In the "Franzosenkreuz," which is also known in literature as "Zum toten Franzosen," it is the oldest known war memorial for fallen soldiers in Mausbach. According to the inscription, it was erected in the year 1812.

Historic Hawthorn Tree at the "Franzosenkreuz" in Mausbach

The “Franzosenkreuz”, also known by the nickname “Zum toten Franzosen”, is considered the oldest known war memorial for fallen soldiers in Mausbach. According to the inscription, it was erected in the year 1812 and commemorates a mass grave of fallen French and Russian-Prussian soldiers.

The date of establishment may be understood symbolically. It could refer to Napoleon's defeat in the Russian campaign of 1812 and the associated retreat of the French army.

According to the local chronicler Pastor Arnold Ortmanns, a pursuit battle took place in Mausbach during the Wars of Liberation in 1813: Parts of the French troops, who used the old Roman road between Cologne, Düren, and Aachen, were caught up by the Russian-Prussian army. The fallen were buried in a mass grave. A wooden cross was erected on the grave, and a hawthorn was planted, which stood under nature protection for decades.

As part of a renovation in 1985, the tree had to be removed. The old wooden cross was replaced by a new one, which was donated by master carpenter Erich Kutsch. The new cross is 230 cm high, 100 cm wide, with the corpus made of metal remaining intact. The enamel sign "INRI" was replaced by a metal plaque, and at the foot of the cross, a crossbeam with the inscription “Franzosen Kreuz 1812” was affixed.

Sources: Matthias Hürtgen, A Historical Hawthorn Tree in Mausbach (1931); Werner Schindler, Small Monuments, Chapels, and Wayside Crosses in Stolberg (Working Title, 2022)