Commonwealth war cemetery in Klagenfurt

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Graves
Entrance area with Tempietto
Inscription on the entrance gate
"Cross of Sacrifice"

The Commonwealth War Cemetery in Klagenfurt (English: Klagenfurt War Cemetery ) is the only British military cemetery in Austria . It houses war casualties from the Second World War from the Commonwealth countries as well as from the immediate post-war period and is located in the Klagenfurt district of Waidmannsdorf .

investment

The cemetery is located on property 207/3 in the cadastral community Waidmannsdorf in Klagenfurt in the middle of a residential area and has approximately the shape of a rectangle with the long side facing north-south. The entrance is on the west side in Lilienthalstrasse.

In the entrance area, between the two doors, there is a chapel-like exposed brick building, called “Tempietto” on the plan, with a square floor plan. The pyramid roof is covered with sheet metal and is crowned by a ball knob. Inside the building there is a wall shrine containing the cemetery register with the names of the buried.

From the entrance the central axis leads to a cross at the other end of the cemetery, which stands on a step-like substructure. The graves are arranged in exact rows to the right and left of this axis in four unequal-sized sectors. As with all British military cemeteries, the gravestones are of the same size, regardless of the rank and status of the buried. They are flat-arched and rectangular and bear the regimental emblem, regimental designation, name, age and date of death of the buried as well as the cross symbol or the Star of David . The small grave beds are not bordered, the cemetery corresponds to the type of lawn cemetery. In the southern area the tombstones point to the west, in the north to the south.

history

The cemetery was set up by the British occupation forces in June 1945 on a piece of land made available to them by the Republic of Austria. 589 members of the British armed forces are buried on it. In the early 1950s, eight British war dead from the First World War were reburied here from various cemeteries in Austria, and special gravestones were erected for two dead from the First World War, whose graves are unknown.

The cemetery was completed in 1965. The exact architect is not known as the plans have not been signed. Louis de Soissons, architect in charge of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) for Italy, Austria and Greece, or his assistant architect William Ferguson Stewart are considered likely .

After the basic regulations on Allied war cemeteries in Austria had been made in Article 19 of the State Treaty of 1955, an agreement was made in 1967 between the British and Austrian governments on the Commonwealth War Cemetery in Klagenfurt with regard to the jurisdiction of the CWGC and the permanent transfer of the property , subsequently identical agreements with Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, Canada and India.

The portico building was renovated in 1998/99.

supporting documents

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Federal Law Gazette No. 192/1967
  2. ↑ Federal Law Gazette No. 309/1967
  3. ↑ Federal Law Gazette No. 32/1968
  4. ↑ Federal Law Gazette No. 65/1968
  5. ↑ Federal Law Gazette No. 124/1968
  6. ↑ Federal Law Gazette No. 326/1968


Coordinates: 46 ° 37 ′ 6.3 ″  N , 14 ° 16 ′ 25.3 ″  E