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Statue
Grand gesture:
The "Reach freedom"
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Homecoming
Homecoming
It is an expression of a collective memory: The large statue on the east gable of the St. Norbert Church shows an emaciated man in the long Wehrmacht coat, who steps over a fence made of barbed wire. In a hopeful gesture, he holds his hand extended. The "Reach for freedom" represents a returnee who has been released from Soviet captivity and can return to his German homeland. In 1955, the sculptor Fritz Theilmann created a monument for the experience of the often years of imprisonment in Soviet camps, to which thousands of German soldiers were still exposed after the end of the war until the mid-1950s. After his release, he returned to Germany via the Friedland camp.
Symbol of Freedom
In 1955, the Association of Returnees (VdH) initially had the statue made of wood and in several pieces so that it could be transported across the republic on a truck to reunion events. Soon it was perceived nationwide as a kind of "Statue of Liberty of the German returnees". It was only in 1967 that the "Reach for freedom" was replicated in concrete and placed firmly in its present location behind the St. Norbert Church. The old wooden statue found a new place in Goslar at the end of the 1960s on the site of the memorial for POW and expulsion, but was destroyed by an arson attack in 2003 and replaced by a bronze copy.
In memory?
Inside the St. Norbert Church are other works of art by the sculptor Fritz Theilmann, which also revolve around war, captivity, suffering and expulsion. These themes are combined with Christian motifs at various places in the border crossing camp and thus are religiously charged. Their pictorial language conveys a German victim narrative, which is captured in image and stone and reflects the social attitude in West Germany in the post-war period: Backgrounds and causes for flight, expulsion and war captivity and thus the countless victims of German crimes are hardly discussed at this time or completely concealed. The commemoration of the events of the Second World War and the Third Reich focuses mainly on German victims, who suffered great by the Allies and especially the Soviet Union.
Homecoming
It is an expression of a collective memory: The large statue on the east gable of the St. Norbert Church shows an emaciated man in the long Wehrmacht coat, who steps over a fence made of barbed wire. In a hopeful gesture, he holds his hand extended. The "Reach for freedom" represents a returnee who has been released from Soviet captivity and can return to his German homeland. In 1955, the sculptor Fritz Theilmann created a monument for the experience of the often years of imprisonment in Soviet camps, to which thousands of German soldiers were still exposed after the end of the war until the mid-1950s. After his release, he returned to Germany via the Friedland camp.
Symbol of Freedom
In 1955, the Association of Returnees (VdH) initially had the statue made of wood and in several pieces so that it could be transported across the republic on a truck to reunion events. Soon it was perceived nationwide as a kind of "Statue of Liberty of the German returnees". It was only in 1967 that the "Reach for freedom" was replicated in concrete and placed firmly in its present location behind the St. Norbert Church. The old wooden statue found a new place in Goslar at the end of the 1960s on the site of the memorial for POW and expulsion, but was destroyed by an arson attack in 2003 and replaced by a bronze copy.
In memory?
Inside the St. Norbert Church are other works of art by the sculptor Fritz Theilmann, which also revolve around war, captivity, suffering and expulsion. These themes are combined with Christian motifs at various places in the border crossing camp and thus are religiously charged. Their pictorial language conveys a German victim narrative, which is captured in image and stone and reflects the social attitude in West Germany in the post-war period: Backgrounds and causes for flight, expulsion and war captivity and thus the countless victims of German crimes are hardly discussed at this time or completely concealed. The commemoration of the events of the Second World War and the Third Reich focuses mainly on German victims, who suffered great by the Allies and especially the Soviet Union.
A symbol of liberation. But there are voids in the memory.
360° panorama
This is a panoramic view of the statue
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