Grit Hartmann. Richard Wagner gepfändet: Ein Leipziger Denkmal in Dokumenten 1931-1955. Leipzig: Forum Verlag Leizig, 2003. 264 S.; 36 Abb. EUR 14.00, broschiert, ISBN 978-3-931801-35-9. Reviewed by Charles Lansing Published on H-German (March, 2006) This slim collection of primary documents ficulties the National Socialist state and party en‐ presents the interesting story of the decades-long, countered in their efforts to transform German though ultimately fruitless, efforts of Leipzig mu‐ society and culture. However, the book's useful‐ nicipal administrations and citizens to build a ness would be greater if the author had fore‐ monument to honor one of the city's most famous grounded these themes. sons, Richard Wagner. Consisting primarily of cor‐ The frst group of documents focuses on the respondence that passed through the Leipzig city monument's genesis in the early 1930s. At a July government, the volume begins with the genesis 1931 meeting of a special commission that includ‐ of the monument in the early 1930s and ends with ed Leipzig's Lord Mayor, Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, the ignominious partial destruction of the unfin‐ and several members of the city's cultural elite, ished monument and the dispersal of fragments commission members resolved to hold a design to several West German private collectors in the competition for a possible Richard Wagner monu‐ 1950s. Essays written by editor Grit Hartmann in‐ ment in Leipzig. Significantly, the commission troducing each of the four chronologically divided members also formulated a backup plan, one far groups of documents both provide the reader less grand and much less expensive: should a with the historical context needed to make sense monument not be possible, Leipzig would display of the individuals and institutions involved in the in a new location an already extant plinth, de‐ monument project and also help situate the docu‐ signed by Max Klinger and intended to be the ments into the larger story of the reception of base of a 17.5-foot statue of Richard Wagner. Al‐ Wagner and his music by Germans, specifically ready at the commission's initial meeting one of Leipzigers. The documents and the editor's essays the central issues of the entire work emerged: the touch upon a number of important issues regard‐ widespread and well-founded concerns on the ing culture and commemoration in the Nazi and part of city officials regarding the means of fund‐ East German dictatorships, including an especial‐ ing the monument in light of the city's current f‐ ly effective demonstration of the considerable dif‐ H-Net Reviews nancial difficulties. The other documents in the the "Jewish" composer Felix Mendelssohn- section illustrate these concerns as city officials Bartholdy; Hartmann effectively juxtaposes the and concerned citizens consider different types of Nazi removal and destruction of this bronze mon‐ monuments and different schemes for their real‐ ument with the repeated delays and difficulties ization. The announcement for the design compe‐ regarding the Wagner monument. tition confidently, though erroneously, informed Covering the war years, the third group of the public that the total cost of the monument documents builds on an underdeveloped thematic would not exceed 100,000 Marks. On the eve of thread from the previous section--the growing dif‐ Hitler's appointment as chancellor, the supporters ficulties in constructing the monument as a result of the monument had cause for celebration, since of preparations for the coming war--to show the it appeared that sufficient, though still fragile, considerable and rapidly growing impact of the progress had been made in resolving some of the war on the project. Not only did the project con‐ most important issues, such as the location of the tinue to be plagued with problems such as a proposed monument and its means of financing. shortage of raw materials, but wartime conditions The second collection of documents, the most like the dearth of available manpower and the ef‐ voluminous in the work, covers the prewar years fects of Allied bombings also impeded the work of of the Third Reich. They illustrate not only the un‐ Hipp and his associates. An October 1941 report founded early optimism of city officials and sup‐ by the city official supervising the monument's porters but, more importantly, the history and construction noted that the project lacked the "ur‐ legacy of Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders' gency level" (Dringlichkeitsstufe) of war-related growing interest in the monument. Since his programs such as munitions production. Never‐ youth, Hitler had a boundless admiration and re‐ theless, the official called for the use of forced la‐ spect for Wagner, whom he considered one of the bor to help move the project along, though, in typ‐ greatest Germans in history.