People, memory and stories

Soldiers’ names and civilian lives

Soldiers on both sides had families and lives beyond the army. At Redoubt II, names include Johan Peter Anker, Carl Vilhelm Castenschiold and Karl Klinke. Their stories became part of different national narratives. Farms, mill and town also tell of civilians losing security, homes or work. [S20] [S12] [S24]

Who is remembered?

Memorial stones do not provide a complete picture of everyone involved. The many Danish stones erected in 1920-1930 particularly commemorate officers. Ask which people are less likely to have their names recorded in the landscape. Dybbøl’s memory culture has changed; modern interpretation places greater emphasis on suffering and human experience. [S31]

Literature and screen

Holger Drachmann wrote about Dybbøl in 1878. Herman Bang’s novels Stuk (1887) and Tine (1889) connect defeat and war with individual lives. Tom Buk-Swienty’s Slagtebænk Dybbøl (2008) and Ole Bornedal’s television series 1864 (2014) show continuing reinterpretation. Novels, television and memorial places make their own storytelling choices; they do not replace critical use of sources. [S31]

Help amid war

The International Committee of the Red Cross was founded in Geneva in 1863. The 1864 war was its first field mission. Dybbøl is therefore part of early humanitarian history, but it was not the organisation’s founding place. [S26]

A place for conversation

A Danish, German and English guide opens the same history to different visitors. Read both a memorial’s wording and its construction date. Its history also includes the period when people chose to erect it.