War Memorial Steinstrasse Schüttorf

Right next to the church in the center of the town of Schuttorf is a monument in memory of the fallen in the various wars. The monument consists of a wider base, on top of which a column with a squatting or seated soldier.
Both the column and the top of the pedestal contain many inscriptions and names of killed inhabitants of the community of Schuttorf with its surrounding villages.

Text on the plaque;
We sadly remember all those killed as a result of war and tyranny. In particular, we commemorate the 6 million Jews who were murdered in German concentration camps. We commemorate all the peoples who suffered in the war, especially the countless civilians from the Soviet Union and Poland who lost their lives. As Germans we sadly remember our own inhabitants, who died as soldiers, in air raids in the homeland, in captivity and during expulsion (from the former German territories). We commemorate the murdered Roma and Sinti, the murdered homosexuals, the mentally ill, all people who had to die for their religious and political beliefs. We commemorate the executed hostages. We commemorate the victims of the resistance in all occupied territories. As Germans, we honor the victims of the German resistance, the civil resistance, the military resistance and the resistance based on religious beliefs. The resistance among the workers, the trade unions, that of the communists. We commemorate those who actively resisted, who chose death rather than relinquish their beliefs.

Suffered for the dead, suffered through wounding and mutilation, suffered through inhumane forced sterilisations, suffered during nights full of bombardments, suffered from having to flee and suffered from being expelled, through rape and looting, through forced labour, through injustice and torture, through starvation and distress, for fear of being caught and killed, suffered for the loss of all that one has wrongly believed and worked for.

We remember this inhumane suffering and commemorate it with sadness.

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Source

• Text: Bjorn van Marle
• Photos: Willem Visser (1, 3, 5), Bjorn van Marle (2, 4)