The wooden crucifix on the Hohen Graben in Schongau has just been renovated. Hans Hartung had it set up - after his crash as an instructor for Freifall Springer.
Schongau - The attentive walker must have noticed that the large wooden crucifix on the Hohen Graben above the Siechenhalde in Schongau is back in place. Freshly restored, it invites you to pause for a moment on the bench next to it. But who actually put the cross there several years ago? Many walkers who pass it ask themselves this question.
It is March 17th, 1992. A normal day of the week in the life of the Schongauer Hans Hartung. At the time, Hartung was the captain of the then airborne and air transport school in Altenstadt, where he was responsible for the training of freefall jumpers. So the soldiers who jump from a great height and after a time in free fall open their umbrella themselves.
Fatal collision of parachutists
At the end of a course, an external landing should be made in the Hohenfurch area. Everything went according to plan. Hartung jumped off as the first jumper and wanted to mark the landing point for the other jumpers with his colorful parachute. A misunderstanding by another jumper who jumped immediately behind Hartung resulted in a fatal collision during the opening process. The course participant jumped through the opening parachute cap from Hartung.
"Nothing happened to the young soldier, his umbrella opened without any problems," recalls Hartung. Only with him, in the torn cap, was the devil literally going. The cap was torn into two uneven parts, the lines were wrapped around his legs, and his body was hanging upside down. So Hartung rushed towards the earth - unchecked.
Hartung opens the reserve umbrella
A paramedic from the ground staff still pulled out the camera. He succeeded in a document that can only be acknowledged afterwards with incredulous shakes of the head. In this situation, survival is no longer possible. Hartung shot thoughts like arrows through his head. "If you open the reserve, everything gets even more involved. If you don't open it, that's it. "
Hartung opened the reserve umbrella. It came as he had feared. The packing sack tangled with the main screen's tether lines. In a violent action, Hartung was able to pull the auxiliary parachute from the reserve parachute with his hands at the last moment, then it was black night around him.
The impact had robbed him of his senses
The impact had robbed him of his senses. After Hartung regained consciousness, the paramedic and emergency doctor knelt with him to take care of him. After that, a long path of suffering and treatment from clinic to clinic began. But Hartung managed to return to his (almost) old shape after long months. "I know there was a protective hand over me," said the "old jumping warhorse".
It was therefore important to him to thank him with a special gift. He created this special crucifix out of gratitude in many working hours. 2008 was then the special year in which the then pastor Bernhard Moser blessed the cross on the Hohen Graben. Incidentally, at the place where, according to old records, there was a crucifix as early as 1750.
HANS-HELMUT HEROLD
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