254th Veterans of The Battle of Jebsheim attend the Peace Meeting at the Cross of the Jebsheim Mill- June 1997
Events leading to the dedication of The Cross of The Jebsheim Mill.
In the afternoon of 25 January 1945 elements of the 254th Infantry Regiment received orders to attack and liberate the "sleepy" little village of Jebsheim, France.
That order would lead the regiment into one of its most fierce and deadly battles. It wasn't until 29 January 1945 that the village of Jebsheim was secure and the German defenders ousted from their well fortified positions.
It was the memory of the severity of this battle that would ultimate lead to the construction and dedication of The Cross of The Jebsheim Mill a symbol of "Peace and Reconciliation".
For a number of years following World War II, French Paratroopers who fought in the Battle of Jebsheim would hold their annual reunion and commemorative services in Jebsheim.
During one of their reunions in the mid 1980's they decided that meeting each year did little to further the cause of peace and reconciliation in Europe and the world, so they prepared the following proclamation:
" Despite the warm welcome we receive during our visits to Alsace, these ceremonies make little sense if they are only directed towards remembering the past; especially since the hardships endured and the sacrifices that were made, both military and civilian, were justified only on the hopes for a better future.
Let us hope that one day we will be able to assemble all the participants in the past events at Jebsheim- The French, the Americans, and the Germans and thus set an example for Europe groping for unified identity.
When clouds appear on the horizon, we must unite in spite of the moral sacrifices that unity can mean, particularly for those of us who fought at Jebsheim.
Everywhere we talk of the slow march towards a fraternally united Europe; and when you realize that nearly 900 French, American, German, Austrian from the Edelweiss division, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, Belgian, Scandenavians, and units in the Foreign Legion died at Jebsheim, what other village in Alsace would be entitled to receive an European monument of reconciliation?"
Thus was born The Association La Croix du Moulin de Jebsheim. The founders along with the help of Roger Johnson, now deceased, of the 63rd Infantry Division realized their dream of a truly international peace monument when the Cross was dedicated in June 1988.
The memorial, designed by the Parisian architect Bernard Fauquet and by Robert Wagener, engineer, both of whom fought at Jebsheim, is a cross formed by the void created by 3 panels of grey-rose cut stone from Alsace. These panels representing the main nationalities of belligerents: France, The United States and Germany are grouped in a star pattern on a circular base. The panels are symbolically joined at the top and protected by a small roof of Alscacian tile. The names of the units that fought at Jebsheim in January 1945 are inscribed on bronze plaques in the center of the monument. Total height of the mounument is 6.00 meters.
The location of the monument is on the site of the old Berckheim Mill, destoyed during the battle, perpetuates both the severe combat which took place at that site, and the memory of the mill that was the property of the Berckheim family for many centuries. (The Berckheim family has donated the land for the monument to the Association La Croix du Moulin de Jebsheim)
The monument provides a place for the annual International Meeting for Peace which is held each year on the second Sunday of June.
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