Ein Nazi-Denkmal steht mitten in Chur
05.12.2023
Swiss Press Award 24 Local – E – Stefanie Hablützel
A Relic of the Forgotten Past
Podcast "Zeitblende" von SRF / Online, Radio, TV
2024
Stefanie Hablützel
3rd place 2024
Since 1938, a mini mausoleum has stood in a Chur cemetery in memory of the fallen German soldiers of the First World War. In 2023, research revealed that it was a Nazi monument: According to National Socialist doctrine, the legacy of these fallen was supposed to be fulfilled by the Third Reich. A historian declares that the memorial stone was “Nazi influenced,” and the historic client, the German War Graves Commission, now acknowledges: “Of course there is an element of ideology attached to it.” In the 1930s, attempts were made to erect more of these types of monuments to the death cult in other parts of Switzerland, but they only succeeded in Chur. The current mayor is upset, claiming to have had no knowledge of it, and that his predecessors had missed the opportunity to critically examine the monument. The historian considers the fact that this has been forgotten to be symptomatic of the reality that the history of the Nazis in Switzerland has only been selectively dealt with. Now the future fate of the Nazi monument is in the hands of local politicians.