1938. ‘Lion Memorial’, World War I Memorial in Zehdenick, near Berlin.
Left: Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Ehrenmal am Bucksturm‘ (‘World War I Memorial at the facade of the Bucksturm’), Osnabrück. In 1922 a war memorial honouring the soldiers of the East Frisian Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of Brunswick infantry regiment (No. 78) was set up on the west side of the tower. Made from Anröchte stone, it was dedicated on 1 October 1922.
The Bucksturm is a listed historical tower built at the beginning of the 13th century as a watchtower, positioned on the Osnabrück city wall between Heger Tor and Natruper Tor. This particular section of the wall was referred to as the Bocksmauer.
Also depicted in ‘Deutscher Ehrenhain, -für die Helden von 1914/18’, published 1931.
Right: Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Memorial to the fallen German soldiers in Bünde (North Rhine-Westphalia), 1926.
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Kriegerdenkmal am Eingang zum Alten Kirchhof der Gemeinde Schöneberg-Berlin‘ (‘War Memorial at the entrance of the Old Churchyard of the village Schöneberg-Berlin‘). Created in 1929/30. Commissioned by the Kyffhäuserbundes.
Postcard depicting a Bismarck-relief by Hermann Hosaeus.
Hermanns Hosaeus, ‘Ehrenmal zu Rheinberg’. Reveald in 1928. Restored in 1994. Depicted is the Prussian coat of arms from 1933 to 1935, consisting of an eagle with a swastika, sword and lightning bolts.
Middle: the monument depicted in ‘Deutscher Ehrenhain, -für die Helden von 1914/18’, published 1931.
Right: the monument depicted in ‘Die Völkische Kunst’, April 1935.
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Ehrenmal 1. Weltkrieg’. World War I Memorial in the Köningin Luise Strasse-Pacelli Allee, Berlin-Dahlem. Revealed in 1926. The text on the stone reads: ‘1914 – 1918 Seinen gefallenen Kameraden schuf dieses Ehrenmal mit Hilfe von Bürgern Dahlems der Kriegerverein 1926.‘ Photo right: depicted in ‘Deutscher Ehrenhain, -für die Helden von 1914/18’, published 1931.
Herman Hosaeus, ‘Für Deutschland’, World War I Memorial, 1928. Located in the village of Thürk. The text reads ‘Für Deutschland zogen in kampf und Tod‘, followed by the names of the fallen soldiers of Thürk.
Notice the 1928-planted oaktree on both pictures.
Left: Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Kriegergefallenendenkmal I. Garde-Dragoner-Regiment 1914-1918‘. Memorial to the fallen soldiers of the Garde Dragoner Regiment 1914-1918. Later also dedicated to the Fallen of WW II. Located at friedhoff Columbiadamm in Berlin.
Right: Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Kriegerdenkmal für das 1. Westpreußische Fuß-Artillerie-Regiment‘. Memorial to the fallen soldiers of the Westpreussische Fuss Artillerie Regiment. Located at friedhoff Columbiadamm in Berlin. Photos by Susanne Kähler, 2012.
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘World War I Memorial, Niederfinow’, 1922. On the front site a text by Martin Luther ‘Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott!’ At the back the names of the fallen soldiers from Niederfinow and the text: ‘Wir heissen Euch: hoffen!
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Kriegerehrenmal in Stützerbach, Thuringen‘ (‘War Memorial in Stützenbach, Thuringia‘). Depicted in ‘Die Völkische Kunst‘, April 1935.
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘World War I Memorial at the Johann-Heinrich Voss School’, 1928. Bronze. Located in Eutin. The text from the poem ‘Dankesschuld‘ from Walter Flex reads: Wir sanken hin für Deutschlands Glanz, blüh, Deutschland, uns als Totenkranz‘ (‘We fell for Germany’s Glory, Blossom, Germany, for us as a wrath of death!’)
Right: the revelation of the monument on 17 March 1928.
