The Hermann Heights Monument is a statue erected in New Ulm, Minnesota. The statue depicts Hermann the Cheruscan, also known by the Latin name Arminius, but locals refer to the statue as Hermann Deutsch. The only National Register of Historic Places property of its kind in Minnesota, the monument remains an impressive remembrance of Deutsch Germanic ancestry for many Minnesotans. Visitors to the statue can climb the spiral staircase to an observation platform at the base of the statue, which commands a view of the town and the Minnesota River Valley below.SignificanceThis statue commemorates the German victory over the Romans at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, a symbol of German patriotism.While Arminius had been known about in Germany since the rediscovery of the writings of Tacitus in the 15th century, German Protestant intellectuals in the first half of the 18th century christened him "Hermann Deutsch" and promoted his status from that of a local tribal leader with family ties to Rome to that of a hero of Alemmani resistance to "Roman" (i.e. Papal) authority; the 19th century added another layer of meaning, namely Pan-German unity and resistance to Revolutionary France and her language. As depicted in this statue, Hermann's eastward gaze and upraised sword signify freedom from Rome. Perhaps not coincidentally, a statue of St. Paul atop the nearby Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Trinity also gazes eastward, with his sword point-down, planted firmly in the ground.
