Statue of Hindenburg in front of the Victory Column in Berlin, 1919Nail Book recording donations for nails hammered into a cross in Mannheim in 1916
Nail MenorMen of Nails (German: Nagelmänner) were a form of propaganda and fundraising for members of the armed forces and their dependents in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the German EmpireinWorld War I. They consisted of wooden statues (usually of knights in armour) into which nails were driven, either iron (black), or coloured silver or gold, in exchange for donations of different amounts. Some took different forms, including pillars, shields or local coats of arms and crosses, especially the Iron Cross, and in German there are a variety of alternate names for them, including Wehrmann in Eisenoreiserner Wehrmann (Iron Guardian), Nagelfigur, NagelbildorNagelbrett (Nail Figure or Nail Board), Wehrschild (Defence Shield) and Kriegswahrzeichen (War Monument). The most famous were the original Wehrmann in Eisen in Vienna and the 'Iron Hindenburg', a 12-metre (39 ft) statue of Hindenburg adjacent to the Victory ColumninBerlin.
Close-up of the Vienna Wehrmann im Eisen showing the nails
The idea for the Nail Men came from the Stock im EiseninVienna, a tree-trunk which had had nails hammered into it for centuries.[1] The first Nail Man, a medieval knight, was set up in Vienna and was first nailed on 6 March 1915 in a public ceremony attended by many dignitaries, including members of the imperial household and the German and Ottoman ambassadors.[2][3] They were promoted as a patriotic fund-raising method in German-speaking parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and also in the German Empire, including by publications such as Gotthold Riegelmann's Der Stock in Eisen: praktische Ratschläge zur Errichtung einfacher Nagelholzmale mit Ideenskizzen und Kostenberechnungen (The Stock im Eisen: practical advice on the erection of simple wooden monuments for nailing with sketched ideas and cost calculations)[4] and Benno Fitzke and Paul Matzdorf's Eiserne Kreuz-Nagelungen zum Besten der Kriegshilfe und zur Schaffung von Kriegswahrzeichen (Iron cross nailings for the best benefit of war aid and for the creation of war monuments).[5] They have been seen as "fit[ting] in much more closely with Protestant celebrations of the Prussian military genius and the grandeur of the Kaiserreich" than with Austrian Catholicism.[6]
Municipalities and charitable organisations, either specially founded associations or the Red Cross, had a statue or other emblem made out of wood (oak was sometimes recommended), sometimes by well known sculptors, such as the medieval knight Wehrmann in Eisen by Mathieu Molitar on the NaschmarktinLeipzig.[7][8] The nails which the donor could use depending on the level of the donation could be iron, or silver- or gold-plated. The placement of the nail also reflected the level of the donation.[7] For example, in the case of the Iron CrossatHeidelberg, a black (iron) nail cost 1 mark, a silver nail hammered into the border, 3 marks, a nail in the '1914' inscription, 5 marks, in the 'W' for Kaiser Wilhelm, 10 marks, and in the crown at the top of the cross, 20 marks;[9] in the case of the 'Iron Siegfried' at Wiesbaden, iron nails cost 1 mark, silver-coated, 5–20 marks, and gilded up to 300 marks, with further donations possible;[10] in the case of the Hindenburg statue in Berlin, gold nails cost 100 marks, silver and black cost 5 marks, and grey 1 mark; for donations over 500 marks, a small plaque was nailed to the sword.[11] Donations were often recorded in an 'Iron Book', for example at Heidelberg, and the donor often received a lapel pin, a certificate, or some other token of the donation. Medallions, postcards and other associated merchandise were sold as a further source of funds.[7]
An iron cross was a popular choice of form, perhaps the most popular;[12] it was specifically recommended by Fitzke and Matzdorf, who state that it would require 160–200 nails.[13] Other common shapes were shields and coats of arms, but animals, flowers and ships (including U-boats) were also nailed. The figures in human form typically were knights in armour but sometimes depicted modern soldiers or historical and legendary figures. In addition to Hindenburg, Admiral Tirpitz, Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria and General Otto von Emmich were depicted as Nail Men.[14]
Donations were usually collected to assist the wounded or for widows and orphans of the fallen.[7][15] But in some cases, for example at Schwäbisch Gmünd, they were intended to help supply front soldiers; in the winter of 1916, the need was particularly great.[16] The statues were usually prominently displayed and there was considerable social pressure to show patriotism by buying nails.[17] The first nail was generally ceremonially driven by an important personage at a large patriotic ceremony including hymns and specially written patriotic poems which often evoked the Age of Chivalry; Fitzke and Matzdorf provide a suggested ceremony in 24 parts.[6] Clubs, school classes, and so on performed group nailing; there were even nailings at the front.[18]
