German war cemetery Oksbøl

The German War Cemetery Oksbøl is located on the west coast of Denmark in Oksbøl (Varde Kommune) , 15 kilometers northwest of Esbjerg and is a cemetery for 121 soldiers and 1,675 refugees who died in the Oksbøl refugee camp during and after the Second World War .

location

The war cemetery is located at the north-western exit of Oksbøl.

history

The cemetery was created by refugees from the Oksbøl refugee camp. In 1953, young former camp residents tended the cemetery with wooden crosses and heather. In 1962 it was enlarged with additional beds and inaugurated in 1969. The Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, Landesverband Nordrhein-Westfalen, is the godfather of the cemetery.

architecture

A wall made of field stones surrounds the cemetery. At the entrance there is a bronze cemetery plan on a stone table. At the end of the main path there is a three meter high bronze cross. The graves are marked by stone crosses. The names of two dead are listed on the front and back of the cross. The grave areas are planted with heather.

The dead

The originally deceased from the Oksbøl refugee camp were buried in the cemetery. Children and old people in particular died in the camp after the strains of fleeing and evacuating from the east. Accommodation for the refugees in the camp was tight and the supplies were good. In 1962 542 dead were laid in bed. 121 soldiers and 1,675 refugees from the Second World War now rest here. The search for dead soldiers / refugees is possible digitally.

Reconciliation over the graves

In 1997 a ginkgo tree was planted by German and Danish youths. The Danish Queen Margarethe visited the war cemetery on the occasion of her summer tour in 2016.