"Tor zur Freiheit" - Grenzdurchgangslager Friedland, NS, DE
N 51° 24.948 E 009° 54.525
32U E 563194 N 5696456
The Friedland Memorial in Friedland (Lower Saxony) is a memorial for the German expellees and returnees.
Waymark Code: WM13AAM
Location: Niedersachsen, Germany
Date Posted: 10/25/2020
Views: 2
The work by the artists Martin Bauer and Hans Wachter, consisting of four 28 m high, stele-like concrete segments, was erected in 1966/67 as a homecoming memorial. It was created on the elevation of the Hagenberg above the village of Friedland. The building owner was the Association of Returnees, Prisoners of War and Members of Missing Persons in Germany, which also acted as the initiator and in 1964 organized the first house and street collection of donations for the construction of the monument.
The first intentions to build such a memorial came from Konrad Adenauer, who also laid the foundation stone on May 15, 1966. The monument was inaugurated on October 15, 1967 by the then Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, Georg Diederichs.
The memorial's inscriptions on 12 panels read:
WE CAME ON THE STREETS OF WAR, CAPTIVITY, ESCAPE AND PERSECUTION - DRIVEN FROM HOME. 50 MILLION PEOPLE LEAVED THEIR LIFE ON ALL CONTINENTS AND SEAS: FALLEN, KILLED, PERFORMED.
9,340,900 GERMANS REMAINED IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR: 2,892,000 FALLED AS SOLDIERS, 2,846,000 CIVIL PERSONS AND 1,250,000 POWERS DIED; MISSED: 1,163,600 SOLDIERS IN COMBAT, 100,300 IN POW, 1,089,000 CIVIL PERSONS.
Holy cross
AFTER 1945, 15,000,000 GERMANS WERE EXPECTED FROM THE HOME EASTWARDS OF THE OR / NEISSE AND THE BÖHMERWALD, FROM EASTERN EUROPE AND SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE
IN 1944–47, 1,000,000 GERMAN CIVIL PERSONS, INCLUDING WOMEN AND CHILDREN, WERE DISCONTINUED TO THE LARGE EAST.
VICTIMS OF DISPLACEMENT MORE THAN 2,000,000 INNOCENT PEOPLE, DYED ON THE STREETS MISCELLANEOUS, PERISHED FROM EXHAUSTMENT, BY HUMAN VIOLENCE
PEOPLE RECONCILIATE YOURSELF!
POW IN POW 10,500,000 GERMAN SOLDIERS - 7,100,000 IN THE WEST, 3,400,000 IN THE EAST - DISTRIBUTED IN MANY THOUSAND CAMPINGS
THE LAST TRANSPORT CAME IN 1956 - NOT ALL WERE FREE IN 1967
IN 1967 RETURNERS BUILT THIS MEMORIAL
Thank you for salvation - admonition to posterity never to give up freedom and human dignity
PEOPLE RELEASE HATE - RECONCILIATE YOURSELF, SERVE PEACE - BUILD BRIDGES TO EACH OTHER!
Source: German Wikipedia translated
Who placed it?: Konrad Adenauer, German Chancellor
When was it placed?: 05/15/1966
Who is honored?: German expelled and refugees
Website about the Monument: Not listed
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