Postmark 122 / Cross of the German East

The Cross of the German East is located on the Uhlenklippen cliffs south-east of Bad Harzburg.

The first cross was erect­ed in 1950 on the ini­tia­tive of Franz Kettmann, chair­man of the Cen­tral Asso­ci­a­tion of Expelled Ger­mans. The inau­gu­ra­tion took place on June 24, 1950 on a fes­tive mead­ow in Bad Harzburg. On the fol­low­ing day, rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the Lands­man­nschaften and East Ger­man youth placed wood­en coats of arms on the base of the cross and an urn with East Ger­man soil was walled into the base. 

In 1962, a wreath of coat of arms stones was added to the com­plex. The wood­en coats of arms on the base had often been stolen by sou­venir hunters or dam­aged in some oth­er way. From 1950 to 1964, the cross was illu­mi­nat­ed by flood­lights at night. Many ral­lies were held in front of the cross to com­mem­o­rate the lost east­ern ter­ri­to­ries and the Day of Ger­man Uni­ty. Over the years, the Cross of the Ger­man East also ful­filled anoth­er func­tion. It became a land­mark for Bad Harzburg and a fixed point on the hik­ing map. 

On March 4, 1998, a vio­lent hur­ri­cane raged over the Harz mas­sif. The Cross of the Ger­man East was its vic­tim. A sup­port asso­ci­a­tion was found­ed to rebuild the cross and a dona­tion account was set up. The will­ing­ness to donate sur­prised even the opti­mists, and the mon­ey was col­lect­ed in no time at all. 

The new cross was erect­ed on Sep­tem­ber 15, 2000. Around 3000 peo­ple attend­ed the inau­gu­ra­tion cer­e­mo­ny on Sep­tem­ber 30, 2000. Since the day of the inau­gu­ra­tion, a stone plaque has been placed at the foot of the cross with the fol­low­ing word­ing for infor­ma­tion and to avoid mis­un­der­stand­ings: “Cross of the Ger­man East — Site of remem­brance of expul­sion and loss of home­land — Site of rejec­tion of all tyran­ny — Cross of under­stand­ing, rec­on­cil­i­a­tion and peace — Con­se­crat­ed on June 24, 1950 — Destroyed by storm on March 4, 1998 — Re-erect­ed and con­se­crat­ed on Sep­tem­ber 30, 2000.” The new cross cost DM 180,000. Source: “Remem­brance in bronze and stone” by Klaus Röttger
Pub­lish­er: Harzk­lub branch asso­ci­a­tion Bad Harzburg

From the Burg­berg, the mid­dle path, marked with a red tri­an­gle and a 2 in a white cir­cle, leads to the “Cross of the Ger­man East” (555 m above sea lev­el) on the Uhlenklippe.

Park­ing is avail­able at the large park­ing lot in Bad Harzburg direct­ly on the Bun­desstraße 4 towards Torfhaus. From there, you have to decide whether you want to con­quer the Burg­berg on foot or take the cable car up the 150 meters to the top. 

It is a good idea to start the hike from the Burg­berg via the “Aus­sicht­sre­ich” HWN 121 and con­tin­ue from the Kreuz des deutschen Ostens via the Raben­klippe HWN 170 and the Molken­haus HWN 169.