Some Tough Old Buzzards

[Nacuaa]

Since Herbert has generated some new discussion regarding the early tall helmets, I thought this photo of the "48er" veterans who gathered in Altona, Hamburg to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the First Schleswig Holstein War makes a complimentary comparison of the evolution of the helmets. The event was sponsored by Field Marshall Graf von Waldersee Chief of the General Staff who appears on the right with his aide in their contemporary helmets of 1898.

 

[Zebedeus]

Exceptional photo. You are right. This is really a living comparison of the old helmet and the later one. The veterans also seems to be taller of all other persons.

 

[Nacuaa]

Good point! Here's another photo. They're all tall. By coincidence, my dragoon officer's helmet, the same as the one worn by the veteran in the photo, is an exceptionally large size compared to later pickelhaubes.

 

[dehebet]

I love ths Photo, do you have more of fotos with 1848 helmet ?

 

[Nacuaa]

Hi, Sorry these are the only two I have. If I find any I'll let you know.

 

[Nacuaa]

I love ths Photo, do you have more of fotos with 1848 helmet ?

Hello, The community of Altona-Hamburg may have more photos of this event. I found this fascinating web-site of the efforts by the community to clean up their parks and restore their monuments. If you scroll down you will see a story on the efforts to recover the 1848-1898 monument to the war. Its commemoration is the event that the veterans are attending in the photos. The bronze plaque is missing but they are searching for it. Altona seems to take a lot of historical interest in the 1848 events lately.

 

[Peter B]

Always nice when historical monuments are restored. Not the same but the wife and I did a trip to the UK to see the area where most of her English ancestors, and some of mine, came from. We visited the cemetery in Felixstowe and after much searching found one ancestor’s grave and removed a lot of overgrowth etc. so you could see it again. Not so much that it looked brand new again but at least enough so you could see it better. Gone but not forgotten.

 

[pickelhauben]

On the other hand.
The US is going through a politicly correct phase and is tearing down monuments.

 

[Nacuaa]

On the other hand.
The US is going through a politicly correct phase and is tearing down monuments.

I wonder when and why the 1848 memorial bronze plaque was removed and the boulder was intentionally overturned and buried face down? That's a lot of work. The Altona city administration doesn't seem to know much about it according to the article.

 

[Nacuaa]

Possibly a direct connection between the Altona event and a US event? Our US "48er" veterans (many also Civil War veterans) erected a comparable monument in Davenport, Iowa at the same time as the Altona dedication in March 1898. The selection of a boulder like the Altona monument might be significant. It was removed in 1918 during another politically correct phase. But like Altona it was recently replaced and rededicated.

Dedication of a stone monument in memory of Schleswig-Holstein Kampfgenossen in 1848-1850

Photograph of group of men standing behind stone monument in Washington Square Park. Monument is dedicated to men who served in 1848 Revolution in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Monument is engraved "Schleswig-Holstein Kampfgenossen 1848-49-50. This stone was erected March 24, 1898." Some men...

www.umvphotoarchive.org

Forty-Eighter Monument Dedicated in Davenport

On March 30, 2008 a 24,000-pound monument honoring a group of German immigrants known as the "Forty-Eighters" was erected near the banks of ...

maxkade.blogspot.com

The Early Arrival of the Germanic Immigrants, 1836-1854. · The Forty-eighters in Davenport: The Making of a New German Home · German American Heritage Center and Museum

 

[KAGGR#1]

On the other hand.
The US is going through a politicly correct phase and is tearing down monuments.

Correct as we both know NOLA the famous General Robert E. Lee monument
at Lee Circle and Memphis the General N B Forrest monument
both now gone
Steve

 

[Kaikun2001]

Very tall helmets indeed.