Hermann Hosaeus, ´World War I Memorial in Wilhelmsburg´. The text on the stone reads: ‘Den für Volk und Vaterland Gefallenen zur Ehre und im Glauben an die deutsche Zukunft errichtet 1932‘.
Right: the revealation of the monument at 11 September 1932.
Left: Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Grabmal’ (‘Gravestone’). Displayed at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung’, 1911. Depicted in the exhibition catalogue.
Right: ‘Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Der Morgen’ (‘Morning’). Executed in plaster. Displayed at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung’, 1916. Depicted in the exhibition catalogue, and in ‘Velhagen & Klasings Monatshefte’, 1916/17.
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Atlas Plaque’, commemorative plague put up in 1928 over the entrance door to the Campanile of the Heilandskirche in Sacrow (Potsdam).
In the summer of 1897, the bell tower of the Heilandskirche was used by the physicists Adolf Slaby and Georg Graf von Arco to try to perfect Marconi’s radio technology. It was the site of the first German antenna for wireless telegraphs. On August 27, their signal transmission arrived at the imperial seaman station Kongsnaes on the opposite side of the Jungfernsee at Swan Alley in Potsdam 1.6 km away. In the middle of the plaque, which is made of green dolomite, is Atlas supporting the globe, surrounded by lightning and the commemoration: ‘An dieser Stätte errichteten 1897 Prof. Adolf Slaby und Graf von Arco die erste Deutsche Antennenanlage für drahtlosen Verkehr’ (‘At this spot in 1897, Prof. Adolf Slaby and Graf von Arco erected the first German antenna for wireless communication’.)
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Ehrenmal für die Norderneyer Kriegstoten des 1. Weltkrieges‘ (‘World War I Memorial for the fallen people of Norderney’). Created in green Bavarian phorphyry. Revealed at 20 October 1929. Depicted in ‘Die Völkische Kunst‘, April 1935.
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Justitia’ (‘Lady Justice’). In 1913 located in the entrance hall of the ‘Justiz-Palast’ in Essen. Displayed at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung’, 1913. Depicted in the exhibition catalogue.
Lady Justice, an allegorical personification of the moral force in judicial systems. Her attributes are a blindfold, a balance, and a sword. She often appears as a pair with Prudentia, who holds a mirror and a snake. Lady Justice originates from the personification of Justice in Ancient Roman art known as Iustitia or Justitia after Latin: Iustitia, who is equivalent to the Greek goddesses Themis and Dike.
Berlin-Siemensstadt
The locality emerged when the company Siemens & Halske (S & H), one of the predecessors of today’s Siemens AG, bought land in the area, in order to expand production of S & H and their subsidiary Siemens-Schuckertwerke (SSW) as well. On the initiative of Georg Wilhelm von Siemens S & H started to build new factories in 1899. Soon also residential buildings were erected. The locality was incorporated into Berlin on 1 October 1920 by the Greater Berlin Act.
Siemensstadt is situated in the eastern side of Spandau district.
Left: Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Genoveve-Brunnen‘ (‘Genoveve-Fountain‘). Also named ‘Mächenbrunnen‘ or ‘Jungfrauen-Brunnen‘. Created 1928 in Muschelkalk. Located in the Harriesstrasse 10/8, Berlin-Siemensstadt.
Right: Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Putto Brunnen‘ (‘Cherub Fountain‘), created 1927/28, Berlin. Located on the façade of the Siemens Klubhaus, Goebelstraße 143-145. Berlin-Siemensstadt.
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Spielendes und ruhendes Kind‘ (‘Playing and Resting Child‘), Johanna-von-Siemens-Heim, Berlin-Siemenstadt. Created between 1928-1932.
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Friedrich der Grosse‘ (‘Frederic the Great‘). Depicted on a postcard. Date of creation unknown.
