2023-11-12 09:32:06
Life-sized soldiers crouch in the bushes. Targeting walkers, lying in holes in the ground or carrying an injured comrade. Visitors who are out and about in the forests at Schumannseck in Luxembourg could get a real shock here and there. Only at second glance does it become clear that these are photo installations in their original size. A total of 65 of them line a 2.8 kilometer long memorial path near Wiltz. The realistic representation is intentional. “We want to make the suffering of the war understandable,” says Frank Rockenbrod, the initiator and leader of the project.
The location was not chosen by chance either: Particularly bloody and long battles during the Battle of the Bulge during the Second World War took place in Schumannseck. From December 27, 1944 to January 21, 1945, more than 4,000 mostly very young American and German soldiers died here, fighting trench warfare in foxholes for weeks, some of them poorly equipped. And that in winter with temperatures below zero.
Much of it can still be seen today: the holes in which the soldiers hid, shell craters, bomb craters. The cardboard figures were made based on original photographs from the time of the battle. There are no large explanation boards, instead there are discreet QR codes on wooden posts that can be accessed with your cell phone.
Source: Infographic WELT
However, behind this lies an enormous treasure trove of documents and audio recordings. Real ones, mind you. Rockenbrod has spoken to more than 500 contemporary witnesses to the Second World War and the Battle of the Bulge since he was 16, traveling all over the world to do so. Today he is 67 years old and still has a lot to do. “Not many of the contemporary witnesses are still alive, we have to preserve the memory of the Second World War for young people.”
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For this purpose, the information was prepared carefully: “We didn’t want long texts, but rather worked visually and acoustically. And it has to be authentic in order to reach young people emotionally.” For him and his colleagues from the National Museum of Military History (Musée Nationale d’Histoire Militaire) in Diekirch, Luxembourg, it is less about the question of guilt, but rather about warning people about it To remember the misery of war. And to show how important lasting peace is.
The land of memories as a travel destination
Putting the suffering of war in the foreground – Rockenbrod is not alone with this approach. It is typical of the historical places that have come together under the name Land of Memory – the Land of Memories as a destination for memorial tourism.
The EU-funded project covers more than 100 historical sites from the First and Second World Wars in Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Germany. Whether at Schumannseck, in the trenches of Verdun or one of the many other sites: the suffering of war should not be forgotten – and should be made tangible for today’s generations who grew up in peace.
The Douaumont military cemetery and ossuary commemorate those who died in the Battle of Verdun in the First World War
Quelle: pa/Daniel Kalker
How important this is can also be seen in Verdun, France. During the First World War, more than 300,000 soldiers died here in a ten-month battle and around 400,000 were wounded, not to mention those who were traumatized. Logically, there are no more contemporary witnesses. All the more significant are the places of remembrance such as the Douaumont ossuary, where thousands of fallen soldiers rest, and the endless grave fields in front of it, which make the incredible number visually tangible. The view of the grave crosses is also shocking: most of those who died here, regardless of their nationality, were barely of legal age.
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Battles of Verdun 1918
Although Verdun is now a charming city that would be worth seeing even without memorial tourism, the First World War is omnipresent. At the monument to the fallen, which towers over the city. In Fort Douaumont, which was fiercely contested. In the citadel of Verdun, where visitors take a small train and where they can experience the soldiers’ everyday lives using video glasses. In the forests and meadows that surround Verdun, the trenches and shell craters still characterize the landscape today – a strange combination of idyll and bitter aftertaste, knowing that the ground is still contaminated with old ammunition to this day.
Remains of a trench near Fort Douaumont
Source: picture alliance/Ulrich Baumgarten
For a historical overview, the museum in the Mémorial de Verdun is definitely worth seeing. It was founded in the 1960s to explicitly commemorate the First World War, which threatened to disappear from people’s consciousness due to the impressions of the Second World War. The presentation inside is, there is no other way to put it, moving: in the multimedia installations, the visitor sits in the front row, right at the front, surrounded by mud, screaming and gunfire, and has an idea of how terrible life is in the Must have been trenches – characterized by death, cold, hunger, thirst and fear.
Visitors immerse themselves in the Second World War
How much the view of the world wars and their presentation have changed can also be seen around 100 kilometers further north in Bastogne, Belgium, another place in the Land of Memory and the site of the Battle of the Bulge in 1944/45. At the Bastogne War Museum, visitors are immersed in the Second World War with multi-sensory shows, hundreds of original objects and a tour that tells the story from the perspective of four people.
The Bastogne War Museum in Belgium wants to create an emotional access to the horrors of the Second World War
Source: picture alliance/imageBROKER/J. The Master
Here too you work with subtle effects. The Battle of the Bulge room is two to three degrees colder than the rest of the museum, making it easier for visitors to imagine the winter scenery. “For us it’s about the people and the misery that war causes,” emphasizes Mathieu Billa, director of the museum.
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At this Belgian memorial, too, the focus is not on the question of guilt, but rather on the emotional approach to the horrors of war. In addition to the exhibition, the museum organizes events, as well as the Bois Jacques area, a small area of forest near the museum in which many foxholes have been preserved and where visitors can imagine themselves directly in the battle using an app. Billa is satisfied with the success of the museum: Since it opened in 2014, over a million visitors have visited the exhibition, more than half of them from abroad.
There is only one thing he would like to see in larger numbers: contemporary witnesses. Because he is finding it increasingly difficult to find her. “Just ask at home in Germany who else has someone in the family who experienced the Second World War here,” he tells visitors on the way, “we look forward to any contact and personal report.”
Tips and information:
Accommodation: Verdun, France: “Les Jardins du Mess”, 4-star hotel right on the river bank within walking distance of the city center, double rooms from 111 euros (lesjardinsdumess.fr).
Urspelt, Luxembourg: “Château d’Urspelt”, 4-star plus resort in the walls of a historic country castle, with spa area, double rooms from 230 euros (chateau-urspelt.lu/de).
Bastogne, Belgium: “Merceny Motel”, 3 stars, simple but tasteful, within walking distance of the city center and various memorial tourism sites, double rooms from 69 euros (lemerceny.be).
Places of remembrance: Schumannseck memorial trail near Wiltz, Luxembourg: starting point at the Wiltz, Schumann bus stop; Further information, map and audio recordings can be found here landofmemory.eu/de/more information about arrival at visit-eislek.lu/de.
National Museum of Military History, Diekirch, Luxembourg: mnhm.netentry without discount five euros.
Bastogne War Museum, Belgium: bastognewarmuseum.be22 Euro.
Verdun Memorial, France: memorial-verdun.fr/de, twelve euros, combined ticket with Fort Douaumont or Fort Vaux 14.50 euros, with both forts 17 euros. Verdun Citadel: citadelle-souterraine-verdun.fr15 Euro.
Additional Information: landofmemory.eu/dehere you can also find information about other historical sites as well as tourist routes, podcasts and books.
Never again – “I can’t listen to these rituals anymore”
On the commemoration of Kristallnacht in 1938, Michael Wolffsohn, Professor of Contemporary History, remembers a series of anti-Semitic attacks since the 1960s and the developments since October 7, 2023. “Without security there is no effective fight against extremism,” said Wolffsohn.
Participation in the trip was supported by the Land of Memory initiative. Our standards of transparency and journalistic independence can be found at axelspringer.com/de/werte/downloads.
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