Tannenberg Memorial - Pomp

Pomp

The re-interment of the Field Marshal was marked by much pomp and ceremony by the Hitler administration, who declared that the upkeep of the memorial would thenceforth be carried out at government expense. The sarcophagus was draped in the German War Flag for the ceremony, at which Adolf Hitler performed the rededication. Masuria where the memorial was built was going through an economic resurgence at that time and nationalistic spirit was running high, on top of this Hitler's remarks and the ceremony of re-interment caused one newspaper to claim "a glorious return of the Teutonic Order". From 1936-1939 a travelling exhibition about Masuria, but centred on the Tannenberg battle and memorial, toured Germany. The Baedecker guide of 1936 described the Tannenberg Memorial "Where President Hindenburg rests beside his fallen comrades" as "a place of national pilgrimage".

Plans were drawn up to install busts of the commanders and politicians involved in the Polish campaign with tablets inscribed with the Führer's speeches and a full-length statue of Adolf Hitler, but these never came about. At least one other commemoration was cancelled after the signing of the Anglo-Polish military alliance in September 1939. The last state ceremonies held at the memorial were of two generals killed in the July Plot of 1944.