Hermann Hosaeus, War Commemorative Medal of the Kyffhäuser Union, instituted on June 18, 1921 by the Kyffhäuser Bund (an umbrella organization of German veterans and reservists associations) in conjunction with the 25th jubilee of the erection of the Kyffhäuser monument in Thuringia.
The following statement appeared in the statuary document: ‘1914-1918 World War Veterans keep on expressing their unanimous desire in establishment of a badge commemorating feat of arms of frontline soldiers, loyal service of reserve troops as well as selfless labor at the home front. Definitive refusal of German government to institute such a war medal made governing body of Kyffhäuser Union of German territorial veterans associations come to a decision to institute 1914-1918 War Commemorative Medal by agreement with the Home Ministry and in conjunction with the 25th jubilee of the erection of the Kyffhäuser monument. Former combatants, reservists and those having served at the home front during the World War 1914-1918 as a part of the Army, the Navy and the Colonial troops provided they are members of Kyffhäuser Union, are eligible for a badge.’
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Silbermedaille 1913‘. Silver medal, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Reign of Kaiser Wilhelm III.
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Gold gab ich zur Wehr – Eisen nahm ich zur Ehr‘ (‘Gold I gave for War, Iron I took for Honor‘). Iron medal awarded to those who donated gold for the war effort.
In the possession of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin/ Münzkabinett, the Baumhaus Museum, the Altonaer Museum, etc.
Call during the WWI to exchange gold for iron. From 1916 onwards, an iron medal was presented as a reward for the supply of gold, wedding rings, brooches, rings and other juwelry. The action was voluntary, but a considerable social pressure had been generated to participate. The social control of involvement was simple: those who wore the iron jewelry (echoing the symbolism of the Iron Cross) had proved to be a patriot. Not only individuals but also institutions -clubs, churches and government agencies- were invited to exchange gold for iron.
Military propaganda posters, after the design of Hermann Hosaeus. The left one is in the possession of the Imperial War Museum, London.
‘Despite All we will Triumpf‘
Hermann Hosaeus, ‘Weihnacht Plakette 1922‘, ‘Der Deutschen Arbeit galt der Krieg – Ihr wird trotz allem wieder Sieg‘ (‘Christman Plague 1922‘, ‘German Labour backed the War – Despite All we will Triumpf‘).
Cast by Lauchhamer; depicted in the foundry catalogue ‘Lauchhammer Bildguss’, 1933.
Right: the ‘Weihnacht Plakette 1922‘ depicted in the magazine ‘Stahl und Eisen, Zeitschrift für das Deutsche Eisenhüttenwesen‘, 27 December 1923.
Hermann Hosaeus depicted in ‘Deutscher Ehrenhain, -für die Helden von 1914/18’, published 1931 (not limitative).
Left: Ehrenmal zu Salzungen.
Right: Ehrenmal für die Gefallenen Reichsbankbeambten im Lichthofe der Reichsbank zu Berlin. Depicted is an eagle on a globe, surrounded by the text: ‘GEDENKE DAS DU EIN DEUTSCHER BIST’ (‘REMEMBER YOU ARE GERMAN’). Also described and depicted in ‘Rache und Triumph, -Krieg, Gefühle und Gedenken in der Moderne’, 2014, by Loretana de Libero.
‘Der deutsche Winkelried’ by Hosaeus
Kriegerehrenmahl der Gemeinde der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche zu Berlin.
War memorial of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche, revealed on 21 September 1926 (destroyed).
The text on the stone reads: ‘Eure Leiber den Feinden Eure Seelen Gott Christus ist erstanden Er macht zum Sieg den Todt‘.
Depicted is a Nordic hero who fights against a multitude of lances. Hermann Hosaeus said he was inspired here by ‘Winkelried’, the 16th century Swiss freedom fighter from the Battle of Sempach, who supposedly threw himself upon the Austrian pikes, taking some of them down with his body; this broke up the Austrian front, and made an opening through which the Swiss could attack (from: ‘Rache und Triumph, -Krieg, Gefühle und Gedenken in der Moderne’, 2014, by Loretana de Libero).
