The monument stands near the jetties of Hamburg port on the Elbhöhe, today a local recreation area.

Mayor Johann Georg Mönckeberg established a citizens' commission to erect the monument at the site.

[2] The building of the monument was documented by the photographer Wilhelm Weimar, who worked for the Hamburg Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe.

[2] The architect's intent for the catacombs remain unknown, however, as they, and the whole interior of the monument, are no longer accessible for safety reasons.

In the 1970s, a soldier who had served in the British army during the occupation in Germany discovered a tunnel beneath the Bismarck memorial which led to a Nazi hideout while in Hamburg.