War cemeteries Westfriedhof (Magdeburg)

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On the war cemeteries of the Westfriedhof Magdeburg in the Stadtfeld West district of Magdeburg there are the following grave fields and places of remembrance:

Soldiers graves from the First World War (273 dead), soldier graves from the Second World War (1,086 dead), burial grounds and memorial for the victims of the air raids on Magdeburg (thousands dead), memorial stone for fallen Italian military internees , honor grove for victims of fascism (855 burials) , Mass grave for the dead from the Soviet KGB site Klausener Strasse (60 dead).

Westfriedhof Magdeburg war cemetery (north is on the right)

First World War military cemetery

There are 273 graves of German soldiers from 1914–1918 on the burial site. Most of them are wounded and sick people who died in Magdeburg hospitals . In the 1990s, the path that crosses the grave field was rehabilitated, and in 2009 new trees were planted in the peripheral area and perennials were planted. The existing stone tombs were relocated flush in a lawn in the 1970s. Some of the names on these tombs are no longer legible. In the center of the grave field there is a granite monument, the slab of which has been removed with the dedication. On the page "War Gravesite Magdeburg Westfriedhof" of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge , this grave complex is described for soldiers of the First World War, but not so far for soldiers and civilian victims of the Second World War.

  • Soldiers' graves 1914-18 Magdeburg

  • Memorial on WWI military cemetery in Magdeburg

  • Gravestone for soldiers of World War I in Magdeburg

Soldiers graves of the Second World War

A "field of honor" for those who died in the war since the beginning of the Second World War was laid out in October 1939. These were soldiers who died in Magdeburg hospitals, who died in the air raids and who most recently died in the fighting near and in Magdeburg in April 1945. On both sides of the main path to the cemetery of the aerial warfare dead, 657 war victims (mainly soldiers) were buried in individual graves. The stone grave crosses mostly show several names, sometimes also the inscription "Unknown Soldier". On a branching off road there are two communal graves with the remains of German and foreign soldiers that were transferred here from the cemetery of the Margaretenhof-Herrenkrug hospital site near Magdeburg. According to the memorial plaques with the names there are 168 (transferred 1974) and 159 (transferred 1995) deceased, a total of 327. In the 1999 cemetery brochure “100 Years Westfriedhof”, 429 dead in two collective graves are named. Since the occupation by the Red Army, two partial cemeteries near the hospital have been located in the middle of a Soviet military area. In 1975 some of the bones could still be brought to the Westfriedhof, the others had already been concreted in during construction work and were reburied in 1995. On the occasion of the day of national mourning in 1995, a worthy funeral service for those who had been surrounded was held in the Westfriedhof. Wolfgang Böttger (deceased 1995) made an outstanding contribution to the research and documentation of the military cemeteries in and near Magdeburg on behalf of the municipal planning office.

  • WWII soldiers graves in Magdeburg Westfriedhof

  • World War II soldiers graves at Westfriedhof

  • Unidentified World War II soldiers at Westfriedhof

  • Soldiers reburied from the military cemetery to Westfriedhof in 1974

  • 1974 dead from hospital cemetery on Westfriedhof

Grave fields and memorial for the victims of the air raids on Magdeburg

The war victims grove begins with the graves of soldiers and civilians from World War II and ends with the lawns under which the victims of the Allied air raids on Magdeburg rest. It has a total area of ​​15,500 square meters with 2199 individual graves and a collective grave with 40 dead.

In 1995 the grove was given a memorial for "the victims of the air raid of January 16, 1945" (cemetery brochure). According to the decision of a jury, the sculptural ensemble was executed by the sculptor Wieland Schmiedel , who added the following text to his design: “The plan of the air sacrifice field shows a clear floor plan that is reminiscent of a multi-nave church. The semicircle of the mass grave describes the apse. My three-part design idea, along the middle path, is determined by this 'inner architecture': the base and grave slab, the room and the bell. The base plate that becomes the foundation. The space that can be closed and protected again. The stone that needs to be leveled. The bell that calls us. "

The symbolic “grave slab”, which the visitor sees as the first part of the ensemble, only bears the simple inscription “16. January 1945 ”. If you don't know, you can't tell that this is a cemetery for bomb victims. The underlying event is not mentioned, nor is it anywhere else on the lawn-covered and tree-planted areas. Grave marks and names are completely absent. The other 30 bombings (before and after January 16, 1945) are excluded from the inscription, although most of these victims also rest here.