Left: depicted in ‘Deutscher Ehrenhain, -für die Helden von 1914/18’.
Right: detail of the memorial, depicted in ‘Rache und Triumph, -Krieg, Gefühle und Gedenken in der Moderne’, 2014, by Loretana de Libero.
Detaill of the memorial, depicted under the name ‘Der deutsche Winkelried’ in ‘Kunst ins Volk, -Zeitschrift für Freunde der Bildenden Künste’, X.XI. Jahrgang 1960.
Left: Das Kreuz an der Alten Pankower Kirche in Berlin.
Right: Right: Ehrenmal zu Sorau.
Left: Ehrenmal zu Oranienburg.
Right: the Ehrenmal zu Oranienburg, depicted in ‘Die Vökische Kunst’, April 1935.
Left: Gedächtnismal für die Gefallenen Schüler des Gymnasiums zu Eisenach.
Right: Ehrenmal mit Gedächtnishalle am Büttelturmhaus zu Stadt Sommerfeld.
Left: Kriegerdenkmal in der Wartburgstadt Eisenach.
Right: Ehrenmal am Bucksturm zu Osnabrück.
Left: Ehrenmal zu Ilmenau.
Right: Ehrenmal an der Kirche der Nordseeinsel Langeoog.
Left: Ehrenmal für die Gefallenen des Landwehr-Inf.-Rgts. Nr.7 zu Liegnitz.
Right: Ehrenmal zu Grünberg.
Left: World War I Memorial in Lebbin (Pomerania).
Right: Ehrenmal zu Neuhaldensleben.
Left: Hermann Hosaeus in the magazine ‘Weltrundschau’, 1908, depicted as winner of the Golden Medal at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung 1908’.
Right: Hermann Hosaeus in his atelier, Helffrichstrasse, 1934, Berlin.
Hermann Hosaeus, one of the leading sculptors of the Weimar Republic
Top creater of German War Memorials
Hermann Hosaeus (1891 – 1958) born in Eisenach, studied from 1891 to 1892 at the Königliche Sächsischen Kunstgewerbeschule in Dresden. He attended the Applied Arts and Crafts School (Kunstgewerbschule) in Nuremberg from 1892-94 with a focus on small sculpture. From 1894-96 he studied at the Munich Art Academy under Wilhelm Rümann, then at the Berlin Art Academy, where he studied under Ernst Herter, Gerhard Janensch and Peter Breuer; later, from 1898 to 1900, he became Meisterschüler of Reinhold Begas. Hosaeus, heavily inspred by Hugo Lederer, specialized in both monuments and war memorials, but he was also a designer of medals. He exhibited his works for the first time at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition in 1899; one of his displayed works, ‘Nach dem Kampfe’ (‘After the Battle’), was bought by the Nationalgalerie Berlin. Many other exibitions of his work followed at the Great Berlin Art Exhibitions as well as at the Munich Exhibitions in the Glaspalast.
Among Hosaeus’ most well-known works is the 1907-Mozart Fountain in Dresden (destructed in 1945, replaced by a copy in 1991); in 1908 Kaiser Wilhelm II awarded Hosaeus a Goldmedal for the ‘Mozart Bunnen’, which was displayed at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition 1908. Four years later he became a member of the ‘Royal Art Academy of Berlin’. Hosaeus served in World War I where he was severely wounded. During the war he designed several patriotic medals, like the famous one ‘Gold gab ich zur Wehr – Eisen nahm ich zur Ehr‘ (‘Gold I gave for War, Iron I took for Honor‘), an iron medal awarded to those who donated gold for the war effort.
