A visit to the German Marine Memorial and the U995, Laboe

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Adam Carr
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A visit to the German Marine Memorial and the U995, Laboe

#1

Post by Adam Carr » 24 Oct 2012, 22:20

Today I got the bus from Kiel to the seaside town of Laboe, home to the Marine-Ehrenmal (Naval Memorial). This is the boat harbour at Laboe.
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Re: A visit to the German Marine Memorial and the U995, Labo

#2

Post by Adam Carr » 24 Oct 2012, 22:20

The Memorial is a 50-meter brick tower built in the 1930s as a memorial to the German Navy’s dead of World War I. After World War II it was redesignated as a memorial to the dead of all nations in naval warfare, although it is still the official war memorial of the Deutsche Marine.
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Re: A visit to the German Marine Memorial and the U995, Labo

#3

Post by Adam Carr » 24 Oct 2012, 22:21

In front of the tower is Prinz-Eugen-Platz, named for the German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. In the square is one of the ship’s propellers, salvaged in 1977 by the US Navy from the Prinz Eugen’s wreck off Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific.
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Re: A visit to the German Marine Memorial and the U995, Labo

#4

Post by Adam Carr » 24 Oct 2012, 22:21

Among the memorial plaques around Prinz-Eugen-Platz I was gratified (as an Australian) to find this one, commemorating the 645 Australians and 80 Germans who died off the coast of Western Australia in November 1941 when the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney and the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran sank each other in a close-quarters exchange of fire.
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Re: A visit to the German Marine Memorial and the U995, Labo

#5

Post by Adam Carr » 24 Oct 2012, 22:24

Outside the entrance to the tower hangs the bell of the Seydlitz, a German battlecruiser scuttled at Scapa Flow in 1919. The bell was retrieved when the ship was salvaged in 1928.
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Re: A visit to the German Marine Memorial and the U995, Labo

#6

Post by Adam Carr » 24 Oct 2012, 22:25

Inside the tower on the ground floor is the original foundation stone unveiled by Admiral Reinhard Scheer in 1927. Above it is a painting of the Battle of Jutland (known as the Battle of the Skagerrak in Germany) in 1916 by Claus Bergen.
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Re: A visit to the German Marine Memorial and the U995, Labo

#7

Post by Adam Carr » 24 Oct 2012, 22:26

Around the walls hang commemorative banners donated by German naval associations, veterans’ groups, families of naval war dead, foreign governments and foreign navies, dating back in some cases to the 1950s.
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Re: A visit to the German Marine Memorial and the U995, Labo

#8

Post by Adam Carr » 24 Oct 2012, 22:26

On the next floor is the Flag Room, showing all German naval flags back to the Kingdom of Prussia, including the naval flags of Austria-Hungary and the German Democratic Republic. I may be wrong, but I suspect this is the only place in Germany where a swastika flag is officially displayed.
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Re: A visit to the German Marine Memorial and the U995, Labo

#9

Post by Adam Carr » 24 Oct 2012, 22:27

On this floor also is the bell of the Von der Tann, another German battlecruiser scuttled at Scapa Flow. The bell was retrieved when the ship was salvaged in 1930.
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Re: A visit to the German Marine Memorial and the U995, Labo

#10

Post by Adam Carr » 24 Oct 2012, 22:28

Next to it is the bell of the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, which was scuttled in Kiel harbour in 1945 but later salvaged. Note the Nazi eagle with swastika.
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Re: A visit to the German Marine Memorial and the U995, Labo

#11

Post by Adam Carr » 24 Oct 2012, 22:29

Under the tower is a tunnel lined with memorial wreaths, which leads to the Gedenkhalle (Commemorative Hall), a circular underground chamber. The only light comes from a blue-tinted stained-glass skylight, which makes it too dim for photography. Around the walls are naval flags from many nations, emphasising the international character of the memorial.
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Re: A visit to the German Marine Memorial and the U995, Labo

#12

Post by Adam Carr » 24 Oct 2012, 22:29

There are a number of memorial plaques on the walls: here, the Scharnhorst.
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Re: A visit to the German Marine Memorial and the U995, Labo

#13

Post by Adam Carr » 24 Oct 2012, 22:30

The Admiral Graf Spee.
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Re: A visit to the German Marine Memorial and the U995, Labo

#14

Post by Adam Carr » 24 Oct 2012, 22:32

The Bismarck.
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Re: A visit to the German Marine Memorial and the U995, Labo

#15

Post by Adam Carr » 24 Oct 2012, 22:37

On the far side of the Hall is another tunnel, which leads to a museum of German naval history, including models of many famous German warships.
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