Weeze war cemetery

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Coordinates: 51 ° 38 ′ 15 "  N , 6 ° 12 ′ 32.8"  E

The symbols of the war cemetery are the three high crosses made of black basalt.
Individual small groups of crosses stand like atonement crosses between the rows of graves. The soldiers' lawn graves are invisible.
Names of fallen Weezers on oak staves.
The tombstone of the VDK founder Dr. Siegfried Emmo Eulen is just as inconspicuous as that of other soldiers.
One of the two chapels on the rear wall of the cemetery.
Memorial shrine for missing and missing soldiers on the rear wall of the cemetery.
The cemetery forecourt was redesigned in 2010.
Topiary and bushes on the roundabout, which was redesigned in 2010.
Whispering stone of the Liberation Route Europe on the Weez war cemetery.

The Weeze war cemetery is a German cemetery of honor on the northeastern outskirts of Weeze in a wooded area on Uedemer Straße. 2,016 war dead from the Second World War are buried on it. It is one of the few war cemeteries in North Rhine-Westphalia that was not created by the regional association, but by the federal construction management of the Volksbund . On September 10, 1950, the Weeze war cemetery was inaugurated by the then Federal President Theodor Heuss and handed over to the community.

history

When the Allies invaded the Lower Rhine in February and March 1945, Weeze was a hotly contested area. From 28.2. Until March 2nd, 1945, the armies fought bitterly from house to house, until the German troops withdrew to the east. The advancing British and Canadian units buried the fallen they found on the former battlefield east of Weeze, popularly known as "Sandberg". However, many of the dead remained unburied in fields, forests or the collapsed houses. Weeze was 80% destroyed.

After the evacuated Weezers returned to their home community in August 1945, clean-up work and reconstruction began. The dead were recovered and their graves recorded. A permanent war cemetery was to be built to commemorate the dead soldiers. Countess Isabelle von Loë made the 2-hectare site on Sandberg available for this purpose. The planning and construction of the cemetery of honor was the responsibility of the federal construction management of the Volksbund. The chief architect of the facility was Robert Tischler .

From 1947 the Volksbund began to rescue the fallen from the surrounding villages from the field graves and to transfer them to the cemetery in Weeze. The dead come from the communities of Aldekerk, Capellen, Geldern , Herongen, Hülm, Issum , Kevelaer , Kervenheim, Uedem , Uedemerfeld, Uedemer Bruch, Wankum, Wachtendonk , Walbeck, Weeze, Wetten, Winnekendonk, Veert and Vernum.

The cemetery was inaugurated on September 10, 1950 by Theodor Heuss and handed over to the community of Weeze. In addition to the relatives of the dead, citizens from Weeze and the surrounding communities, members of the British and Italian burial service as well as visitors from the Netherlands took part in the opening ceremony.

For the 50th anniversary, in 2000, Prime Minister Wolfgang Clement and Mayor Johannes Snelting planted a ginkgo tree as a symbol against oblivion on the day of national mourning .

For the 60th anniversary in 2010, the cemetery was restored and parts of the complex, such as the cemetery forecourt, were redesigned. For this, the community of Weeze received a certificate and a silver plaque from the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge.

Since October 1, 2014, the Weeze war cemetery has been part of the Liberation Route Europe . The Hörstein 215 bears the title “For people and fatherland”. Another audio project about the events of the Second World War was created in 2017 with “Walking upright”.

place

The facility impresses with its extraordinary landscape architecture. It was embedded in the gently undulating terrain that tapered to a ridge. The central focus is a mighty high cross group made of black basalt on a raised rondel with a heaped earth wall. It separates the cemetery forecourt, on which boxwood crosses and a stone stele of lost soldiers from the Eastern Front are commemorated, from the semicircular Heroes' Grove. A narrow path leads over the stone staircase to the Hochkreuz platform on both sides of which there are 18 groups of oak steles in groups of three. The names of fallen Weezers can be read on them. From the roundabout you can see the ring-shaped field of honor that tapers to a quarter circle to the west.

In contrast to other war cemeteries, the soldiers' graves are not marked with the uniform stone crosses typical of the Second World War. The names of the fallen with the date of birth and death are written on small grave slabs made of hard-fired stone in the meadow. The rank and unit designation was dispensed with. The motif of the three basalt crosses is repeated in a smaller form in the intermediate rows planted with heather. They are reminiscent of atonement crosses. Occasionally topiary trees and trees have been planted in the arched heather beds.

