“TEUTONIC” TRENDS 12. Mortuary <strong>in</strong> the Seelenfeld cemetery, designed like an ancient Germanic barrow, 1990 13. Mortuary <strong>in</strong> the Hilligenloh cemetery, designed like an ancient Germanic barrow, 1993 203
JOACHIM WOLSCHKE-BULMAHN After 1933 “the Tannenberg League gave way to Das Deutschvolk, an organization first launched <strong>in</strong> 1930 as a philosophical society. Ludendorff f<strong>in</strong>ally reached a reconciliation <strong>and</strong> a modus vivendi with Hitler <strong>in</strong> March 1937 <strong>and</strong> his wife’s German Cognition of God . . . was for a time raised by the Nazis to an equality with the Christian sects.” 47 Mathilde Ludendorff’s German Cognition of God movement was f<strong>in</strong>ally banned <strong>in</strong> 1961. 48 The design of both sites, the cemeteries of Hilligenloh <strong>and</strong> Seelenfeld, is very similar <strong>and</strong> mirrors the <strong>in</strong>fluence of such volkish writers as Willy Pastor. It might be stated that Hilligenloh is somewhat more <strong>in</strong>tensively <strong>and</strong> less naturally designed than Seelenfeld, but both cemeteries clearly reflect the same ideas about nature <strong>and</strong> nation which are discussed above (Figs. 11–13). The Place of the Ancestors Seelenfeld, rectangular <strong>in</strong> shape, was a former burial place of ancient Germanic tribes, a megalithic tomb surrounded by heathl<strong>and</strong>. It is described <strong>in</strong> 1932 <strong>in</strong> the magaz<strong>in</strong>e Die Deutsche Revolution. Kampfblatt des Tannenbergbundes, <strong>in</strong> an article entitled “Place of the Ancestors of the German People’s Parish Seelenfeld” (“Ahnenstätte der Deutschvolkgeme<strong>in</strong>de Seelenfeld)” (Fig. 14): Megalithic tombs are ly<strong>in</strong>g scattered all over German l<strong>and</strong>s. . . . Such a megalithic tomb lies near the village of Seelenfeld <strong>in</strong> the western foothills of a wide heath area, which extends between the villages of Loccum <strong>and</strong> Seelenfeld. The view from this place w<strong>and</strong>ers far away <strong>in</strong>to the Weser l<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> gets caught on the quiet brown heathl<strong>and</strong>, which has a particular fasc<strong>in</strong>ation <strong>in</strong> its unspoiled state <strong>and</strong> its solitude. The German People’s Parish Seelenfeld chose this marvelous spot of earth as the burial place for its dead. . . . The megalithic tomb, which was destroyed by excavations, was heaped up aga<strong>in</strong>, <strong>and</strong> by build<strong>in</strong>g embankment-like borders two forecourts were created . . . <strong>and</strong> then newly replanted with heather. As a natural means of enclosure, a ditch was dug around the whole site <strong>and</strong> an embankment was heaped up, which was planted with <strong>in</strong>digenous shrubs, hawthorn, beech, birch trees, oaks, <strong>and</strong> wild roses. . . . The character of the l<strong>and</strong>scape was preserved: the whole area is covered with heather; birch trees <strong>and</strong> low p<strong>in</strong>e trees st<strong>and</strong> scattered around, <strong>and</strong> some junipers have already been planted. 49 The design of the mortuaries for the Hilligenloh <strong>and</strong> Seelenfeld cemeteries was <strong>in</strong>tended to resemble that of ancient Germanic barrows. The anti-modernist <strong>and</strong> backward character of the idea to build mortuaries <strong>in</strong> accordance with ancient Germanic burial places <strong>in</strong> the twentieth century should be emphasized. Figures 11, 12, 13, <strong>and</strong> 15 might <strong>in</strong>dicate how strong the impact of such ideology on particular groups of German society has been. The overall layout of the Place of the Ancestors Seelenfeld was designed by the l<strong>and</strong>scape architect Rudolf Bergfeld (1873–1941) from Bremen. Bergfeld was a follower of Willy Lange’s ideas about natural garden design <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> 1912 published a book called, The <strong>Natural</strong> Form <strong>Garden</strong>: An Attempt at the Foundation of <strong>Natural</strong>ism <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Garden</strong>. 50 It is presently unknown whether Bergfeld 47 Rees, Biographical Dictionary, 239. 48 See ibid. 49 S. Platen, “Ahnenstätte der Deutschvolkgeme<strong>in</strong>de Seelenfeld,” Die Deutsche Revolution: Kampfblatt des Tannenbergbundes, L<strong>and</strong>esverb<strong>and</strong> Nord 1, 3 (1932), n.p. 50 R. Bergfeld, Der Naturformgarten: E<strong>in</strong> Versuch zur Begründung des <strong>Natural</strong>ismus im Garten, Frankfurt/Oder, 1912. 204
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