Siegestor: Dedicated to Victory, Destroyed by War, a Warning for Peace
Why is it significant?
Stand in front of the triumphal arch that closes the end of Ludwigstraße, on its southern side, the side facing the old city. Up above the arches, in clear capital letters, runs an inscription in German that sums up this entire walk in nine words.
Key Facts
| Place | Siegestor: Dedicated to Victory, Destroyed by War, a Warning for Peace |
|---|---|
| Address | Ludwigstraße, 80539 München, Germany |
| Geo Coordinates | 48.15240, 11.58210 |
| Part of Walk | Munich 1918-1945: The Nazi Era, Its Victims and the White Rose |
| Generated | Generated |
Stand in front of the triumphal arch that closes the end of Ludwigstraße, on its southern side, the side facing the old city. Up above the arches, in clear capital letters, runs an inscription in German that sums up this entire walk in nine words.
The Siegestor, the Victory Gate, was commissioned by King Ludwig the First and built between 1843 and 1852, modelled on the Arch of Constantine in Rome. On top rides Bavaria in a chariot drawn by four lions. On the north side, the original dedication still reads: to the Bavarian army. It was built to celebrate soldiers and victories, as triumphal arches always are.
In the Second World War the gate was badly damaged by bombs, and the lion chariot on top was wrecked; it was only recast and returned years later. After the war there were voices that wanted it pulled down altogether. Instead, it was restored in the 1950s in a deliberately simplified form, and you can still see where the decoration is missing, where smooth stone stands in for carving. The scars were left visible on purpose.
And the writer Wilhelm Hausenstein gave the south side its new inscription: Dem Sieg geweiht, vom Krieg zerstört, zum Frieden mahnend. Dedicated to victory, destroyed by war, urging peace. Read it slowly. It is perhaps the most honest sentence carved anywhere in this city.
Think back over the walk. A synagogue that came back, a prime minister shot in the street, a synagogue torn down by one man's order, the house where a party ran a country into the abyss, the agreement that betrayed a neighbour, a flame for the victims, a lane for those who would not salute, books burned and bombed, and students and a professor who said no and paid with their lives. Munich was the capital of the movement. It is also the city of the White Rose. This walk ends here, under an arch that learned to say something better than victory.