TX001 · Footnote 31 · route entry 23 of 26
War Memorial
A regimental memorial gathers inscriptions, bronze emblems, multiple conflicts, and the uneasy persistence of martial memory.
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Recorded in English · 1:39
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Transcript
Please stop when you reach the war memorial on the left.
The Gefallenendenkmal des Königin-Elisabeth-Garde-Grenadier-Regiments No. 3, created in 1925 by the sculptor Eugen Schmohl. The dedication spans multiple conflicts, with inscriptions starting in 1864. The bronze elements include an emblematic motto: "PER ASPERA AD ASTRA." Through hardships to the stars.
During the Second World War, the lake was camouflaged from the air. The surface was covered with floating nets and painted panels, so that Allied bombers scanning for a reflective lake would only see the forest and be unable to orient themselves. It didn't work. Allied bombers were orienting themselves on a prominent rooftop near the Funkturm.
When the fighting stopped, the scene was almost biblical. Broken railings, uprooted trees, the terraces shattered by shrapnel. For years after 1945, the water was thick with debris and bicycles. Slowly, over the next decade, the park returned.
Ok, let's carry on towards the end of the tour.
With the memorial to your left, keep walking in the same direction as before.
Ahead, you'll see the small Hexenhaus, or witch's cottage. Brick and timber, tucked behind the playground. Officially: the Parkwächterhaus. Unofficially: the park's center of gravity, a psychogeographic fixed point.