The construction of 184 monuments in honor of Otto von Bismarck between 1869 and 1934 in Germany seems logical. After all, the “Iron Chancellor” was the architect of German unification, culminating in the creation of the German Empire in 1871.

However, during the same period, similar monuments were erected in countries such as Poland (40 monuments), Russia (4 monuments), France (3 monuments), and even in seemingly “unlikely” places like Chile, Papua New Guinea, Cameroon, or Tanzania.

These monuments are known as Bismarck Towers, and approximately 173 of them still stand today. Curiously, the very first tower was built in Poland in 1869 in the town of Janówek.

Bismarck Towers
Otto von Bismarck in 1889. Credit: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R13234 / Wikimedia Commons

At the time, the location was called Ober-Johnsdorf and was part of Prussian Silesia.

The initiative came from a retired Prussian officer named Friedrich Schröter, who commissioned a 23-meter-high tower to honor Bismarck, who was then on the brink of achieving his unification goal.

In 1899, one year after Bismarck’s death, the fraternities of the Studentenverbindung student association organized a competition to select the design for future monuments dedicated to Bismarck.

Bismarck Towers
Kreis design for towers. Credit: Peter Wittgens / Wikimedia Commons

The winning design was by architect Wilhelm Kreis, and from then on, 58 Bismarck Towers were constructed based on his model.

Kreis worked as an architect from the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II until after World War II, despite his Nazi sympathies, and died in 1955.

Kreis’s model had the advantage of being adaptable to various heights and sizes, depending on the budget of the sponsor or the amount of donations collected for the project.

Bismarck Towers
The first Bismarck tower, in Ober-Johnsdorf, Poland. Credit: Pudelek / Wikimedia Commons

However, many other towers followed different designs and styles. Most were conceived as a kind of lighthouse, where braziers were lit on designated days to commemorate the chancellor.

This was the case for many towers built in territories that were part of the German Empire and its colonies at the time: New Guinea, Cameroon, Tanzania, Denmark, as well as Austria, the Czech Republic, and Chile, among others, where German emigrants funded the construction.

Up to 410 Bismarck monuments were planned, but only 240 were completed due to financial or other constraints.

Bismarck Towers
Bismarck Tower in Concepción, Chile. Credit: Public domain / Wikimedia Commons

The goal—never achieved—was to illuminate the entire Reich, so that from one tower, the fire of the nearest towers could be seen, creating a kind of network.

Altogether, they represent a unique monumental phenomenon spanning four continents.

One explanation for this profusion is that the citizens who funded the monuments through donations sought to express their dissatisfaction with Kaiser Wilhelm II’s policies after he dismissed Bismarck in 1890.

Bismarck Towers
Bismarck Tower in Taufstein, Germany. Credit: Public domain / Wikimedia Commons

At the same time as the towers were being planned, hundreds of streets, cities, districts, mountains, and ships were renamed after the chancellor.

Of course, the Kaiser did not sit idly by. He attempted to counter the Bismarck cult by creating numerous monuments to his father, Wilhelm I.

After World War I, the Bismarckian myth that had inspired the towers gradually faded, and the fires would never be lit again.

This article was first published on our Spanish Edition on October 17, 2018: Las Torres Bismarck, un fenómeno monumental que se extiende por cuatro continentes

SOURCES

Bismarck Türme

Hans A. Pohlsander, National Monuments and Nationalism in 19th Century Germany

Wikipedia, Torre Bismarck

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