Ulmer Deserteur-Denkmal

Ulmer Deserteur-Denkmal stands in Ulm near the University Botanical Garden, combining art with remembrance of Wehrmacht deserters. Artist Hannah Stütz-Menzel created this work for public remembrance. It commemorates men who deserted the Wehrmacht during the Second World War. From the side, its sense of motion becomes especially clear.

The idea emerged in 1985 during a meeting of Reservists Refuse, whose members rejected the condemnation of desertion. In 1989, the work appeared before the Roxy Hallen in central Ulm. Four weeks later, the city council ordered its removal. It then remained in a private yard for almost sixteen years before reaching public land near the botanical garden in 2005. Youth for Peace, formed during the 2003 Iraq War crisis, advocated for that relocation. In 1993, the EU Parliament offered asylum to deserters from Yugoslavia. In 1997, the German Parliament rehabilitated Wehrmacht deserters. Kurt Tucholsky’s inscription honours a person who refused to shoot fellow human beings.