The Statue With Two Meanings

There are a handful of war memorials in the Wiesbaden area.  Most are not that noticeable.

The Monument of the Oranien is in a prominent position....at the Luisenplatz area.  It has a unqiue story tied to it.

As World War started up in 1914....a young cadet by the name Hermann Kaiser was attached to the local field artillery unit.  The unit....Regiment 27....the "Orange".

Kaiser went off to the war and did a number of brave things.  Along the way, he earned the Iron Cross II.

The war came to an eventual end, and he came back to Wiesbaden.  He took up teaching, and like most vets of the era....would eventually see some things within the Nationalist Socialist Party that he liked (the Nazi Party did talk up the frustrations of vets and how the war went badly because of bad politicians).

So by the early 1930s.....the vets in Wiesbaden, with Hermann Kaiser at the helm of the committee to recognize the efforts of German soldiers.....demanded a statue dedicated in the city to their efforts.  By late 1934, the statue was in place.  Kaiser?  He was the number one speaker at the ceremony.

Roughly five years later....Germany was back and war.  In 1939, Kaiser came back into the service, and eventually would rise up.  The problem however....is that Kaiser is not as firm on believing in Hitler or the leadership of the Nationalist Socialist Party.  In the early 1940s.....Kaiser has lost faith.

By late 1944....Kaiser has fallen into an effort to bring down Hitler.  The effort fails....Kaiser is arrested.  And on 17 January 1945....Kaiser is executed for treason.

The Monument of Oranien stands as two monuments today.....one in public view and one very subtle.  Men died for a cause, and some came home to find things not as they should be but died trying to fix it.

So if you are around the Luisenplatz area in Wiesbaden, in the center of town.....take a moment to check out the Monument of Orien.....at the end of the square.