Deutsches Eck

[1] Named after a local commandry of the Teutonic Order, it became known for a monumental equestrian statue of William I, first German Emperor, dedicated in 1897 in appreciation of his role in the unification of Germany.

[2] One of many Emperor William monuments raised in the Prussian Rhine Province, it was dismantled on the orders of the French military government immediately after the Second World War, and only the plinth was preserved as a memorial.

Serving mainly in nursing care, the knights soon after established a commandry here, which became the administrative seat of the Koblenz bailiwick directly subordinate to the Grand Master.

Bruno Schmitz again had drawn up the plans for a giant, over 37 metres (121 ft) high monument installed at the tip of the Deutsches Eck, bearing an inscription quoting a verse by the Koblenz poet Max von Schenkendorf: Nimmer wird das Reich zerstöret, wenn ihr einig seid und treu ("Never will the Empire be destroyed, so long as you are united and loyal").

The equestrian statue itself, 14 m (46 ft) in height, presented William I in a general's uniform, reminiscent of the Prussian victories in the "German Wars of Unification".

When in November 1929 the area was finally cleared according to the Young Plan, tens of thousands gathered at the Deutsches Eck to celebrate the "liberation of the Rhineland".

On 22 July 1930 Reich President Paul von Hindenburg celebrated the completion of his triumphal journey through the Rhenish lands here with a festive banquet and a firework display.

While the inner city of Koblenz was hit hard by Allied strategic bombing during World War II, the Deutsches Eck remained largely unscathed.

When Werner Theisen, a former newspaper publisher from Koblenz, and his wife Anneliese, announced that they would bear all costs for a reconstruction of the statue, the decision was made to proceed with it.