For about 100 years, an elm tree grew close to the little Sumperkamp street in the southern suburb Querenburg of the city of Bochum. In the 1960s, Querenburg was slated to become a garden town, but then a conversion of the largely agriculturally oriented into the site of the first German new university after World War II changed all that. The elm tree saw the largest construction site in Europe yield the new 13 main university buildings plus a central office and library buildings, the relocation of Querenburger Strasse to become Universitätsstrasse with a tram line (no. 5) and later Subway line U35 as well as a branch street Hustadtring serving the new Unicenter complex. By about 2012 the tree died, maybe as a precursor to the European Elm disease spreading about by 2016. The city eventually wanted to cut the dead tree down, but Philipp Unger, a local activist and member of many neighbourhood associations (such as, for example, University meets Querenburg) managed to persuade the city services department to perhaps trim the dead branches, but to let most of the massive trunk, a section they had already cut off, and a last branch, stay in place, pending a beautification project still to be developed.
In 2016 Philipp asked around for suggestions how to develop the knoll on which the remainders of the elm tree stood, thinking of a HuMu figure (Hustadt-Muffel / Hustadt guy), an urban myth figure invented for earlier (1970s?) civic festivities at the Hustadt quarter of Querenburg, the university residential section a kilometer downhill from the tree. This figure had been occasionally revived as a symbolic carrier of concerns and complaints that was burned at the end of the event.
Elmar Träbert, a sculptor at the Musisches Zentrum (Center for the Arts) of the university, manufactured a small 3D-model sketch in wood; he suggested to shape the top of the remaining trunk into a head of HuMu, using the remaining branch as a outstretched arm from which to hang a swing, and to sculpt the cut-off trank section into a sitting bench. Philipp suggested to add various decorations and to turn the bare trunk into a space for a neighbourhood information exchange board. Philipp and his helpers scraped off the dead bark, and then a small citizen panel visited the site and discussed the plans. By mid Spring of 2017, a scaffold was erected, and Christoph Platz, a professional Bochum woodworker and artist with a treasure chest of power tools and expertise, within two days shaped the head of the trunk to the approval of many passers-by and added a hand to the outstretched arm. Now HuMu watched over the playground at the Eastern end of the Unicenter and was seen by anybody leaving the shopping are towards the Hustadt section.
Christoph's chainsaw work left many pieces of wood of all sizes and shapes. Christoph cut a section to use in his workshop, Elmar selected a few odd pieces for his sculpting supplies, and the rest was collected as firewood for the iron stove in the Mongolian yurt that housed several activists during the inauguration weekend.
The photos below show some of the artwork that was produced "all from this very tree".
In 2024, the city decided that the standing trunk had disintegrated internally and had become dangerous to the public. The trunk was felled and left in place to decompose - and the gardeners' judgement was confirmed for all to see.
The ©opyright to all pictures shown resides with the picture authors.
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Updated: 28 Oct 2025