After the war he settled in Berlin. In 1918 he became teacher at the Art Academy in Berlin; from 1922 to 1933 he taught at the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Berlin (‘Modellieren und Plastisches Gestalten von Architekturen und deren Schmuckformen’). From 1933 to 1945 he was full professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Berlin (‘Modellieren und für Plastisches Gestalten von Architekturen und deren Schmuckformen auf dem Lehrgebiet Darstellen und Formen in der Fachabteilung für Architektur an der Fakultät II für Bauwesen‘).
Hosaeus was a member of the Nazi party. Inspired by Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Johann Gottfried Schadow, he designed more than 50 monuments and war memorials during the Weimar years and later. He had had a tremendous impact on many other projects through his work on the Kyffhäuserbund’s advisory board on memorial art.
Hermann Hosaeus and the ‘Ten Commandments of Memorial Art’
German central and provincial governments set up special advice centres during World War I in an effort to improve the artistic quality of future memorial projects. The Prussian centre, the ‘Staatliche Beratungssstelle für Kriegsehrungen’, published in connection with an art pressure group (the Vaterländische Bauhütte) the ‘Ten Commandments of Memorial Art’, as they were entitled. This guideline for memorial committees was drafted by Hermann Hosaeus, and circulated widely in the 1920s. Hosaeus recommended that war monuments should be adapted to their environment and be based on ‘the artistic traditions of our Altvorderen’.
The first of Hosaeus ‘Ten Commandments’ stated ‘You shall not plant Heldenhaine’. As a sculptor he considered ‘heroes’ groves’ an uncultivated and potentially short-lived memorial form, since ‘caterpillars and droughts can eat them up’. Hosaeus indicated a nightmare scenario of commemoration; a heroes’ grove slowly dying instead of growing for all eternity. A dying oak tree planted in remembrance of an individual fallen hero would have seriously undermined the Heldenhain concept (from: ‘The Great War and Medieval Memory’, by Stefan Goebel, 2007).
At the initiative of the NS-Reichskriegerbund, his 5 meter high statue of Hindenburg was set up in 1939 at the Kyffhäuser Monument (built in 1896). Other famous works by Hosaeus include: ‘Der Soldat’ (‘The Soldier‘, 1932, World War I Memorial in Hamburg); the World War I Memorial for the 400 fallen students of the Technische Universität in Berlin; the Statue of Vasco da Gama in Hamburg, 1903 (displayed at the ‘Münchener Jahresausstellung 1902 im kgl. Glaspalast’, and at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung’, 1904); the ‘Bell-ringers’ located on the top of the Siemens Building in Buenos Aires, 1930/35, and the ‘Lion-memorial at the foot of the Rudelsberg’, 1926.
It is said that Hosaeus went a certain period into voluntary exil in Argentina after 1945.
Hermann Hosaeus died in 1958 in Berlin.
Since 2000 the prestigious ‘Dresden Peace Prize’ has been awarded annually in the Semperoper, Dresden. Sculptor Konstanze Feindt Eißner created the ‘Dresden Peace Prize Sculpture’ after the fountain figure by Hosaeus in Dresden, which was destroyed in the night of bombing from the 13th to 14th February 1945 (replaced by a copy in 1991). The sculpture-group of the Mozartbrunnen, built by sculptor Hermann Hosaeus in 1907, is composed of the Three Graces Aglaea, Euphrosyne and Thalia dancing around a Mozart memorial stone. The prototype of the Dresden Peace Prize bronze –the Grace Thalia– shows several bullet holes, also a part of its forefront had been blasted away and a hand is missing. The origin stands in the city’s lapidarium where to this very day about 2000 remnants of the demolished city, recovered by preservationists after the bomb attack, are kept safe.
Michael Gorbachev said about the Dresdner Peace Prize:
‘The Dresden Peace Prize is a wonderful idea. I am very moved by its symbolism. Because of its fate, Dresden teaches us, on the one hand,to always commemorate the victims. On the other hand, it teaches us that the destruction was, in fact, the result of irresponsible politicians. The symbol of the Prize is to stand against such politics at all times.’