Eichkamp cemetery

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Eichkamp cemetery was located west of the summer garden on the Berlin exhibition grounds in the Westend district of the Charlottenburg district (today: Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf ).

Name / designation

The name / designation "Eichkamp" refers to the nearby Eichkamp settlement and the Eichkamp train station , today: "Messe Süd (Eichkamp)".

In addition to "Eichkamp cemetery", the following terms were also used: "Eichkamp emergency cemetery", "Friedhof Im Eichkamp", "Cemetery at the AVUS ", "Emergency cemetery on the exhibition grounds", "Emergency cemetery on the exhibition grounds", "Cemetery on the Messeberg in Eichkamp", “Friedhof am Bahnhof Eichkamp”, “Städtischer Friedhof von Charlottenburg”. On the occasion of a letter to The Military Government British Troops Berlin, "CEMETERY SITE MESSEGELAENDE" was translated as "Kirchhofbauplände Messegelände". In the law on the abolition of the cemetery of February 21, 1952, the designation was "Emergency cemetery west of the exhibition grounds at the radio tower".

history

The Eichkamp cemetery (here labeled: Friedhof an der Avus) on the damage map of the Charlottenburg administrative district. Status 1945, edition 1952
View from the radio tower to the summer garden , the George C. Marshall House , the Eichkamp cemetery and the Mommsenstadion (left in the background), 1952

It is unclear when the Eichkamp cemetery was established. Not only the information provided by the then head of the cemetery and burial office, Schwarz , is imprecise or contradictory.

In his application for subsequent approval of a municipal cemetery in Charlottenburg, Schwarz wrote: “In accordance with Section 1 (1) of the Regulation. Regarding the regulation of the jurisdiction of the state and district police authorities from October 1, 1931, I ask you to subsequently issue the approval for the construction of a municipal cemetery on the Avus, which began at the beginning of May 1945. “August 17, 1945.

However, Schwarz later wrote: “At the end of 1944, when the mass attacks by the British and Americans significantly increased the loss and sacrifice of human life, a new cemetery had to be created. A sports field near the exhibition center on the Avus was selected for this. Whether this choice was correct remains to be seen. In any case, this sports field was designated as a cemetery and taken into use. When I took over the cemetery and burial offices in May 1945, I found this cemetery in a completely desolate condition, […] ", February 14, 1946 and:" Referring to your letter, I would like to state that the disputed site has been in use since 1944 for Cemetery purposes was established. So it is not the case that I have confiscated a new site. ”March 30, 1946.

Black also wrote in 2010: “ Known alternately as the An der Avus or Eichkamp cemetery, it had been created in the emergency conditions of late 1944. ” (German: “Also known as An der Avus or Eichkamp cemetery, it was late in the emergency Founded in 1944. ”) No source is given.

In contrast, the description in a message to the police chief: “A sports field is attached to the exhibition grounds in Charlottenburg. After the fighting stopped, this sports field was occupied by military and civil corpses. Apparently a new cemetery is being set up there; because new corpses are still being buried. ”June 28, 1945.

In a letter from the Main Office for Planning and Green Planning it said: “It is not true that the disputed site has been designated for cemetery purposes since 1944. From the reports we have from the local police authority from June and July 1945 and from his own report of August 17, 1945 to the police chief in Berlin, it is clear that the burials on the sports field at the exhibition center began in early May 1945. ", 14 May 1946. The telegraph's statement comes close to this: “The Eichkamp cemetery, a 'disaster cemetery' created in the summer of 1945 on the orders of the Russians, […]” Jenz says something similar: “This cemetery was also laid out on the orders of the Soviet occupying forces . "

Similarly, the Senate Department for Urban Development and the Environment, Department of Graves, is not aware of any plans for a cemetery on the exhibition grounds before 1945.

From March 11 to May 15, 1952, the 4,066 dead in the Eichkamp cemetery were transferred to new burial sites. 3977 of them were buried in the new state-owned cemetery in Ruhleben . On June 1, 1952, the former (emergency) cemetery area was available to the "Berlin exhibitions" (today: " Messe Berlin GmbH ") to expand the exhibition grounds.

One reason for the seven-year existence of the cemetery can be seen in the laborious search for a replacement area. Parts of two possible replacement areas were given horticultural use as part of the fallow land campaign . The design process for the area ultimately selected in Ruhleben also dragged on. The first tender for the "Competition for a cemetery complex in Berlin-Ruhleben" is dated November 6, 1947, the second on June 15, 1948. In addition, the head of the cemetery and burial office Charlottenburg, Schwarz, the cemetery Eichkamp (plus expansion areas) wanted to establish it as a permanent burial site, as the “Charlottenburg Municipal Cemetery”. Schwarz was unable to assert himself against the objections of the “Berlin exhibitions” and the city planning officer Hans Scharoun . On July 18, 1946, Albert Horlitz , the deputy district mayor, informed the magistrate: “[...] Dr. Schwarz has been replaced as head of the cemetery and burial office. [...] ".

