Hartmanns
willerkopf
Exactly 110 years after the outbreak of the First World War and ten years after the historic ceremony in the presence of the two presidents Gauck and Hollande, another significant sign of remembrance and reconciliation was set on August 3, 2024: the inauguration of the "Paperbomb" sculpture on the Hartmannswillerkopf.
The Hartmannswillerkopf was fiercely contested during the First World War. Between 1914 and 1916, fierce battles took place, in which tens of thousands lost their lives. While French soldiers called the Hartmannswillerkopf the "Mountain of Death," the Germans referred to it as "Man-Eater Mountain."
Today, the Hartmannswillerkopf is not only a memorial site but also a living place of exchange and, since last year, part of the UNESCO World Heritage.
The solemn ceremony, to which Helmut Augustin, Chairman of the Salon Diplomatique, Folker R. Zöller, the French Honorary Consul in Mannheim, and Jean Klinkert, President of the Memorial Site, had invited, attracted numerous representatives from politics, business, culture, and society from both sides of the Rhine. Among the guests of honor were Mannheim's Mayor Christian Specht, the Minister of Justice of the State of Baden-Württemberg Marion Gentges, the Prefect of the Haut-Rhin Department, Thierry Queffelec, as well as numerous deputies, mayors, district administrators, and members of the consular corps.
In his speech, Mayor Christian Specht highlighted the significance of the Hartmannswillerkopf as a symbol of the senselessness and suffering of war, while also emphasizing its role as a place of Franco-German friendship and mutual learning. He recalled that on August 3, 1914, the German Reich declared war on France, and thousands of soldiers lost their lives here. Helmut Augustin emphasized the importance of the "Paperbomb" sculpture as a symbol of the fragility of peace. The sculpture is to be installed at historically significant locations in France and Germany to commemorate the atrocities of the First and Second World Wars and to promote peace. After the speeches, two large floral arrangements were laid at the memorial. The program also included readings of soldiers' letters by German and French young people, including students from Mannheim's Ludwig-Frank Gymnasium, as well as a minute of silence for the fighters and victims of the First World War.
