Monument to the March Dead

Denkmal für die Märzgefallenen

50°58′05″N 11°19′18″E﻿ / ﻿50.968063°N 11.321559°E﻿ / 50.968063; 11.321559Coordinates: 50°58′05″N 11°19′18″E﻿ / ﻿50.968063°N 11.321559°E﻿ / 50.968063; 11.321559
Location| Historical Cemetery, Weimar, Germany
Designer| Walter Gropius, Fred Forbát
Material| concrete
Dedicated date| May 1, 1922
Dedicated to| Workers killed in the Kapp Putsch
Dismantled date| 1936

Monument to the March Dead (German: Denkmal für die Märzgefallenen) is an expressionist monument in the Weimar Central Cemetery in Weimar, Germany that memorializes workers killed in the 1920 Kapp Putsch. A 1920 design produced by Walter Gropius, in collaboration with Fred Forbát, was selected from those submitted in a competition organized by the Gewerkschaftskartell (Union Cartel) and Städtisches Museum Weimar.[1][2][3]

Although Gropius had said that the Bauhaus should remain politically neutral, he agreed to participate in the competition of Weimar artists at the end of 1920.[4]

The structure was built between 1920 and 1922.[5] An unveiling ceremony for the memorial was held on May 1, 1922.[2]

Objecting to it politically and as an example of what it characterized as degenerate art, the Nazis destroyed the monument in February 1936.[5]

The structure was reconstructed in 1946.[2]

## Architecture[edit]

The form of the monument alludes to a thunderbolt. The structure is constructed of concrete.[6]

The monument was arranged around an inner space, in which visitors could stand. The repeatedly fractured and highly angular memorial rose up on three sides, as if thrust up from or rammed into the earth.[4]

### Reception[edit]

Theo van Doesburg, leader of the De Stijl movement, criticized Gropius' expressionist design, decrying it as "the result of a cheap literary idea."[7]

## Gallery[edit]

* Opening ceremony of the monument

* The monument depicted on a 1980 stamp from East Germany

* The structure in 2019 in its current form

## References[edit]

1. ^ Weibel, Peter (2005-05-17). Beyond Art: A Third Culture: A Comparative Study in Cultures, Art and Science in 20th Century Austria and Hungary. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9783211245620.
2. ^ a b c Gilbert Lupfer & Paul Sigel, Walter Gropius, 1883–1969: the promoter of a new form, p. 31.
3. ^ "Mock-up 'Monument to the Victims of the March Putsch'". www.bauhaus100.com. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
4. ^ a b Gilbert Lupfer & Paul Sigel, Walter Gropius, 1883–1969: the promoter of a new form, p. 31.
5. ^ a b Wolfe, Ross (2015-05-08). "Walter Gropius, Monument to the March Dead (1922)". The Charnel-House. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
6. ^ Saval, Nikil (2019-02-04). "How Bauhaus Redefined What Design Could Do for Society". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
7. ^ MacCarthy, Fiona (2019-05-10). Gropius: The Man Who Built the Bauhaus. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674239906.

## External links[edit]

Interactive panorama of the monument

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Walter Gropius

Buildings and structures|

* Fagus Factory (1911-1913) (with Adolf Meyer)
* Bauhaus Dessau (1925-1926)
* Kurt Weill Centre (1925-1926)
* Monument to the March Dead (1922, destroyed, 1936; reconstructed, 1947) (with Fred Forbát)
* 66 Old Church Street, Chelsea (1935-1936) (with Maxwell Fry)
* Gropius House (1938)
* Josephine M. Hagerty House (1938)
* Impington Village College (1938-1939) (with Maxwell Fry)
* Waldenmark (with Marcel Breuer)
* The Alan I W Frank House (1939-1940) (with Marcel Breuer)
* Aluminum City Terrace (completion, 1942) (with Marcel Breuer)
* Walter-Gropius-Haus (Berlin) (1957) (with The Architects Collaborative and Wils Ebert)
* Michael Reese Hospital (original plan for 8 buildings, 1946-1959; demolished 2009-2013)
* University of Baghdad (1957-1960)
* Gropiusstadt (buildings complex, completion, 1960)
* Embassy of the United States, Athens (1960-1961)
* MetLife Building (1959-1963) (with Richard Roth and Pietro Belluschi)
* John F. Kennedy Federal Building (1963-1966) (with The Architects Collaborative and Samuel Glaser)
* Tower East (completion, 1969)
* Huntington Museum of Art (enlargement project, 1968-1970, with The Architects Collaborative)
* Porto Carras (original project, 1973-1980)

Other buildings (supporting work)|

* Großsiedlung Siemensstadt (1929-1931) (co-authorship with six architects)
* Peter Thacher Junior High School (main authorship by The Architects Collaborative)
* Wayland High School (1959-1960) (main authorship by Herbert Gallagher and John "Chip" Harkness)
* Temple Oheb Shalom (Baltimore, Maryland) (completion, 1960) (consulting architect to Sheldon I. Leavitt)

Related|

* Bauhaus
* Bauhaus and its Sites in Weimar, Dessau and Bernau
* The Back Bay Center (unrealised project, 1953)
* International Style
* Werkbund Exhibition (1914)
* The Architects Collaborative (co-founder)
* Bride of the Wind (2001 film)

Family and relationships|

* Martin Gropius (oncle)
* Alma Mahler (first wife)
* Manon Gropius (daughter)
* Ati Gropius Johansen (stepdaughter)
* Adolf Meyer (collaborator)
* Maxwell Fry (collaborator)
* Marcel Breuer (collaborator)

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