Angel of Peace (Mannheim)

The Angel of Peace stands in Mannheim’s city centre, a bronze figure on a sandstone plinth beside the Jesuit Church. It was created in 1951–52 by Gerhard Marcks, one of Germany’s leading sculptors, who had been branded ‘degenerate’ by the Nazis. The local nickname ‘Die schepp’ Liesel’—the crooked Liesel—refers to its tilted posture. Marcks drew on ancient Persian myth and earlier sketches of angels, including one modelled on his late sister. The relief-like surface and floating stance give the figure a weightless, mournful presence.

The monument was born from fierce civic debate. In 1949 the Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime proposed a plaque for resistance fighter Lechleiter. By 1950 Lord Mayor Hermann Heimerich broadened the remit to all victims of 1933–45 and chose Schillerplatz as the setting. Councillors from CDU, SPD and KPD clashed over whether soldiers and political victims should share a memorial. The final design, with its inscription ‘Es mahnen die Toten’ and dates 1939–45, deliberately includes and does not exclude.

Visitors find a three-metre angel on a two-metre base, its wings and robe etched with parallel lines. The raised feet and tilted axis create the illusion of flight. Walter Passarge, director of the Kunsthalle, noted the ‘painfully restrained expression’ and ‘huge, spellbinding eyes’. The square beside the Jesuit Church is quiet, framed by historic façades and the pre-war site of Mannheim National Theatre. The angel’s gaze draws the eye upward, turning a public space into a place for quiet remembrance.