Jägerhöhe cemetery of honor
The Jägerhöhe Ehrenfriedhof is a military cemetery in the Polish city of Węgorzewo (German Angerburg ). It is the resting place for 344 German and 234 Russian soldiers who fell here in 1914/15 during the winter battle in Masuria and in other battles during the First World War .
description
The cemetery is located on a steep slope about 18 meters above the water level of the Jezioro Święcajty (German Schwenzaitsee ). The name Jägerhöhe comes from the year 1913, when the Royal Prussian Jäger Regiment on horse No. 10 was relocated to Angerburg and the hill was used as a parade ground. In view of its idyllic location and its concentric-symmetrical alignment over the lake, the cemetery is one of the most beautifully landscaped of its kind in the former East Prussia .
The plans for the design of the resting place, which was built in 1917, came from Horticultural Director Hans Martin from Berlin . In 1919 the cemetery was surrounded by a wall made of field stones. The 15 meter high wooden cross in the middle was donated by Count Lehndorff . In 1983 the complex, which had become increasingly neglected after 1945, was placed under monument protection by the Polish authorities. Since 1989 the cemetery has been renovated with the participation of the Angerburg district community. Since then, it has returned to its original form. A memorial plaque in the Ehrenfriedhof reads:
- THEY DIED - AND STILL LIVE
- THEY SLEEP - AND WATCH
- YOU REST - TO NEW DEED
- THE FUTURE SEED
Not far away on the road between Węgorzewo and Giżycko (German: Lötzen ) is a military cemetery for the Soviet soldiers who died here in World War II . A few hundred meters southeast of the Jägerhöhe military cemetery is the Rusałka summer restaurant on the foundations of the Jägerhöhe forest house built in 1927. The bathing establishment on Schwenzaitsee below the rest home, which is still in use, was opened in 1928. A sports hotel was added to the ensemble for the 1936 Olympic Games . In the summer of 1940, the Lithuanian President Antanas Smetona, who had fled the Russians, lived here with his family for two months . After that, the building served, among other things, as the headquarters of Joachim von Ribbentrop's staff .
Picture gallery
Jägerhöhe cemetery of honor, around 1920
Jägerhöhe cemetery of honor, around 1920
Grave in the Jägerhöhe Ehrenfriedhof, 2010
Wooden cross in the middle of the cemetery, 2010
Memorial plaque on the cemetery of honor, 2010
Web links
- MTBl 1896 Gross Steinort (OPr.) With the cemetery of honor (upper edge of the map)
- Article on Jägerhöhe on ostpreussen.net
Coordinates: 54 ° 11 ′ 28 " N , 21 ° 45 ′ 26.3" E