A memorial service was held on April 25 on the Spumberg in Adnet to commemorate the crew of a British Lancaster bomber that was shot down over the Tennengau region on April 25, 1945, shortly before the end of the war. The bomber with the registration LM 756 was on its way to the Berghof in Berchtesgaden when it was hit by anti-aircraft guns at Roßfeld and crashed.
While three of the seven crew members were able to save themselves by parachute and were taken prisoner of war, four comrades died in the crash. The wreckage of the plane burned out in a field near the Schwarzenbach farmer.
Visitors at the memorial event
High-ranking representatives from Great Britain, relatives of the crew involved in the accident, delegations from the Kameradschaftsbund, local associations and the Austrian Armed Forces with military commander Brigadier Peter Schinnerl and an ensemble of the Salzburg Military Music took part in the memorial service. Together, a sign of remembrance and reconciliation was set.
Symbol of peace and reconciliation
A memorial in the form of a dove of peace was erected at the crash site back in 2015. It was designed by former HTL student Georg Weninger using original parts from the wreckage. The metal dove symbolizes peace, hope and a new beginning – like a phoenix rising from the ashes.
Shared remembrance unites
Adnet’s mayor Wolfgang Auer, one of the initiators of the commemorative event, emphasized in his speech: “Former enemies have become friends and that’s how it should stay.” Brigadier Schinnerl summed up the significance of the ceremony: “For me, commemoration has three aspects, which lead from the past, remembering in the present, to remembrance, to the future, to actively securing peace.”
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