Ludwig Dettmann, Der letzte der Vorbeiziehenden am Abend des 7. August

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‘Last Visitor at the Evening of 7. August’ (‘Der letzte der Vorbeiziehenden am Abend des 7. August’)
Biography: Ludwig Dettmann

Displayed at the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung 1934.
Signed: 7 August 1934.

Former President Paul von Hindenburg lying in state in the Hindenburg Tower of the Tannenberg Memorial, 7 August 1934 (‘Die Aufbahrung Paul von Hindenburgs im Hindenburg-Turm des Tannenberg-Denkmales, 7 August 1934’). Depicted is the last visitor -of 200.000- that day.
‘Around 120.000 people gathered to the south of Tannenberg Memorial. Once the official part of the ceremony was over, they filed past Hindenburg’s coffin in one of the memorial’s towers. Up to 200.000 people seized the opportunity on 7 August alone. The tower remained open for two weeks, and countless special trains carried a steady stream of visitors to nearby Hohenstein railway station and on the to memorial from there on special buses’

Dettmann’s Funeral and Laying in State depictions
In 1888 Ludwig Dettmann painted ‘Vor dem Kaiserlichen Palais am Morgen des 9. März’, a depiction of people gathering together in front of the Royal Palace in Berlin, after the news of the death of Wilhelm I. Shortly later Dettmann depicted -together with Martin Rehder- the lying in state of Kaiser Wilhelm I.  In a third work he depicted the midnight torchlight procession, bringing the body of Wilhelm I from the Alten Palast to the Dom. Again in 1888, the Year of the Three Emperors, Dettmann painted the lying in state of Kaiser Friedrich III, the successor of Wilhelm I (the works are described in the Vossische Zeitung, 12 July 1888, and in ‘Ludwig Dettmann, zwischen Avantgarde und Anpassung’, Monika Potztal, 2008). In 1897 Dettmann also portrayed the lying in state of Heinrich von Stephan (1831 – 1897), the legendary Minister of Postal Services of the German Empire, founder of the Universal Postal Union in 1874, and the one who introduced in 1877 the telephone to Germany (in the possession of the ‘Stiftung Museum für Post und Kommunikation’ in Frankfurt (photo below).

At the Grosse Berliner Kunst Ausstellung 1934 Dettmann displayed 18 paintings of which 7 works were dealing with the funeral and funeral procession of Paul von Hindenburg:
‘Das Volk zieht, seinen toten Feldherrn grüssend, am Marchallturm vorbei, 7 August 1934’ (‘People passing the Marschallturm salute their dead Field Marschal, 7 August 1934’); ‘Aufbahrung im Marschallturm. Geziechnet am 8 August 1934’ (‘Lying in State in the Marschallturm. Drawn at 8 August 1934’); ‘Notitzen zur Aufabhrung’ (‘Notes about the Lying in State’); ‘Ankunft der Trauerzuges am Tannernberg-nationaldenkmal am Morgen des 7. August, 1934’ (‘The Arrival of the Procession at the Tannenberg-memorial in the morning of 7 August 1934’); ‘Trauerzug bei Fackellicht in der Nacht vom 6. zum 7 August 1934’ (‘The funeral procession in the night from 6 to 7 August 1934’); ‘In Erwartung des Trauerzuges am frühen Morgen des 7. August’ (‘Awaiting the funeral procession in the early morning of 7 August’); and ‘Der letzte der Vorbeiziehenden am Abend des 7. August’ (‘Last Visitor at the Evening of 7. August’).

In 1892 he created ‘1. Mose III’ (1. Moses III’), a huge triptych depicting ‘The Fall of Man’, selected for the World Exhibition in Chicago in 1893 and bought in 1894 by the Staatlichen Museen Schwerin (Grossherzogliche Museum Schwerin). The mid part of this Old Testament based triptych again depicts a funeral procession, including a men drawn carriage with coffin. Other works by Dettmann with the same theme: ‘Landarbeiterbegräbnis’ (‘Funeral of a Farm Worker’, 1892, in the possession of the Staatliches Museum Schwerin), ‘Fischerfriedhof’ (‘Graveyard of Fishers’, 1902, earlier in the possession of the Nationalgalerie Berlin), and ‘Friesische Frauen verlassen den Kirchhof’ (‘Frisian Women leaving Graveyard’, 1905, Königsberger Kunstsammlungen).

Former President Paul von Hindenburg lying in state in the Hindenburg Tower of the Tannenberg Memorial, 7 August 1934.

“….During the five days that passed between Hindenburg’s death and his funeral, it was nearly impossible for ordinary Germans to escape the constant coverage of events…On 6 August a parliamentary memorial service took place in Berlin, during which Hitler spoke and which was broadcast and played in all German factories, post offices, and other public places. After the ceremony Hitler demonstrated his new powers by taking the Reichswehr’s salute on the Reichstag’s steps. The actual funeral of 7 August was arranged on an even grander scale – and one  befitting the importance of the Hindenburg myth to Nazi rule. Hindenburg had wanted to be buried in Neudeck, but Hitler convinced the family that the grave inside the Tannenberg Memorial was more appropriate.
On 6 August, Hindenburg’s coffin was moved from his death room and transported to Hohenstein overnight, accompanied by a torchlight procession of SS and SA. Around 4,000 honorary guests were invited to follow the ceremony inside the Tannenberg Memorial -many of them members of the military, which lent the funeral the purpose of creating legitimacy for Hitler’s new role as commander-in-chief.
Hindenburg’s coffin, wrapped in the Reich war flag, was brought onto the central square of the memorial to the sounds of Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’, and the military chaplain Dohrmann gave the funeral speech. … His spirit would live on in the present generation and would assist in ‘building the Third Reich’, Dohrmann concluded. Hitler’s speech, which followed, sought to codify the Nazi adaptation of the Hindenburg myth once and for all. He exonerated the Field Marschal of all responsibilities for military failure in 1918; Germany had been defeated for ‘political reasons’ alone, Hitler explained, and Hindenburg’s election in 1925 had opened the door to Germany’s resurrection; his burial at Tannenberg now closed a circle -the Filed Marschal’s body was brought back to the place where his mythical roots lay….Hitler concluded:….and even when the last trace of his life has gone with the wind, the name will be immortal. Deceased Field Marschal, now enter Valhalla!

Ordinary Germans were not excluded entirely from participation in the funeral. Around 120.000 people gathered to the south of Tannenberg Memorial. Once the official part of the ceremony was over, they filed past Hindenburg’s coffin in one of the memorial’s towers. Up to 200.000 people seized the opportunity on 7 August alone.  The tower remained open for two weeks, and countless special trains carried a steady stream of visitors to nearby Hohenstein railway station and on the to memorial from there on special buses. The millions who could not make it to Hohenstein did not have to rely on newspapers and newsreels to gain a sense of the service’s atmosphere, but were given an opportunity to join in as the whole burial was broadcast on every German radio station. In Berlin, groups of silent listeners gathered in front of newsagents, pubs, and on public squares, where loudspeakers had been put up especially for the occasion. People’s mourning seemed genuine and, despite Nazi stage-management, there was a strong element of spontaneity and voluntary participation to the way people expressed their grief….(‘Hindenburg, Power, Myth, and the Rise of the Nazis’, Anna von der Goltz, 2009).

Hindenburg’s Funeral ceremony on video:
Hindenburg Last Journey to Tannenberg
Hindenburg’s Funeral ceremony

The torchlight procession arriving at the Tannenberg Memorial,  6 o’clock in the morning, 7 August 1934

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