Long-Lost Fire Department Banner Returned to Germany After 80 Years

NOVEMBER 19, 2024 — After disappearing during World War II, a historic 1929 parade banner of the Wiescherhöfen Volunteer Fire Department in Hamm, Germany, was discovered at the Hall of Flame Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, and returned to its homeland, Firehouse.com reports.

The flag’s return culminated in an official ceremony on October 8, 2024, at the German Embassy in Washington, D.C., attended by representatives of the Hamm-Wiescherhöfen Fire Department, the Hall of Flame Museum, the Monuments Men and Women Foundation, and U.S. agencies involved in art recovery, according to the Monuments Men and Women Foundation.

The double-sided velvet banner, adorned with the motto “Gott zur Ehr dem Nächsten zur Wehr!” (“God to honor, neighbor to defend!”) and an image of a contemporary German firefighter on one side and firefighting equipment on the reverse, was commissioned in 1929 to celebrate the fire department’s 20th anniversary.

Unlike traditional firefighter flags which depict St. Florian, the Wiescherhöfen flag featured modern firefighting gear, a rare motif at the time, reports WA.de.

According to the Lost Art Database, the flag disappeared during a 1944 bombing raid that devastated Wiescherhöfen and was presumed destroyed.

Mark Moorhead, curator at the Hall of Flame Museum, expressed pride in the banner’s preservation and its return, calling it “a small step in healing the terrible ruins of that war.” At the ceremony, the Hamm-Wiescherhöfen Fire Department displayed gratitude with a buffet and presented the museum with a functional German fire siren.

Hamm-Wiescherhöfen Fire Department Unit Leader Henrik Volmar emphasized the flag’s intergenerational significance, as many current department members are descendants of those who once carried it.

Volmar described the moment as “a remarkable stroke of luck” and announced plans to showcase the flag in a firehouse display case.

Image: Monuments Men and Women Foundation

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