John Lennon Memorial in Verden, Germany (John-Lennon-Denkmal)

The John-Lennon-Denkmal in Verden an der Aller, Lower Saxony, is Germany's memorial to Lennon's 1966 filming there. It is not a statue but three concrete steles with bronze plates, designed by Uwe Blaschke and unveiled on 5 April 2008 at Mühlentor, where Lennon shot scenes for Richard Lester's anti-war film How I Won the War.

Three steles in a niche off Am Bollwerk

If you came looking for a John Lennon statue in Germany, Verden has something different. The memorial is three concrete steles, each capped with a bronze plate. On the tallest is a line portrait done in the style of Lennon's own drawings: round glasses, a helmet that turns into a peace dove, and a film reel outlined behind. The other two plates carry short notes about the memorial and its sponsors.

You can easily walk right past it. From Mühlentor, follow the narrow footpath Am Bollwerk towards the Aller and watch for a small niche by a brown wooden fence and a cherry-laurel hedge. The Mühlentor houses around you are the ones in the film. OpenStreetMap tags the spot as wheelchair accessible. Verden (Aller) station is about 0.9 km to the north-east as the crow flies. Some older guides drop their pin near the station, about a kilometre from where the steles actually are.

The inscription plate says, in German:

JOHN LENNON – EIN BEATLE IN VERDEN. Im September 1966 wirkte John Lennon in Verden in dem Anti-Kriegsfilm „Wie ich den Krieg gewann" mit. Einige Szenen wurden hier am Mühlentor gedreht.

Roughly: "John Lennon, a Beatle in Verden. In September 1966 John Lennon took part in the anti-war film How I Won the War in Verden. Some scenes were filmed here at Mühlentor."

It has its critics. Writing in taz in 2023, Benno Schirrmeister found the memorial dreary in every respect.

Lennon as Musketeer Gripweed at Mühlentor

In How I Won the War, Lennon played Musketeer Gripweed. It was his only non-musical film role, and he cut off his mop-top for it. In Germany the production filmed at Bergen-Hohne, Achim and Verden, then moved on to Almería in Spain. The film's colour tinting is heavy, but Verden's streets and the Aller bridge are still recognisable.

How long Lennon was actually in Verden is unclear. Ansgar Bellersen's report on the memorial gives 14 September 1966, and so does a 2016 Weser-Kurier article. A 2020 Weser-Kurier piece says three days, 12 to 14 September. A citizen reporter on myheimat.de says only a few hours. Perhaps the crew shot for three days and Lennon was only on set for part of that, but no source says so.

He didn't spend a night in Verden. He ate at Höltje in town (today the Akzent Hotel Höltje), about 0.5 km from the steles. His lodging is reported two ways: taz says Ostenholz, and the Weser-Kurier says room 7 at the Hotel Heide-Kröpke near Schwarmstedt. They could be describing the same place, but neither paper says that.

Some locals remembered the shoot for years. Niebuhr, who lived at Mühlentor 17, recalled the crew setting off a grenade at his front door over and over until the door was wrecked; he got about 800 Mark for it. One account says seven attempts, another says six. Annette Heinbokel, then a schoolgirl, found Lennon much shorter than she'd imagined and watched him eat apples between takes. Harry Schwertner skipped school and came away with Lennon's autograph on his back.

You may read that Lennon began writing songs in Verden. There's no source for it. The song tied to this film shoot is "Strawberry Fields Forever," and he wrote that in Almería.

Did Lennon's round glasses start here?

Sort of. As Gripweed, Lennon wore round wire glasses in public for the first time, and he never really took them off again. taz and the film's Wikipedia article both say he took up the style during the shoot, copying the frames worn by screenwriter Charles Wood. taz also points out the look made the Rolling Stone cover of 9 November 1967.

The catch is a round Windsor pair Lennon gave to his housekeeper, Dot Jarlett. When it sold at Sotheby's, it was dated to 1965, a year before filming. So the careful version is this: How I Won the War is where round glasses became Lennon's public look, which isn't necessarily where he first owned a pair.

From a museum exhibition to a rainy unveiling

It started with an exhibition. In 2006, 40 years after the filming, the Deutsches Pferdemuseum in Verden put on "John Lennon – ein Beatle in Verden," organised by the museum's head, Gisela Fürle. Gerd Coordes then proposed a permanent memorial. Visitors, private individuals and local companies donated the money, and the City of Verden and the Pferdemuseum both backed the project. The museum is about 0.9 km from the steles if you want to walk over.

The design is by Uwe Blaschke, a graphic designer and Beatles collector from Minden rather than a sculptor. He died unexpectedly on 6 June 2010.

About 150 people stood in heavy rain for the unveiling on 5 April 2008. The speakers were Mayor Lutz Brockmann, district administrator Peter Bohlmann and Blaschke himself. Bohlmann managed to get the film's German title wrong, calling it "Wie ich den Krieg begann," or How I Started the War.

For the 50th anniversary in 2016, local fans Schwertner, Bielfeldt and Piepenburg held a fan gathering at the memorial, and the Pferdemuseum opened a new show, "John Lennon in Verden." Local guides ran "in the footsteps of the Beatles" walks around town that year too, eight years after the wet April morning when the steles were unveiled.