Landstraße: a soldier, the 'German master in iron', in the banqueting hall of the Third District, first nailed on 15 August 1915, and a field howitzer designed by the sculptor Alfred Hofmann, in the covered riding school of the 13th Field Howitzer Division's barracks in the Rennweg.[27]
Roßau: a table in a restaurant, from 12 October 1915.[21]
Wieden: one or more shields, with the proceeds divided between the fund for widows and orphans and the children of deceased members of the military from the locality.[29]
Czernowitz: an imperial eagle, set up in memory of liberation from Russian occupation, and based on the eagle on the town hall roof, which the Russians had removed.[42]
Spandau: an iron gate at the barracks of the 5th Guard Regiment.[30]
Tiergarten: Iron Hindenburg, next to the Victory Column in the Königsplatz, designed by Georg Marschall and inaugurated on 4 September 1915; Princess August Wilhelm drove the first nail into Hindenburg's name on the plinth. 1.15 million marks were raised.[43][44] After the war the statue was sold for firewood.[45]
Freiburg im Breisgau: a tree at the Swabian Gate, for the Red Cross, the first nail being driven by the garrison commander on 15 November 1915.[53][54]
Hagen: a smith, by Fritz Bagdons, inaugurated 28 November 1915. The "Iron Smith of Hagen" fund continued to aid war orphans and other dependents of the fallen after the war. Also the cruiser SMS Möwe (Seagull) and a seagull, designed by architect Edmund Körner, set up by pupils of two secondary schools.[57]
Heidelberg: Iron Cross surmounted by a crown, 190 cm square, 14 cm thick, with an Iron Book as a record of donations, in aid of the Red Cross. Unveiled 26 June 1915; by July 1917, almost 28,500 marks had been donated (3,344 silver nails and 16,083 iron nails) by approximately 15,000 people, about one tenth of whom added a personal message when they signed the book.[9]
Rohrbach, Heidelberg: the coat of arms of the locality.[24]
Wiesbaden: Siegfried, 3.8 metres (12 ft) tall, designed by Carl Wilhelm Bierbrauer and carved by three sculptors at an estimated cost of 3,000 marks, defrayed by a donor. The first nail was driven on 26 September 1915 by Elisabeth, Princess of Schaumburg-Lippe, in the pommel of the sword. The take was reportedly some 20,000 marks on the first day and 2.5 million marks overall.[76]
Istanbul: the 'iron cannon of Stamboul', a wooden replica produced by the Škoda Works, placed in front of the War Ministry and inaugurated in April 1916 to commemorate the sinking of three enemy warships off the Dardanelles in March 1915.[79]
Baltimore: an eagle with a red cross on its breast, used to collect donations for the German and Austrian Red Cross until 1917.[80]
InYork, Pennsylvania, the same fundraising method was used with the opposite meaning: people paid 10 cents to drive a nail into the head of a statue of the kaiser with a red, white and blue handled hammer.[81][82]
Florian Dering, a museologist at the Munich Stadtmuseum, describes a nailing game called Nagelbalken, which became popular after World War I in German-speaking countries and is still used to raise money for charity as well as at weddings, for the newlyweds to display their skills to those present.[83]
^Berlin: Wasmuth, n.d., OCLC248487978; referenced by Munzel-Everling, p. 5, and dated by her 1915.
^Leipzig: Strauch, 1916, OCLC72645763; referenced with misspellings by Jay Winter, Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: The Great War in European Cultural History, Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1995, repr. 1998, ISBN978-0-521-63988-0, pp. 82–83 and p. 245, notes 22, 23. The book has a subtitle beginning Gebrauchsfertiges Material für vaterländische Volksunterhaltung durch Feiern in Schulen (Material ready for use for patriotic amusement of the populace through celebration in schools).
^According to Munzel-Everling, pp. 8, 18, a fir-tree.
^Roger Chickering, The Great War and Urban Life in Germany: Freiburg, 1914–1918, Studies in the social and cultural history of modern warfare, Cambridge, 2007, ISBN978-0-521-85256-2, pp. 349–50: a linden.
^Florian Dering, Volksbelustigungen. Eine bildreiche Kulturgeschichte von den Fahr-, Belustigungs- und Geschicklichkeitsgeschäften der Schausteller vom achtzehnten Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart, Dissertation, University of Munich, Nördlingen: Greno, 1986, ISBN3-8919-0005-8, p. 159(in German)
Gerhard Schneider. "Über Hannoversche Nagelfiguren im ersten Weltkrieg". Hannoversche Geschichtsblätter new series 50 (1996) 216–58. (in German)
Gerhard Schneider. "Zur Mobilisierung der 'Heimatfront': Das Nageln sogenannter Kriegswahrzeichen im ersten Weltkrieg", Zeitschrift für Volkskunde 95 (1999) 32–62. (in German)
Gerhard Schneider. "Nageln in Niedersachsen im Ersten Weltkrieg". Niedersächsisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte 76 (2004) 245–84. (in German)
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