Julius Erasmus
Julius Erasmus (born February 16, 1895 in Aachen ; † September 3, 1971 in evenings ) became known as the " Gravedigger of Vossenack " after the Second World War .
Beginning of the salvage
Erasmus, a textile manufacturer in Aachen before the Second World War and a pioneer captain during the war , lost his entire family in the battle for Aachen . After the end of the war, he retired to a hut in the Hürtgenwald , where thousands of German and Allied soldiers died in the battle in the Hürtgenwald in the winter of 1944/1945 . Erasmus began to recover, identify and bury the dead soldiers. He recorded the site plans of the graves. Erasmus began his work alone, but soon found support from men from the surrounding villages and the Vossenack village pastor Werner Eschweiler. The work was life-threatening because the forest was littered with duds and mines; about 100 people lost their lives in the subsequent mine clearance and recovery from the dead.
When asked about the motives for his work, Erasmus said: “In the summer of 1945 I came back to Vossenack. I lost all of my belongings. The war had taken everything from me. And then I found her in the ditches on the Chausse, at the edge of the forest, under shot trees. I just couldn't see her lying there, unburied and forgotten. It left me with no peace. "
The Vossenack military cemetery
From 1949 Erasmus received support from the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge , whose architect Robert Tischler built a military cemetery on the most contested "Höhe 470", the "gateway to the Cologne basin". The Vossenack war cemetery was inaugurated in 1952 by Federal President Theodor Heuss . Today 2221 soldiers from four nations are buried there, the identity of 930 of these soldiers is unknown.
Erasmus rescued 1569 German casualties in the Hürtgenwald and laid them to rest in Vossenack. When he died in 1971, he was almost forgotten.
Honors
- 1952: Cross of Merit (Steckkreuz) of the Federal Republic of Germany
- 2005: In memory of Julius Erasmus, a memorial cross is erected at the Vossenack Cemetery of Honor.
Web links
- Vossenack war cemetery at the Volksbund
- Cemeteries of honor on the homepage of the Düren district
- Report in the Aachener Volkszeitung from February 21, 2015
Individual evidence
- ↑ Joachim Heinz: 1,569 times dignity. The story of the “Gravedigger von Vossenack” , Catholic News Agency, May 7, 2015.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Erasmus, Julius |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German who hid numerous dead in the Hürtgenwald |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 16, 1895 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Aachen |
| DATE OF DEATH | 3rd September 1971 |
| Place of death | Evenings |