At the end of October, the controversial church renovation will begin in Potsdam

Potsdam - In Potsdam, the capital of the German federal state of Brandenburg, the construction of a copy of the demolished baroque church will begin. However, the project is quite controversial, as this sacred building is associated in the minds of many people with Prussian militarism and the rise of Adolf Hitler to power. The construction of the replica of the so-called Garnison Church will commence in the city center on October 29.

A ceremonial service will be held on the plot where the original building stood. The foundations of the approximately 90-meter-high tower of the church will be the first to be built, said Wieland Eschenburg, spokesman for the foundation responsible for the restoration.

Currently, the tower replica is the only part for which the foundation has managed to gather financial resources. Its construction - in a reduced version without decoration - will cost 26 million euros (over 670 million CZK). There is currently no money for the restoration of the church nave, the DPA agency reported.

The former dominant feature of Potsdam, regarded as a pinnacle of Prussian baroque, suffered damages during bombing in World War II, but was not completely destroyed. However, in 1968, the government of the then German Democratic Republic decided to demolish the structure.

Several civic initiatives, including the association of evangelicals to whom the church had served for centuries, oppose the reconstruction of the Garnison Church. They are particularly bothered by the fact that the church always served the army and was thus used to preach in favor of war and to encourage soldiers to march obediently to their deaths.

A significant event contributing to the opposition to the construction of the church replica is also the occurrence on March 21, 1933. The inaugural assembly of the then parliament could not take place in the building of the Reichstag, which had recently suffered a fire, and was therefore moved to the Garnison Church in Potsdam.

The so-called Potsdam Day, considered as the symbolic beginning of the Nazis' rise to power, has entered history, among other things, due to a photograph in which Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler is shaking hands with President Paul von Hindenburg in front of the church.

Thus, the church is a symbol of "the catastrophic fusion of conservative bourgeoisie, Prussian militarism, and Nazi leadership," as stated in a statement by the Christian initiative protesting against the church's construction.