The Stalingrad Madonna

[TWS]

I just finished up a little project to create more wall art for my war room. Nearly of the photos/portraits I display are originals and most in their original period frames. However, the story of the Stalingrad Madonna is so significant IMO that I decided to frame some representations related to it.
I have read several in-depth accounts over the years, but here is a short and very concise overview:

The Stalingrad Madonna is an image of the Virgin Mary drawn by Kurt Reuber, a Wehrmacht doctor in December 1942 during the Battle of Stalingrad. The Virgin Mary is depicted holding the infant Jesus close to her cheek. On the right border are the words "Licht, Leben, Liebe" (Light, Life, Love) from the Gospel of John. The image was carried by a German officer on the last plane out of Stalingrad. Reuber, who was a Lutheran pastor, was captured by the Red Army. He died in captivity.
The original is now displayed in the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin.

[MAP]

Never heard of or seen this before T. A great piece to display.

[AZPhil]

Add me to the list.
My first time hearing this.

Noble work and an excellent display.

Semper Fi
Phil

[TWS]

Thanks guys. The full story is very poignant and tells of how German soldiers would visit his bunker where it was on display just to have a few moments in front of the Madonna amid the hell of Stalingrad and the suffering brought about by the encirclement. I've read a few books with accounts about this, but you can easily learn more if you wish via a Google search.

[AZPhil]

That was a good read.
Thanks Todd.
Stalingrad Madonna - Wikipedia
Just another reason I love this site. Learned something new, Again!!!
Semper Fi
Phil

[AndyM35]

That was very interesting Todd and as you said - very poignant. The images are also very haunting.

It’s posts like these that really add another element to the forum.

Andy

[christek]

Some fantastic history that I had not known about. Great display!

[bichon]

Hello

Amazing story !!
Thanks a lot

cordially
Didier

[TabsTabs1964]

It's an excellent idea, Todd. It is a marvelous image and its history and that of its author as well.
With your permission I upload some photographs that I just made on a book that you can find on ebay.de without problems and it is very cheap. In this 103-page booklet published in Hannover in 1992 by Lutherisches Verlagshaus, the life and work of the author is condensed with a complete summary of his watercolors and drawings. Unfortunately the book is written in German.









I went to see the painting when I visited Berlin and when my son went in 2016, I asked him to take a closer picture. These are:




October 2016.

[TabsTabs1964]

Kurt Reuber was a doctor in the 16th Panzer Division. In one of the photos in the book, he is operating a wounded soldier.



In this photo we see the Lutheran pastor, already in uniform in 1941 with his three children: Erdwin (8 years old), Ute (3 years old) and Hartmute (10 years old).

Several years after the end of the War, thanks to the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge the sons of Reuber received some objects from their father: A notebook with personal notes, some pencil drawings and a lock of the blond hair of their little Ute…. That he never spent a Christmas with his father again.


Utte Tolkmitt, born Utte Reuber, Reuber's youngest daughter, the one with the lock of blond hair recovered years later, reinvindicates the figure of her father and his work.

I discovered that the banner of an association of Austrian veterans of Stalingrad shows the image. I have two photos that I show you below and another one from Austria's Stalingrad veterans association.





Image of the meeting of the Stalingrad veterans from Austria in Limburg: the president, the auxiliary bishop of Limburg, and the standard bearer with the flag of the Austrian Stalingradbund. (Stalingrad Memorial in Limburg an der Lahn)



Again Todd: beautiful images to decorate your war room. Congratulations and I hope that the information I have added is interesting to you.

Santi