Tannenberg-Film-Info-v.1

The Battle of Tannenberg was held at the very beginning of WWI, between 26-30 of August 1914, in which the German army under General Hindenburg stopped the advancing Russian army.

The battle was actually fought near Allenstein (now Olsztyn, Poland) however, Hindenburg urged to name it after the town of Tannenberg (30 km to the west), in order to “erase” the memory of Germany’s defeat in this place in the 15th century (Battle of Grunwald).

Two separate celebrations for the 10th anniversary of the battle were held. One was the laying of the cornerstone to the memorial in Tannenberg. The second, was a ceremony held on August 23, 1924, in the town of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), about 200km to the north in the province of East Prussia.

This short documentary portrayed the ceremony at Königsberg and several sporting events while showing prominent locations in the area, as follows:

Act 1

  • The country house of General von Hindenburg
  • Gymnastics exercises of all the schools of Königsberg at the Walter-Simon-Platz
  • Display of exercises by the “Body Club”
  • The trade building “Handelshof”
  • The German Trade Fair of the East – “Deutsche Ostmesse”
  • Athletic field of the “Palaestra Albertina” (ASCO) Academic Sports Club East Prussia
  • The district courthouse
  • The police headquarters
  • Swimming exercises by the swimming club “Prussia”, Königsberg
  • The Royal Palace of Königsberg
  • General von Hindenburg attends the divine service in the church of the palace
  • The Bismarck memorial
  • The Kant memorial
  • The mausoleum of Immanuel Kant

Act 2

  • Tiergarten & the zoo
  • The Dome
  • March of the student associations
  • The old university founded in 1544 by Duke Albrecht von Preußen
  • The new university
  • The memorial stone for Julius Rupp (1809-1884) – “He who fails to live by his truth is the most dangerous enemy of truth itself”
  • The airfield of Devau near Königsberg and take-off of some airplanes
  • The warehouse quarter
  • Harbor visit by Field-Marshal General von Hindenburg and von Mackensen
  • The harbor of Königsberg & Hundegatt and sailing of Danish, Norwegian and English merchant ships
  • The stock market
  • The fortifications of Königsberg – Dohna & Wrangel towers built in 1853

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Photo Gallery

Below are some of the locations as they looked in those years, which can demonstrate what this documentary might have looked like:

(click on any photo to start a slide show)