Near the little town of Hohenstein (in Polish Olsztynek) raged a furious battle august 27 till the 29, 1914 in which the German troops commanded by fieldmarchal Paul von Hindenburg fought the Russians commanded by general Samsonow. In this battle the Russian troops which invaded East-Prussia were defeated, even a total of 90,000 Russians were captured.
To commemorate this battle a monument was erected in 1927 ('Reichsehrenmal Tannenberg'), it consisted of a round brick ring with 8 towers. Hinderburg was buried here after his death in 1934, his coffin was transferred to Marburg at the end of the war. The Germans managed to blow up 2 of the towers in January, 1945. The rest was destroyed later.
Current state:
Complete ruin, only some remnants of the brick foundation can be found today on the small hill. The original arch which led to the monument survived all and can be seen near the main road today near a hotel. |
