French Cemetery (Nordhorn)
The memorial at Frenswegen Monastery, popularly known as the French Cemetery, is the oldest war memorial in the city of Nordhorn .
Seven French prisoners of war from the Franco-Prussian War rest in this cemetery right next to the monastery chapel . It dates from 1870/71 , when up to 450 French prisoners of war were interned in Frenswegen Monastery. It was converted into a memorial in the 1960s .
The facility is under monument protection as part of the Frenswegen Monastery ensemble .
history
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, up to 450 French prisoners of war were interned in the monastery buildings. Seven prisoners who were buried in the monastery complex near the church at the time - next to today's chapel - died from a leaf infection.
Until the 1930s, the Nordhorn Warrior Association held regular commemorative events at this cemetery.
At first, each individual grave was provided with simple wooden crosses, which, however, rotten and rotten over time. The stone cross erected on a sandstone plinth in the middle of the small complex has been preserved. The square base bears the names of the deceased on the sides. On the front is the inscription:
"A la mémoire des soldats français décédes en 1870–1871 RIP
(In memory of the French soldiers who died 1870–1871. May they rest in peace."
On the back you can read:
"Erigé par leurs Compatriotes
(Erected by their compatriots)"
In the first years after the war, the cemetery was maintained by the French government, later members of the Nordhorn Warrior and Landwehr Association took care of it. After its closure, the facility was looked after for many years by students from the Frensdorf School and the Pestalozzi School . In the 1960s, the city of Nordhorn took over the maintenance and the green space department of the city of Nordhorn redesigned the facility. The wooden crosses have been removed, a thick hedge has been planted to protect the small cemetery, which is now accessible through a gate.
Since the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge and other sources only grant graves for the graves of victims of war and spiritual rule from the First and Second World War , the facility was redesigned in 2002 with funds from the city of Nordhorn and designed as a memorial. In the previous years, the 130-year-old grave had become more and more overgrown.
literature
- Wilhelm Horstmeyer: Against forgetting. Heimatverein Grafschaft Bentheim, 1995. p. 4 f.
- Grafschafter Nachrichten of November 1st, 2002: 'Franzosenfriedhof' is again a place of silent remembrance .