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KG_Cloghaun
12-16-2006, 10:28 PM
http://www.klosterkirche.de/zeiten/ende-kirchenjahr/img/madonna.jpg




In reading Anthony Beevor's Stalingrad, do any of you recall the passage concerning the "Fortress Madonna"? I've just completed the book & give it high marks by the way.

The "Madonna", is a rendering of the virgin Mary. It was drawn on the back of a Red Army map by Dr. Kurt Reuber, a German soldier trapped in Stalingrad on Christmas day, 1942.

Apparently, the drawing was smuggled out of Stalingrad by a 16th Pz Div battalion commander and now hangs in the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin.

What's even further interesting is that many adaptations of Reuber's work can now be found throughout several churches in Germany.

Some examples-

St. Andreas/FULDA/GERMANY
http://www.st-andreas-fulda.de/html/madonna.htm (http://www.st-andreas-fulda.de/html/madonna.htm)

Marienkapelle/NIEDERGAILBACH/GERMANY
http://www.derbliesgau.de/Orte/Niedergailbach/niedergailbach_st.htm (http://www.derbliesgau.de/Orte/Niedergailbach/niedergailbach_st.htm)

Dom/LIMBURG/GERMANY
http://www.grabmal24.de/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=16 (http://www.grabmal24.de/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=16)

Kloster Kirchberg/KIRCHBERG/GERMANY
http://www.klosterkirchberg.de/Press/archiv/kp006b.htm#p11 (http://www.klosterkirchberg.de/Press/archiv/kp006b.htm#p11)

Kirche „Kreuzauffindung“/SCHÖNEBERG/GERMANY
http://www.bistumsblatt.paulinus.de/archiv/0305/blickpkt.htm (http://www.bistumsblatt.paulinus.de/archiv/0305/blickpkt.htm)

Bründlkapelle/FRONSBURG/AUSTRIA
http://www.fotos-geschichten.at/zaryzynstalingradwolgograd.htm (http://www.fotos-geschichten.at/zaryzynstalingradwolgograd.htm)

Stephanskirche/BADEN BEI WIEN/AUSTRIA
http://www.fotos-geschichten.at/zaryzynstalingradwolgograd.htm (http://www.fotos-geschichten.at/zaryzynstalingradwolgograd.htm)


What a cauldron of Hell that battle must have been.

KG_AGCent
12-17-2006, 10:01 PM
Amazing! I cannot even imagine what those soldiers on either side went through... Our Lord's birthday is remembered and held special, even in 'hell."