This monument commemorated the brave 77 dead German naval personnel whose ship, the gunboat SMS Iltis, sank off the coast of Shangtung in 1896. It was erected on the beautiful green lawn of the Bund beside the Whang-Poo River, not far from the entrance to the Public Garden and near the German Club Concordia in Shanghai. It was unveiled on 1898 Nov. 21 by the Consul-General of Germany, in the presence of Prince Henry of Prussia. The memorial takes the form of a sundered mast, supposed to have been given up by the sea. At its base are grouped the imperial standard and various marine accoutrements; and the medallions on its four sides severally display the names of the Iltis' officers, those of her men, a bas-relief representation of the vessel under sail and steam, and the inscription: "In memory of the heroic death of the crew of the gun-boat Iltis, stranded in a typhoon on the coast of Shangtung on the 25th of July, 1896.”
Prince Henry’s presence gave occasion for a grand display of naval and military forces. In the centre of the ground were drawn up the various officers,the Consular body, the members of the Shanghai Municipal Council; while ranged behind these were some hundreds of sailors and marines from the men-of-war from various countries in the harbour. As the ship sank, the men reportedly gathered around the mast and sang a hymn: 'Now Thank We All Our God'. At the unveiling a German naval band also played the hymn sung by the crew.
The Iltis monument stayed on the Bund for almost 20 years. It was a landmark that attacted many visitors. When in Shanghai it seems to have almost been one of the sights to see and have your photograph taken in front of. . And of course the Germans were there often to lay wreaths on it as they honored the sailors who lost their lives. There are also many postcards showing the Iltis monument. more than any other monument on the Bund - a tribute not just to the memory of the men but the artistic merit of the monument.
With the coming of World War I it became less popular as the non-Germans began to question the appropriatness of a German monument on the Bund. And after the war the debate was finally decided on the night of 1918 December 1-2, when a contingent of French sailors, with the help of others (Brits/Americans?), toppled the monument and made off with the flagpole. Funny enough, no one saw anything.
However, the monument survived (and even the flagpole was returned anonymously). The monument was put into storage for the next 11 years and on 1929 June 22 it was installed on the grounds of the Kaiser Wilhelm School in the west of the settlement. There it again served as the site for remberance ceremonies, but seems to have faded as a tourist sight as very few photographs or postcards are commonly seen in this location.
Eventually, the Iltis monument, like most foreign monuments in China, met its end. There are differing stories as too what happened with the monument, some say it was destroyed after WW II and others say it was destroyed in the 1960s during the Cultural Revolution. Now the monument is only remembered in postcards, photographs and old articles, all those who had anything to do with putting up the monument are long gone, just like the monument itself.
