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Wiescherhöfen Volunteer Fire Department Parade Banner Returned to Germany
This parade banner was commissioned in 1929 by the Wiescherhöfen Volunteer Fire Department to commemorate its establishment in the village of Wiescherhöfen in 1909. After the village suffered extensive bombardment in April 1944, the banner was presumed to have been lost. Wiescherhöfen fell under the British Zone of Occupation after the end of war. How the banner found its way to a British antiques dealer remains unclear, but it was eventually acquired by the Hall of Flame Museum of Firefighting in Phoenix, Arizona. The Hamm-Wiescherhöfen Fire Department has coordinated with the Hall of Flame Museum and Monuments Men and Women Foundation to facilitate its return to Germany.
AT A GLANCE...
Object:
A double-sided velvet banner depicting a helmeted German firefighter, featuring the traditional and historical motto of "Gott zur Ehr dem Nächsten zur Wehr!” (God to honor, neighbor to defend!)
Circumstances of Loss:
In spring 1944, the banner was stored in the fire station and was presumed lost when the building was destroyed. Although we do not know the exact circumstances, the banner found its way to a British antiques dealer after the war, where it was acquired by an American collector and taken to the United States. This cultural object had been reported on the Lost Art database at entry no. 601778.
Restitution:
On Tuesday, October 8, 2024, the Wiescherhöfen Volunteer Fire Department Parade Banner was restituted during a ceremony at the German Embassy in Washington DC, where it will then travel to Germany and return to the Hamm-Wiescherhöfen Fire Department.
Discovery and Research
The Monuments Men and Women Foundation was contacted about the banner from the senior curator of the Hall of Flame Museum of Firefighting. The Museum had already been in contact with the Hamm-Wiescherhöfen Fire Department since the department had seen the banner on a recent social media post.
Wiescherhöfen is a district of the city of Hamm, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It sustained considerable damage during World War II, as it was a manufacturing community situated near an important rail line and a large marshaling yard. According to the American Air Museum in Britain “the entire US Eighth Air Force, consisting of eight hundred bombers, was sent aloft to bomb to the Hamm marshaling yards, the largest in Germany, which had the capacity of handling 10,000 freight cars per day. It was one of the key centers for German rail traffic, handling everything between the Ruhr in the north and central Germany.” In its postwar history, the Wiescherhöfen Volunteer Fire Department moved from the municipality of Pelkum to the city of Hamm in 1975, as a result of municipal reorganization.
In spring 1944, the banner, which was stored in the fire station, was presumed lost. In more recent years, its loss had been reported on the Lost Art database at entry no. 601778. A reproduction of its lost banner was made in 2013.
Restitution Ceremony
On Tuesday, October 8, the German Embassy in Washington, DC, hosted a ceremony that officially returned the parade banner to the Wiescherhöfen Volunteer Fire Department. The ceremony was attended by leaders of the German Embassy, the Monuments Men and Women Foundation, the Hamm-Wiescherhöfen Fire Department, and the Hall of Flame Museum of Firefighting, as well representatives of the FBI Art Looting agency, the US State Department, and of Bank America, whose support continues to underwrite part of the costs of our research.
The morning included remarks by Axel Dittmann, deputy chief of mission of the German Embassy, by our founder and chairman, Robert M. Edsel, by Mark Moorhead, curator of education of Hall of Flame Museum, and Guido Krämer from the Hamm-Wiescherhöfen Fire Department.
"That the flag of our ancestors, after being lost for 80 years, stands before us today borders on a miracle," Mr. Krämer said. "This is a very emotional moment for us, and we, the Fire Department Wiescherhöfen and our community will never forget this."
We would like to thank Bank of America for supporting our research and our mission of preserving and protecting cultural heritage.
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