War Memorial, Magdeburg

The Fermersleben War Memorial is a war memorial located in the Fermersleben district of Magdeburg.

It stands west of the main street Alt Fermersleben, near the junction of Friedrich-List-Straße and commemorates the inhabitants of Fermersleben who died in the First World War. First plans for the erection of a war memorial took place in February 1934. The war memorial was erected in 1934 on the former Fermersleben cemetery, which was abandoned in 1931. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Fermersleben trestle windmill was located on the site.

Financing was provided by the Protestant church community of Fermersleben. The construction was carried out by the building contractor Ernst Mohrlüder. The solemn dedication of the monument, which took place on September 16, 1934, was reported in detail in the Magdeburgische Zeitung.

The monument is simple, but monumental in design. A stele with a square ground plan rises from the center of a wall. On the front of the stele is a cross reminiscent of a sword. Below the top of the wall is the inscription THE FALLED SONS OF FERMERSLEBEN. On the left side there are two, on the right side three tablets with the names of the deceased in alphabetical order. On the sides of the stele were originally the names of major battles of the First World War. The base area bore an Iron Cross in relief. Both were removed after the Second World War.

The monument is interesting from a cultural-historical point of view, as here a modern architectural language was rededicated to the hero-istic war cult of the National Socialist era.

In the summer of 2012, the five plaques with the names of the deceased were stolen by unknown persons, probably non-ferrous metal thieves. On the occasion of the renovation of the monument in 2015, stone tablets with the names of the fallen replaced the stolen bronze tablets.