The submarine U-995 and the huge German naval memorial to fallen sailors in Laboe

Kiel is a German city closely linked to the sea and, specifically, to the naval military history, first of Prussia and then of Germany.

The U-505, a German submarine exhibited in the US and that starred in a secret stor/a>
The sober 'Beacon of the Dead' of Monteferro: history of the Monument to the Universal Navy

The Kiel Naval Base was established in 1864 to house ships of the Prussian Navy, which until then had been based in Danzig (present-day Gdansk). In 1871, with the proclamation of the German Empire, the Kiel Naval Base was renamed Reichskriegshafen (Imperial Naval Port). Between 1872 and 1910, Kiel also housed the Imperial German Naval Academy, which was later relocated to Flensburg, where it remains today as the Mürwik Naval Academy.

On 9 August 1927, during the Weimar Republic, construction began in the municipality of Laboe on the Bay of Kiel of a large memorial to the 34,836 German marshals who fell in the World War I. The design of the memorial was entrusted to the architect Gustav August Munzer, who planned a 73-metre-high tower with a shape resembling the prow of a Viking longship, although his intention was to make "a structure firmly rooted in the land and sea and rising towards the sky like a flame", with an observation platform at its highest point.

The memorial was promoted by the Deutsche Marinebund (DMB, German Naval Association), founded in 1891 and which has since then brought together all the German Navy veterans' associations in their successive denominations. The memorial cost 700,000 German marks, raised through donations and with the help of the Kiel City Council. The first phase of construction was completed in 1929, but due to the severe economic crisis that broke out that year, work was halted. Construction resumed in June 1933, after the nazis came to power, and the memorial was inaugurated by Adolf Hitler on May 30, 1936, with a grand naval parade.

The DMB, which was an independent association, had been renamed the National Socialist German Navy League (NSDMB) on March 4, 1935, and was directly linked to Hitler's dictatorship. The monument therefore came under the control of the Nazi regime. During World War II, due to the naval base, the city of Kiel was devastated by Allied bombing, but the monument survived with little damage. In 1945, at the end of the war, the NSDMB was dissolved and the monument was left in the hands of the British occupying forces.

In 1946, when the Allies ordered the demolition of all Nazi monuments, the Laboe Naval Memorial was saved, because it was a monument whose initial meaning lacked political connotations. On December 20, 1952, the Deutsche Marinebund was re-founded and in 1954 the British returned ownership of the monument to it, which changed its initial meaning to include all sailors who died in both world wars, with a clear sense of reconciliation captured in this inscription: "In memory of all German sailors who fell in both world wars and of our fallen enemies"

Finally, in 1996 the monument was dedicated to those who fell at sea of ​​all nations, similar to the Monument to the Universal Navy of Nigrán, Spain, inaugurated in 1928 to pay tribute to all the sailors who fell in the First World War.

As a curiosity, the monument has a Flag Hall, which is one of the few places in Germany where you can see a nazi flag today, as the swastika is illegal in that country. This room includes all the historical flags that the German Navy has had. The flag of the Kriesgmarine (the Navy of Hitler's dictatorship) is next to the flag of the Volksmarine (the People's Navy of East Germany, a communist dictatorship).

Next to the Laboe Naval Memorial is a German World War II submarine, the U-995. This vessel was launched on 25 November 1942 and served in the Kriegsmarine from September 1943 until the end of the war. It was subsequently used by the Royal Norwegian Navy under the name KNM Kaura between 1952 and 1965.

After its decommissioning, Norway sold it to West Germany for a symbolic price of one Deutsche Mark. The Deutsche Marinebund took it over, and it has been on display as a museum ship next to the memorial since October 1971, and is a popular tourist attraction. This vessel is unique: it is the only surviving Class VII submarine of the 705 that were built.

If you want to see the inside of the Laboe Naval Monument, Sir Paranoia has dedicated an excellent video to it where he shows it in great detail:

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Main photo: 270862.