[1] Not surprisingly, ical Nazi fashion, he categorically prohibited the Hitler attended in February 1933 the Leipzig cere‐ use of Russians. The reader is left to wonder what mony marking the fftieth anniversary of Wagn‐ aspect of the project--its assumed significance in er's death, signaling both his interest in the the German cultural landscape, possibly--con‐ project and his desire to see the National Socialist vinced the official, desperately seeking additional state and party play a much greater role in the manpower, to exclude such a large group of avail‐ monument's realization. Two months later, offi‐ able workers. The section's documents also show cials purged some Leipzig commission members that despite the demands of the war, men such as and replaced them with local Nazis. Hitler was in‐ Hitler and Gauleiter Martin Mutschmann found volved in various stages of the moment: he donat‐ the time to involve themselves in a dispute re‐ ed money to the project; he approved of the sculp‐ garding Hipp's artistic depiction of the mythical tor Emil Hipp as the commission's choice for the German character Siegfried. In an almost comical winner of the monument design contest; and in exchange among city officials, the sculptor and March 1934 he laid the foundation stone of what party elites, the issue of whether Hipp's Siegfried had now become the "Richard Wagner National appeared overly feminine or bloated was earnest‐ Monument in Leipzig." Such interventions were ly debated. Ultimately, Leipzig's mayor appealed partly responsible for the repeated delays in con‐ to Hitler, who sent as his trusted representatives struction and the not unrelated explosion in costs Albert Speer and sculptor Arno Breker, both of as the scale of the monument grew dramatically. whom, after viewing the sculpture, approved of The Nazis were willing to act quickly and deci‐ Hipp's depiction of Siegfried. sively, however, regarding Leipzig's monument to 2 H-Net Reviews In the period 1945 to 1955, the focus of the of such sources would have added a welcome tex‐ fourth and fnal group of documents, the monu‐ ture and depth to the otherwise largely bureau‐ ment experienced its embarrassing demise, as cratic story. Lost is what individuals--among the various parties like the Leipzig administration various pre-1933 Leipzig political factions, for ex‐ and the Bavarian marble supplier squabbled over ample, or among the city populace at any time in the monument. Questions regarding storages the period 1931-55--thought about the project. costs and labor quickly mushroomed into a dis‐ Moreover, there are several substantial chrono‐ cussion of what, if anything, was to be done with logical "gaps" in the documentary record present‐ the monument, including those parts of it already ed here; given the generally frequent correspon‐ completed. Particularly interesting are documents dence regarding the monument in the period ex‐ that depict the slight change in attitude on the amined here, breaks in the paper trail, for in‐ part of the postwar communist municipal admin‐ stance from September 1942 to December 1944 istration, from an initially total rejection of the en‐ and from May 1949 to September 1951, at the very tire project on political grounds that precluded least need to be explained. Finally, the paucity any further involvement ("Hiernach bedarf es and poor quality of the photographs, as well as wohl kaum noch des Hinweises, dass wir beim the lack of sketches or drawings, of both the Neuaufbau unserer Stadt Leipzig zur Vollendung planned monument and the completed pieces nationalsozialistischer Propaganda- und fails to convey to the reader a sense of the monu‐ Wahnsinnspläne weder Zeit noch Mittel zur Ver‐ ment's appearance and scale. fügung haben," p. 194) to a willingness to fnd Despite these criticisms, the slim collection of some kind of solution acceptable to the artist and documents is of not inconsiderable value to schol‐ the marble supplier. Negotiations continued for ars of twentieth-century Germany. Although no years, even reaching in fall 1951 the highest level single issue is explored in any great depth, the col‐ of the East German cultural affairs administra‐ lection nevertheless touches upon a wide range of tion. Berlin fnally instructed Leipzig to settle the issues, including the still open-ended nature of matter under the most fnancially favorable politics within the occupation zones in the early terms. Having already invested more than 3.6 mil‐ postwar period, the differences between the pro‐ lion Marks--considerably more than the 100,000 fessed and the actual role of culture in the Third originally projected--Leipzig officials agreed to al‐ Reich and the possibility of continuities in atti‐ low the marble supplier to impound and sell at tudes and activities in cultural matters from the auction the monument pieces in its possession. late Weimar Republic to the early German Demo‐ Hartmann's fnal essay chronicles the repeated cratic Republic. failed efforts of the sculptor to interest various Note West German authorities in buying the reliefs from the marble supplier and the eventual sale of [1].