Egen Church, Als
At the churchyard west of the church, 66 marble slabs have been set in a low stone wall along the edge of a Bronze Age mound, on top of which is a medieval belfry. At the approach to the mound lies a stone with the inscription: “In memory of the sons of the Parish of Egen who fell in the 1914-1918 War”. Each of the slabs has the name of a member of the parish who lost their life. The memorial was based on an idea by architect Dahl from Flensburg, and was constructed by master builder Brix according to master builder Knudsen’s drawing. The marble slabs, which were bought in Kiel, cost around 10,000 marks, which were collected prior to Reunification. DKK 2,700 was subsequently raised to cover the other costs of establishment of the memorial.
Broager Church
The churchyard in Broager has a memorial mound, around the foot of which are two rows of 164 stones with the names of the fallen. The majority carry only a single name, although a number have more than one name in the event that several family members are inscribed on the same stone. Two stones have the names of four brothers, whilst another has a father and two sons. There are 188 names in all. The stones all originate from Broagerland and are grouped according to the home town of the fallen, which are marked along the edge of the mound with a stone for each of Broager’s nine villages. On the top of the mound is a boulder carrying the inscription: “Stone placed over the Sons of Broager Land in Memory of the Fallen in the 1914-18 War”. Nine oak trees were also planted, although not all of them have survived to this day. Artist Johan Thomas Skovgaard (1888-1977), who carved the memorial stones in Dybbøl and Varnæs, assisted in the planning of the memorial. It was inaugurated on 19 November 1922 at a memorial service in Broager Church.
Sønderborg
At the church square east of St. Mary’s Church there’s a four-metre-high plinth with the names of Sønderborg’s 102 fallen citizens. It’s crowned by a cenotaph – en empty tomb. The memorial was jointly erected by Danish and German citizens and it was decided not to have any inscriptions other than “1914-1918” on the cenotaph, as well as the names and year of the fallen soldiers on the plinth. Architect Thomas Havning (1891-1976) designed the memorial, and it was carved by sculptor Iversen from Sønderborg. The memorial was unveiled on 20 May 1923, with speeches being held in both Danish and German. The empty tomb is a classic motif – and therefore on the face of it seemingly neutral. The design, however, is very similar to the British monument for the nation’s fallen, which was erected in London shortly after the end of the war.
