A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve 2014., Új folyam 1. (Szeged, 2014)

TÖRTÉNETTUDOMÁNY - Kakucs Lajos: A doberdói fa. Giuseppe Ungaretti olasz költő 1916. augusztus 27-én írt háborúellenes versének tanúja a temesvári Bánsági Múzeumban

Lajos Kakucs

Doberdo Tree

Doberdo Tree

The Witness of the Anti-war Poem Written by Giuseppe Ungaretti, Italian poet, on 27 August, 1916, Preserved in the Museum of

Banat, Temesvár

Lajos Kakucs

In course of his study visit to Temesvár (today Timisora, Romania) on 27 May 2013, the director of the Museum of Banat, Dan Ciobotaru, asked the author of present study to assist them in identifying some recently discovered, unregistered objects preserved in their store room. Among them were an "Iron Soldier” and an Austrian court of arms made of cast iron. The "Iron Soldier” and the Tree of San Martino, also called the Doberdo Tree must have got into the collection of the museum in November 1916, when the 61st Infantry Regiment located in Timisoara (K.u.k Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 61)was liquidated, and for some reasons

unknown, these objects were not registered in the museum collection.

The Iron Soldier was on display in the museum between the two world wars, but incorrectly labelled as "Medieval armour". The original aim of making these types of iron soldiers made of wood and covered with iron plates was to support the disabled soldiers, orphans and war widows. The first statue called "Wehrmann in Eisen” was erected in Vienna on 6 March 1915. Following its erection, several monuments were unveiled also in the Austria- Hungarian Monarchy, in Germany, in Turkey, in Belgium, in Bulgaria and in the United States. In Temesvár sums for the disabled trust of the 61st Infantry Regiment were raised already in the first weeks of the First World War. There was no information in the local paper on the

day of the erection. However, on 13 April 1916 an announcement was published listing the donations paid for the Disabled Institution of Temesvár.

While depictions of Iron Soldiers are relatively frequent, there are much less information and data on the so-called Doberdo Trees. Doberdo (today Doberdo del Lago, in Italy), a settlement situated on the River Isonzo, was the centre of military operations between June 1915 and June 1918. The Sixth Battle of the Isonzo, demanding a vast number of victims, was fought in the vicinity of Doberdo in August 1916. The 46th Regiment located in Szeged and the 61st Regiment located in Temesvár held the Austrian-Hungarian frontline in front of the village of San Martino. This also explains the fact that the so called Doberdo Trees (according to the author more correctly called as "San Martino Trees") can be found only in Szeged and in Temesvár.

Almost 100 years after the outbreak of the First World War, the one time enemies remember in peace, and recall the memories of the fallen and the irrational destruction the war caused. The commemorations are under the personal protection of Giorgio Napolitano, president of Italy. In course of the commemorations, the Doberdo Tree preserved in the Móra Ferenc Museum, Szeged, was on display in the museum of San Martino del Carso in March- June 2013.

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