The rear part of the cemetery is bounded by a wall arch with five memorial shrines. There is an octagonal chapel house at each end. Inside the chapel houses the names of the fallen are written on Solnhofen limestone slabs . Some of the unknown soldiers have been identified over the years. The names of those who were previously missing are written on panels made of Ruhr sandstone in the wall shrines .

However, the National Socialist influence in the landscape design of the VDK chief architect Robert Tischler cannot be concealed. The idea for the Heldenhain came about as early as the 1930s and its design is strongly reminiscent of the Thingplatz . Instead of putting up a cross for each individual fallen, a central monument, such as a castle for the dead, should commemorate the deceased as a unit. Through the inconspicuous tablets, the individual dead is drowned in the crowd. The plan to anonymize soldiers' graves and instead to erect a single memorial was too socialist even for the Nazis, as it contradicted the propagated worship of heroes . The project was only realized after the war and supplemented with Christian symbols.

Some historical recordings of the construction of the monumental complex show that the war cemetery was built and not spilled. The three large high crosses were cut from a 275-ton basalt monolith from the Eifel and brought to their destination with special heavy-duty vehicles . The middle cross is 5 m high and weighs 19 tons, the two side crosses are each 3.50 m high and weigh 15 tons each. The octagonal chapel houses were each given a dome made from a 12-tonne Ruhr sandstone monolith, and 130,000 heather plants were delivered by VDK trucks for the planting of the cemetery.

Perhaps they wanted to create a memorial to the founder of the German War Graves Commission in 1919 with the military cemetery. Dr. Siegfried Emmo Eulen died on January 20, 1945 in the hospital at Wissen Castle as a result of being shot in the lung . His grave tablet is just as inconspicuous as that of the other war dead, but there is a memorial message opposite on the circular wall.

In 2010, the Weeze war cemetery was restored and partly redesigned. The area around the high crosses was revised and planted with hedges and topiary trees, the old, partly heavily weathered, grave slabs were replaced with new ones. The cemetery forecourt and the path to the main entrance on Uedemer Straße have been redesigned and replanted. Gabions filled with the old grave slabs stand along the way .

Others

Mainly the war dead from the Second World War were buried at the war cemetery in Weeze. Over the years, some unknown and missing soldiers have been identified or found in the surrounding field graves and forests. There are also some graves with dead from the First World War that are reburied here. A memorial event is held every year on Memorial Day.

Quotes

» Dying on the Lower Rhine in 1944/1945 was a“ victim of being ”, a“ being sacrificed ”, because the war was already lost back then and many who lay here knew that it was lost. And that is the tragically oppressive feeling: They died bound by their duty, and this can only be spoken of in gratitude and awe of the individual's fate. No other tone is allowed. «
Federal President Theodor Heuss at the opening of the cemetery in 1950

“He who founded the soldier's grave in the memory of the people, found his grave here as a soldier. Think of your dead people! «
Inscription on the roundabout in memory of Siegfried Emmo Eulen 23.9.1890 - 20.1.1945

Web links

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

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Since the municipality reform in 1969, the smaller towns have been incorporated into the municipalities and cities of Geldern, Goch, Issum, Kerken, Kevelaer, Uedem, Wachtendonk and Weeze.
  2. ↑ Kerstin Kahrl: State celebration 2010 takes place in Weeze. Niederrhein Nachrichten Kevelaer Weeze, November 10, 2010, accessed on August 21, 2019 .
  3. ↑ "For people and fatherland" Flüsterstein 215 - Weeze military cemetery. In: Liberation Route Europe. Retrieved August 21, 2019 .
  4. ^ "Go upright", project description and audio in German. In: Stitching Laudio. Retrieved August 21, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Cf. Meinhold Lurz “A piece of home in a strange earth”; in Arch +, issue 71
  6. ↑ Information board “Development & Inauguration” of the VDK at the Weeze war cemetery.
  7. ↑ Ingo Plaschke: Critical Remembrance. In: NRZ. Funke Medien NRW, November 13, 2014, accessed on August 21, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Information board "Reconstruction phase & redesign" of the VDK at the Weeze war cemetery.