page_title: Garrison Church (Potsdam)
section_title: Nazi era until destruction
hierarchical_section_title: Garrison Church (Potsdam) / History / Nazi era until destruction
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Die Ruhestätte Friedrich des Großen: von englischen Luftpiraten zerstört. Bei einem Terrorangriff der englischen Luftgangster auf die Reichshauptstadt in der Nacht vom 14. zum 15. April 1945 wurde auch die historische Garnison-Kirche in Potsdam, die letzte Ruhestätte Friedrich des Großen, restlos zerstört. UBz: Die Aussenansicht der vollständig ausgebrannten Garnison-Kirche. Fot. Hoffmann 17.4.45 [Herausgabedatum] Zentralbild 17.4.1945 Text, siehe oben. Ausnahme Friedrich des Großen ersetzt durch Friedrich II
context_page_description: The Garrison Church was a Protestant Baroque church in Potsdam. It was a parish church of the Prussian royal family until 1918. Originally built as a Calvinist church for Prussian monarchs, it became a United Protestant church with both Calvinist and Lutheran participation after the Prussian Union of Churches in 1817.
  The architect Philipp Gerlach was commissioned by King Frederick William I to build the church for members of the court and for the soldiers garrisoned in Potsdam. It was consecrated on August 17, 1732, and was soon well-attended by both the civilian and military communities. Frederick William I was buried at his request in the crypt of the church in 1740. In 1786, his son, Frederick the Great, was buried there against his will.
  Both Tsar Alexander I and Napoleon visited Frederick II's grave. It was here that the first freely-elected Potsdam City Parliament met and the Lutheran and Reformed churches celebrated their union. The Nazis used the church for their Day of Potsdam, and many members of the 20th July conspiracy and their families worshiped there.
  The nave and bell tower were destroyed by fire during an air raid in the night from April 14 to April 15, 1945.
context_section_description: The Nazis hoped for a majority of votes in the parliamentary elections held under an extremely uncertain climate of judicial insecurity and violence on March 5, 1933. Their plan was to dissolve Parliament to pave the way for dictatorship. Already on the eve of the burning of the Reichstag the idea to celebrate the reopening of Parliament in the Garrison Church was born. On March 2 the plan was approved and six days later March 21 was decided as the celebration date. After protests from church authorities and the President of Parliament, it was agreed that only the opening ceremony would be held in the Garrison Church. The official opening meeting was to take place next door in the “Langen Stall”. For lack of time this plan too was reversed, and the Kroll Opera became the venue for the event. The intentionally-chosen date fell on the anniversary of the opening of the first Reichstag Parliament by Kaiser Wilhelm I in the White Salon in the Berlin Palace on March 21, 1871. This time Parliamentary President Paul von Hindenburg was seen by many as a substitute for the Kaiser, allowing Hitler's “Machtergreifung” to become a symbol of a Prussian conservative rebirth of the nation (“Wiedergeburt der Nation”). The deal was sealed by a handshake between the Chancellor, Hitler, and the President, von Hindenburg Paul von Hindenburg. A famous photograph of it by the American (N.Y. Times) photographer, Theo Eisenhard, became the media icon of the day. Yet the handshake represented no more and no less than Hitler's dismissal of Hindenburg.  Two and five Reichsmark coins showing the church were minted in 1934–35.  All of the two and some of the five carry the commemorative date, "21 März 1933".  These coins remain available at modest prices.
  National Socialist leadership led Germany into the World War II, which left Potsdam heavily damaged. For fear of bombardments, the coffins of Frederick II and his father, Frederick William I, were removed from the Garrison Church in 1943 and placed in a bunker in today's German Army Command Centre in Potsdam. After the British bombings on April 14 and 15, 1945, it looked as though the church had remained unscathed, but on the 15th the “Lange Stall next door took a direct hit, and the ensuing fire storm entered the church through windows broken by the bombing the night before. The fire destroyed the wooden galleries and the roof before it entered the tower, where wooden ventilation shutters needed for the carillon mechanic allowed the fire to spread quickly. Damage to water pipes and low water pressure resulting from the bombings made it impossible for fire hoses to reach the source of the blaze. Firemen could only watch helplessly as first the tower burned from top to bottom followed by the wooden beams in the church nave. Only the crucifix, chandeliers and the altar table could be saved before the enormous heat caused an unexploded ordnance to detonate. One by one the carillon bells loosened and fell nearly 80 meters to the ground until finally the oaken roof of the tower also collapsed ending the long existence of Potsdam's most famous musical instrument. Only the ruined outside walls of the church and a stump of its tower remained.
  The congregation, now much reduced in number, managed to maintain ownership of the land belonging to the Garrison Church Potsdam after negotiating with local government authorities. Aside from the church ruin, the parish hall and two further dwellings were in desolate condition and, with help from both Church and State institutions, every effort was made to repair them. On July 25, 1949, the parish council decided to rename the church Holy Crucifix Church in order to free it and its parishioners from the burden of Prussian militarism and mark the beginning of a new era dedicated to awareness of sin and Christ's suffering. Within the year the Holy Crucifix congregation moved into a chapel built within the ruins of the bell tower. Two newly-cast bells rang to announce services. The 1960s saw the beginning of reconstruction. Visitors could make appointments with the churc
caption: Ruin in April 1945
exif: {}