Who is being commemorated?
Originally, commemorative plaques were used to honour individuals in a religious context (so-called epitaphs) and were reserved for specific groups of people (clergy, rulers and nobility). From the end of the 18th century onwards, commemorative plaques were increasingly erected for outstanding figures, particularly on the houses where they were born, lived or worked. In Berlin, too, from around 1880 onwards, numerous scientists, artists, philanthropists, entrepreneurs and scholars were commemorated in the cityscape.
Due to renovations, demolitions, changes of ownership or wartime events, not all plaques have survived. Furthermore, some plaques were deliberately removed or stolen – particularly those installed during the GDR era. These include, for example, the commemorative plaques for Karl Liebknecht in the main building (removed in 1992 following a university council decision) and for Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (located next to the main entrance until 1991; whereabouts unknown). In 1994, the plaque next to the entrance to the library, commemorating Lenin’s use of the Royal Library, was stolen. The daily press even reported sporadically on the planned removal of this and other symbols of the university’s socialist past.
Forms of remembrance
Today, there are still numerous plaques, mostly in written form only (such as those for Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt or Albert Einstein in the main building), occasionally adorned with portrait reliefs, which commemorate the university’s eminent scholars as well as historical events such as the book burning of 1933. They are affixed not only to the exterior but also, in some cases, to the interior of the building.
Their design language mostly reflects the era in which they were created. For instance, the 1904 commemorative plaque for Theodor Mommsen is modelled on a Roman tombstone and honours the historian, among other things, for his efforts to reconstruct the course of the Limes. The theologian Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher, on the other hand, is depicted on his 1974 commemorative plaque merely with a profile portrait and the dates of his life.
The commemorative plaque for August Boeckh marks the German philologist’s legacy on a building that was only erected in 1997 to house the foreign-language departments of Romance Studies, Slavic Studies and the Language Centre. It thus honours neither Boeckh’s home nor his place of work (which was in the university’s main building), but rather establishes a connection between modern foreign-language studies and Boeckh’s classical philological work and the significance of his achievements. The medallion featuring Boeckh’s relief portrait is a copy of the medallion found on Boeckh’s gravestone, which was created by Reinhold Begas.
