Chemnitz towers: The Bismarck Tower
Former location: Borna, Am Bismarckturm (today Friedrich-Schlöffel-Straße)
Time of construction: 1905-1906
Architect: Walther Müller (Reichenhain)
Damage: Demolition in April 1945
Further fate: Rubble removal in the post-war period
Current situation: Property undeveloped
After the death of Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898), a kind of personality cult began around the former Chancellor. Countless memorials, very different in form, were erected all over the country: statues, Bismarck columns or observation towers. The naming of streets, squares and ships commemorated the politician who played a leading role in the unification of the German states and the founding of the German Empire in 1871. After a bronze statue had already been inaugurated on Chemnitz market square in 1899, the desire for a monumental Bismarck Tower arose shortly afterwards. It was to crown one of the heights surrounding the city as a vantage point. After a lengthy discussion, the Röhrsdorfer Höhe in the then suburb of Borna was agreed upon. To coordinate the project, an association was founded in 1901 under the name "Bismarcktisch". A competition was organised, which was won by the Reichenhain architect Walther Müller (1879-1943). Müller designed a 32-metre-high building, which he gave a defensive character through its austere design language, but also through the use of roughly hewn quarry stone (slate and granite) for the façades. Originally, the installation of a fire bowl on the platform was planned in order to integrate the Chemnitz site into a "chain of fire" of the other Bismarck memorials on special occasions.
The tower was inaugurated on 24 May 1906. Together with the neighbouring restaurant "Bismarckschlößchen", which had been built shortly before, it quickly became a popular excursion destination for the inhabitants of the city and the surrounding communities.
After the tower had survived the air raids of the Second World War unscathed, it fell victim to an SS demolition squad in April 1945. The rubble was subsequently removed, as was that of the "Bismarckschlößchen", which was also destroyed as a result of the war. Under simple conditions, the pub was later reopened in a modest new building, but finally came to a standstill after 1990.