Wien: Wehrmann in Eisen

I have already discussed the fundraising by nailing war nails several times (for example here). Nails bought with donations could be hammered into statues carved from wood. This is how the wooden statue turned into an iron statue. Statues were erected in many places not only in the Monarchy but also in the German Empire for nailing war nails.

One of the first of these was the Vienna statue. It was erected on March 6, 1915 on Vienna’s Schwarzenberg Square, where it stood under a canopy roof. That day, Archduke Leopold Salvator hammered the first donation nail into the statue. He was followed by other high-ranking officers, German and Turkish diplomats. The picture attached to the post is a detail of the newsreel film made about the event, in which the apartment buildings on the north side of the square can be clearly seen in the background.

In 1934, the statue was moved under the passage of the building next to the City Hall. It can still be seen in this place today. The patriotic badge decorated with the statue’s image was also produced in large numbers, and many copies can still be seen today.