On January 16, 1945, the heaviest of a total of 38 Allied air raids on Magdeburg between 1940 and 1945 took place. On January 16, 1945, 2,000 to 2,500, or 4,000 people died in the other attacks, a total of 2,500, so a total of up to 6,500 victims given. Bomb dead were buried in other cemeteries as well, but most of them in grave fields on the Westfriedhof. 2,680 bomb victims buried here were registered, of which 600 were unknown or unidentifiable, mostly charred corpses in a separate mass grave (January 16, 1945). Seven of the attacks resulted in hundreds of deaths each. Despite the large number, they were buried in coffins, albeit in very simple coffins after January 16. The original row graves with grave crosses have not been preserved.

  • Mass graves bomb victims Magdeburg Westfriedhof

  • Three-part memorial for bomb victims at Magdeburg West Cemetery

  • Symbolic grave slab as part of the memorial for bomb victims in Westfriedhof (January 16, 1945)

Memorial stone for fallen Italian military internees

Italian military internees were employed in factories, but also in the flak . The memorial stone was placed by the Republic of Italy in 1996 for their fallen (air raids).

Honor grove for victims of fascism

On the burial ground for victims of fascism with an area of ​​5,000 square meters, 855 burials took place from 1945, of which 59 were resistance fighters. The sandstone wall bears the bronze lettering "Halt wach your memory". A sculpture (bronze second cast) "O pale mother Germany" by Fritz Cremer symbolizes the suffering of the victims.

Dead from mass graves on the Soviet KGB site at Klausener Strasse

The monument-like mass grave bears an only partially explanatory plaque with the following wording: “Last resting place for 60 men. Killed and buried between the ages of 18 and 30 ”. The bones were found from 1994 to 1996 during construction work at Klausener Strasse 18 (formerly Westendstrasse), on site that had been used by the Soviet KGB as its headquarters since 1945 . The bony remains - probably from the 1950s - were recovered, examined by forensic medicine and buried in 2003 in the Westfriedhof in the now (2018) existing grave.

  • Memorial for 60 dead from Klausener Strasse on Westfriedhof

  • Monument declaration for the mass grave

  • Mass grave with 60 dead in Westfriedhof

Further war cemeteries in Magdeburg

literature

  • Maren Ballerstedt and Konstanze Buchholz: It's raining fire! the night of horrors in Magdeburg on January 16, 1945 . Wartberg-Verlag Gudensberg-Gleichen, 2003. ISBN 3-8313-1367-9
  • Jutta Boennen, Thomas Schuldt and Michael-A. Behrens: 100 years Westfriedhof Magdeburg . Cemetery and funeral business in the state capital Magdeburg. 1999
  • Olaf Groehler : bombing war against Germany . Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1990. ISBN 3-05-000612-9
  • Hans-Joachim Krenzke: Magdeburg cemeteries and burial places . State capital Magdeburg, issue 60. Magdeburg 1998

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Volksbund war gravesite Magdeburg Westfriedhof
  2. ↑ Jutta Boennen et al: 100 years Westfriedhof Magdeburg. 1999
  3. ^ Hans-Joachim Krenzke: Magdeburg cemeteries and burial places . 1998, p. 151
  4. ↑ Hans-Joachim Frenzke: Magdeburg cemeteries and burial sites . 1998, p. 100
  5. ^ Maren Ballerstedt and Konstanze Buchholz: It's raining fire. The night of horrors in Magdeburg on January 16, 1945 . 2003, p. 50
  6. ^ Olaf Groehler: Bomb war against Germany . 1990, p. 396
  7. ^ Maren Ballerstedt and Konstanze Buchholz: It's raining fire . 2003, p. 50
  8. ^ Hans-Joachim Krenzke: Magdeburg cemeteries and burial places . 1998, p. 99
  9. ↑ Mass graves of Soviet executed persons

Web links

Commons : Westfriedhof war gravesite (Magdeburg)  - Collection of images

Coordinates: 52 ° 7 ′ 24.5 ″  N , 11 ° 34 ′ 54.1 ″  E