When the government was collecting metal in 1940, Robert Heinrich Wagner, the Gauleiter (district leader) on the Upper Rhine (Baden and Alsace), requested the monument to be given to Adolf Hitler as a birthday present. This request was denied by the city administration. In 1944, November, 4th, the monument survived a bombing even though the barracks of the , which are situated directly next to the monument, were entirely destroyed. The west wing of the building was rebuilt between 1950 and 1951. Nowadays, it houses the city's social welfare and youth welfare office.