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Secondary sourcePhotographJuly 1930

Potsdam Rally of the Steuben Society, 1930

July 1930

A 1930 photograph of a rally in Potsdam marking the 200th anniversary of Steuben's birth.

This photograph shows a rally celebrating Steuben's 200th birthday at his monument in Potsdam, Germany.

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Black and white photograph of an outdoor rally at a monument. A man in a dark suit stands on a raised platform beside a tall stone pedestal topped by a bronze statue of a figure in a cloak. Ivy-wreathed podium in foreground, bald man with hat stands below. Crowd with flags and uniformed officers behind; a hotel facade with 'HOTEL' lettering is visible in the background.
Rally of the Steuben Society at the Steuben Monument, Potsdam. German Federal Archive, July 1930.

About this source

What it is

This photograph shows a large outdoor rally held at the Steuben monument in Potsdam in July 1930, marking the 200th anniversary of Steuben's birth. A speaker addresses the crowd from a platform near the monument, with flags and uniformed officers present.

Why it matters

The German Federal Archive, which holds this image, notes that its original captions may reflect the political language of the time. The event shows how the German-American Steuben Society used Steuben's memory to mark a shared history between Germany and the United States, in the politically charged atmosphere of 1930.

Look closer

  • Why might the Steuben monument in Potsdam have been chosen as the site for this rally?
  • What does the size of the crowd suggest about how important this anniversary was considered?
  • How might the political context of 1930 Germany have shaped the way Steuben was being remembered?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Friedrich von Steuben on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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