literature

  • Monica Black: Death in Berlin: from Weimar to Divided Germany . German Historical Institute, Cambridge University Press, Washington DC / Cambridge (GB) 2010, ISBN 978-0-521-11851-4 .
  • Jürgen Schmidt (Ed.): Red beets on Olivaer Platz - Sources on the food crisis in Berlin's post-war period 1945–1949 . Lit Verlag, Dr. W. Hopf, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-8258-1057-3 .
  • Birgit Jochens, Herbert May: The cemeteries in Berlin-Charlottenburg - history of the cemetery facilities and their tomb culture . Stapp Verlag, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-87776-056-2 .
  • Heiderose Jenz: The cemetery as an urban geographic problem in the metropolis of Berlin - shown taking into account the cemetery foundations after World War II . Geographical Institute of the Free University of Berlin, Berlin 1977.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Landesarchiv Berlin , F Rep. 280 LAZ, No. 13870 (see also web link “160. Kiezspaziergang”);
    Telegraf , No. 277/5, Sunday November 26, 1950, p. 16;
    Black, pp. 246-253
  2. ↑ Telegraf , No. 277/5, Sunday, November 26, 1950, p. 16
  3. ↑ Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 109 / No. 168: Document 165, Doc. 200
  4. ↑ Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 109 / No. 168: Doc. 111, Doc 148, Doc. 157, Doc. 160, Doc. 164, Doc. 168, Doc. 170, Doc. 171, Doc. 174, Doc. 176, Doc. 177, Doc. 178, Doc. 182, Doc. 183, Doc. 193, Doc. 197, Doc. 202, Doc. 205, Doc. 206, Doc. 207, Doc. 208, Doc. 210, Doc. 212;
    Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 109 / No. 168/1: Doc. 3;
    Jenz, p. 39;
    Black, p. 246
  5. ↑ Jenz, pp. 38-40
  6. ↑ District Office Charlottenburg of Berlin, Dept. Bau- u. Housing, Horticultural Office, May 20, 1952
  7. ^ Administrative information center (VIZ) for Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, City Hall Berlin-Charlottenburg, "BVV Charlottenburg / provisional BVV from 1945",
    point 1 of the CDU inquiry of August 26, 1946
  8. ↑ Landesarchiv Berlin, F Rep 290, image no. 4209, taken on January 29, 1950, photographer: Willy Kiel (The name of the cemetery is on the back of the photo.)
  9. ↑ Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 109 / No. 168: Doc. 162, Doc. 163
  10. ↑ Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 109 / No. 168: Doc. 108
  11. ↑ Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 109 / No. 168: Doc. 109
  12. ↑ Law on the abolition of the emergency cemetery west of the exhibition grounds at the radio tower, Law and Ordinance Gazette for Berlin 1951 to 1961, p. 105, Central and State Library Berlin / Senate Library ;
    Printed matter Berlin House of Representatives, 1951/52, 1st electoral period, No. 349/900, No. 737 of December 1, 1951, Central and State Library Berlin / Center for Berlin Studies;
    Printed matter Berlin House of Representatives, 1952, 1st electoral period, No. 901–1199, No. 904 of February 2, 1952, Central and State Library Berlin / Center for Berlin Studies;
    Berlin House of Representatives, WP 1 1951, Stenographic Reports, Volume 1, 1. – 32. Session, p. 875 and Volume 2, WP 1 1952, 33. – 60. Session, pp. 147–148, Central and State Library Berlin / Center for Berlin Studies
  13. ↑ Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 118-01 / No. 9451 (see attached curriculum vitae from August 10, 1945)
  14. ↑ Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 109 / No. 168: Doc. 147
  15. ↑ Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 109 / No. 168: Doc. 162
  16. ↑ Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 109 / No. 168: Doc. 180
  17. ↑ Black, pp. 246-253
  18. ↑ Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 109 / No. 168: Doc. 144
  19. ↑ Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 109 / No. 168: Doc. 182
  20. ↑ Telegraf, No. 277/5, Sunday, November 26, 1950, p. 16.
  21. ↑ Jenz, p. 38
  22. ↑ Senate Department for Urban Development and the Environment, Department of Graves, e-mail from June 9, 2015
  23. ↑ District Office Charlottenburg of Berlin, Dept. of Building and Housing, Horticultural Office, May 20, 1952
  24. ↑ District Office Charlottenburg of Berlin, Dept. of Building and Housing, Horticultural Office, May 20, 1952
  25. ↑ Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 109 / No. 168: Doc. 111, Doc. 112, Doc. 115, Doc. 116
  26. ↑ Schmidt, pp. 76-94
  27. ↑ Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 109 / No. 168: Doc. 128-131
  28. ↑ Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 109 / No. 168: Doc. 138-143
  29. ↑ Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 109 / No. 168: Doc. 162
  30. ↑ Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep. 109 / No. 168: Doc. 195