Iron-nail war landmarks in West and East Prussia during the Great War

Abstract

The subject of this article is the emergence of a today long-forgotten ritual that spread in wartime Germany and Austria in 1915 and 1916: the creating iron-nail “war landmarks”. War landmarks had essentially three dimensions: these were propaganda spectacles that increasingly took on a commemorative role and were meant to express the gratitude of the home front to the soldiers and their families. The nailing ritual was meant to forge a new Volksgemeinschaft, performing the nation at war. This article presents original research on the history of the iron-nail war landmarks in West and East Prussia in First World War. The paper was originally published as „Pomniki żelazne” I wojny światowej w Prusach Zachodnich i Wschodnich, ”Klio” 2016, vol. 36 (1), pp. 69–90, DOI: 10.12775/KLIO.2016.004.