Memorial to the Fallen Wintersport Athletes of Ernstthal

After the First World War, the Thuringian Winter Sports Association inaugurated a memorial for their more than 300 dead on September 4, 1921. This was followed by the memorial competitions, which, like the biennial Rennsteig relay races, were to be continued. The choice of location for the monument in the village of "Ernstthal" was based on the success that WSV 05 Ernstthal had currently achieved. From 1909 to 1923 all Thuringian ski champions came from this club. The sentence "Nothing is too precious for the fatherland" that can be read on the memorial, which sounds strange today, is largely explained by the time, but in the following years at speeches and events around the monument, nationalistic statements were made by representatives of the Thuringian Winter Sports Association which corresponded to the political development up to the Second World War. Again, athletes from the ranks of the association died, but no memorial stone was erected for them after the end of World War II.

The memorial to the winter sports enthusiasts who died in the First World War is impressively located at the former end of the Rennsteig during the GDR era.

Erected in 1920 in honor of winter sports enthusiasts who died in World War I.
Here, where the restricted area began before the zone border, the Rennsteig hike ended in GDR times.