Lechauen-Denkmal

Lechauen-Denkmal stands in Horn, Germany, beside a landscape shaped by the Lech and its floodwaters. The memorial connects the river’s force with the Lech meadows surrounding the local community. Embankments, dams and other river works changed these meadows, which supported agriculture and daily rural life.

Twentieth-century flood protection brought an especially profound change through the construction of Forggensee. The reservoir served flood protection and energy production, while Forggen, Deutenhausen and Brunnen disappeared beneath its waters. Families left their homes, and some dismantled building materials found new uses elsewhere. Historical photographs show workers moving stones, building embankments and forming new shorelines along the Lech.

The place holds together two histories: efforts to secure riverbanks and memories of communities lost beneath the lake. Ongoing protection against erosion and flooding continues to shape the surroundings. Forggensee therefore remains the concrete detail to remember, both as protective reservoir and as the water covering former villages.