Gustav August Munzer (9 January 1887, Oerlsdorf – 23 August 1973) was a German architect. One of his works was the

Laboe Naval Memorial The Laboe Naval Memorial (a.k.a. ''Laboe Tower,'' German: ''Marine-Ehrenmal Laboe'') is a memorial located in Laboe, near Kiel, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Started in 1927 and completed in 1936, the monument originally commemorated the World ...

near

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

Early life

Munzer grew up on a farm near

Föritz Föritz is a village and a former municipality on the small Föritz river, which flows into the Steinach) in the Sonneberg district of Thuringia, Germany. It was merged into the new municipality Föritztal together with Judenbach and Neuhaus ...

Saxe-Meiningen Saxe-Meiningen ( ; ) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine duchies, Ernestine line of the House of Wettin, located in the southwest of the present-day Germany, German state of Thuringia. Established in 1681, by partition of the Ern ...

(now southern

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

). He received his basic education in the small settlement of Mupperg, and later became a bricklayer, working on several construction sites in the area. After becoming a trained

stonecutter Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using rock (geology), stone as the primary material. Stonemasonry is the craft of shaping and arranging stones, often together with Mortar (masonry), mortar ...

he visited the Baugewerbeschule in

Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...

from 1904 till 1907. He worked for the architect Willrath in

Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish language, Danish and ; ; ) is an independent city, independent town in the far north of the Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. After Kiel and Lübeck, it is the third-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg's ...

in 1907 and 1908, and then for the architect Thaysen in Tondern. In 1910, he started studying at the

Kunstgewerbeschule A Kunstgewerbeschule (English: ''School of Arts and Crafts'' or S''chool of Applied Arts'') was a type of vocational arts school that existed in German-speaking countries from the mid-19th century. The term Werkkunstschule was also used for the ...

(school of arts and crafts) in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, where

Wilhelm Kreis Wilhelm Kreis (17 March 1873 – 13 August 1955) was a prominent German architect and professor of architecture, active through four political systems in German history: the Wilhelmine era, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and the found ...

was professor at that time. Having graduated in 1913, Munzer planned several buildings in Düsseldorf, and during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he also did planning for industry buildings. In 1915 he married. In the 1920s he also worked in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

planning, including shipyards in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

Laboe Naval Memorial

In December 1926, Munzer participated in a contest held by the

Bund Deutscher Marineverein Bund, BUND, or the Bund may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Der Bund'', a German-language newspaper published in Bern, Switzerland * ''Shanghai Bund'' (TV series), a 2007 Chinese television remake of the 1980 Hong Kong television se ...

for the design of the

near

.Zukowsky, John. ''Building in Germany between the World Wars''. Thames & Hudson, 1994. He was declared the winner of the contest on 15 May 1927 although his design concept, a tower, was considered too expensive. The cornerstone for the memorial was laid on 8 August 1927, but it took until 1929 for the formal starting of the tower's construction. The tower was finished in the summer of 1930, and then the construction of the memorial was stopped for three years. Following the completion of the memorial, the opening ceremony was held on 30 May 1936. Apart from the opening ceremony, no official Nazi events were held at the site. The monument was confiscated by the British Army after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1954, it was transferred back to the Bund Deutscher Marineverein, and Munzer was responsible for its restoration and modification. In addition, he was also continuing his work as an architect until 1970. Munzer died in Düsseldorf on 23 August 1973.

Early life

Laboe Naval Memorial

References

Further reading