German war cemetery Ysselsteyn

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Ysselsteyn war graveyard
Stone at the entrance to the Ysselsteyn military cemetery
Memorial stone for the dead

The German war cemetery Ysselsteyn is located in the Dutch city of Venray , about twenty kilometers behind the German-Dutch border at Timmermannsweg 75 in Ysselsteyn ( Limburg province ). It is the largest military cemetery in the Netherlands and the only cemetery for German soldiers. 31,598 fallen soldiers, mainly from World War II , are buried there.

Collective cemetery

For this purpose, all of the German soldiers who fell throughout the Netherlands were exhumed and buried on the approximately 30 hectare site in Ysselsteyn. There are also buried Dutch people who died in German military service in the SS . The majority of the 31,598 German soldiers buried here died in World War II. About 6,000 soldiers could not be identified. Lists of names are available for inspection in the visitor building, to the left of the access path. Ten dead of the Second World War rest in the cemetery in Vorden .

The cemetery was laid out in 1946 by the Dutch burial service (Nederlandse gravendienst) in order to provide a dignified, well-tended resting place for the German fallen. The graves of the German soldiers were then still scattered all over the Netherlands from Maastricht to Ameland. There are 1,700 fallen from the area around Arnhem , around 3,000 dead were reburied from the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial (in Dutch: Amerikaanse Begraafplaats Margraten). The reburial began on October 15, 1946. The first to be buried in Ysselsteyn was Sergeant Johann Siegel.

From 1950 onwards, the burial service, in cooperation with the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge and the German Office in Berlin, was able to identify 7,330 unknown soldiers. This lasted for a few years (at least until 1968).

Kapitein Lodewijk Johannes Timmermans managed the cemetery from 1948 to 1976. He was considered the father of the Ysselsteyn military cemetery ("vader van soldatenbegraafplaats Ysselsteyn"). After his death in 1995, he was cremated according to his last wish and his ashes were scattered around the cemetery. There is a memorial stone at the central square.

This cemetery has been maintained by the Volksbund since November 1st, 1976 . Between May 1977 and October 1981 new grave crosses were placed by soldiers of the Bundeswehr . In 1982/1983 the central memorial square and the graves of comrades were renewed.

The dead

87 soldiers from the First World War are also buried here. German casualties from the First World War are also buried in the cemeteries in Rotterdam (Crooswijk) , Weert , IJmuiden and Schiermonnikoog .

In addition to German soldiers, there are also Poles, Dutch and Russians buried who served in the German armed forces, including over 500 Dutch who fought as war volunteers on the German side or as officials of the Nationaal-Socialistische Moving in Nederland (NSB) directly at the deportation of Jewish people from the Netherlands were involved in the extermination camps.

Around 5,000 SS members are also buried here. Proven war criminals who were buried there include Major Gerhard Czernik , who served in the Condor Legion during the Spanish War from 1936 to 1939 , Lieutenant General Kurt Schmidt , jointly responsible for the deportation of Jews, SS-Hauptsturmführer Arthur Thomsen , known as "the executioner", and SS-Unterscharführer Josef Kindel , a notorious torturer.

The deceased men, women and children from the German concentration camp Herzogenbusch near 's-Hertogenbosch , which was used as an internment camp for Germans, collaborators and war criminals from September 1944 , are also buried here. War criminals like Ernst Knorr were also buried in the Ysselsteyn war graveyard.

The oldest dead was 80 years old, the youngest one day old.

Every year in November there is a memorial service on Memorial Day. Every year 25,000 visitors come to the war cemetery.

Architecture of the cemetery

The war cemetery is approximately 28 hectares . The area consists of 106 blocks with twelve rows of 25 graves each. It is surrounded on all sides by a forest. An 800 meter long path leads through the cemetery.

The memorial sign

Commemoration of the dead in World War II

A concrete cross with natural stone cladding was erected as a memorial in the center of the cemetery. Short grave pillars made of natural stone stand around it. At the cross there is a stone with the text: "31585 German soldiers are resting in this cemetery".

Near the memorial there is a carillon with 25 bells hanging in five steel structures. This carillon is 4 meters high. It was built on the initiative of family members of the fallen.

Japanese ginkgo

A Japanese ginkgo as a symbol of hope.

On May 8, 1995, the 50th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe, a Japanese ginkgo was planted near the entrance to the cemetery. This tree is a sign of hope. It was the first to bloom after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. After a year it had leaves again. He became a symbol of peace in a better world.

See also

Movies

literature

  • Doeke J. Oostra: Gesneuvelden in Steen. Oorlogsgraven in Nederland en het grensgebied. Uitgeverij Penn.nl, Leeuwarden 2009, ISBN 978-90-77948-36-1 .

Web links

Commons : Ysselsteyn War Cemetery  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ German war gravesite Ysselsteyn at Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge
  2. ↑ Ulrich Schneider : Revanchist Spuk in Ysselsteyn: Scandalous maintenance of tradition by the Bundeswehr in the Netherlands , Neues Deutschland, July 20, 2018 Online (fee required)
  3. ↑ Karlen Vesper: 31 598 Kreuze , Neues Deutschland, July 20, 2018 Online (fee required)

Coordinates: 51 ° 28 ′ 9.1 ″  N , 5 ° 53 ′ 34.9 ″  E