German cemeteries in France

[AliceF]

Yes, the cemetery was repaired soon after. It is actually the first report that I read of this type of reparation. Otherwise damaged cemeteries were rather removed and soldiers reburied somewhere else. But maybe this cemetery was seen as too large?

“Lens (Pas de Calais). The cemetery has been repaired with the help of a grave list and a cemetery plan, which have been sent by the Central Office for war graves and war losses in Spandau [berlin]. During this work 3815 graves out of 5451 were identified.”
VDK 1923, 8

„Lens (Pas de Calais). Der Friedhof ist an Hand einer vom Zentral-Nachweisamt für Kriegsgräber und Kriegerverluste zu Spandau übersandten Gräberliste mit Friedhofsplan instand gesetzt worden. Bei den Arbeiten konnten von 5451 Gräbern 3815 festgestellt werden“
VDK 1923, 8

I wonder if these lists still exist? In Berlin? In Kassel? Or destroyed during WW2?
Christine

[AliceF]

Here a more detailed description of the reconstruction of the cemetery at Lens from 1925:

“Lens, final German cemetery established by Germans. The cemetery has suffered from shelling; it had to be completely restored. With the help of German [grave] lists it was put into order. The restoration was a huge effort for the French. Earth had to be transported [to the cemetery]. A bastion-like [?] wall was completely destroyed and recreated by the French. This wall separates the upper and lower part of the cemetery, which are connected by two stairs. The reconstruction works cost 4,000 francs. In the cemetery there is a German monument, but it is completely shot to pieces. The cemetery contains 8193 individual graves and 7084 unknown soldiers in four ossuaries. Graves [are arranged] in double rows with two rows of black crosses in the middle. Stone-paved middle way. Plantings are not yet established, in the part further back there remained some trees and bushes. 40 unknown are still in individual graves. The sector officer [?] has promised to provide a plan with information from which cemetery soldiers have been reburied and where those graves are located now. The cemetery has 6 guards to keep it in order. Each guard takes care of 1000-1200 graves. All guards are war invalids. The German cemetery stands out [?] compared to the neighboring communal cemetery, where the traces of shelling are still very noticeable."

VDK, 1925, 4-5

Christine

Lens_1925_German.docx

[JWK]

Christine,

Tack för denna!

The French restored the cemetery, and took care of the reburials from temporary cemeteries elsewhere in the Pas de Calais area (which explains why Douvrin (graves on a communal cemetery) was relocated, and Illies e.g. (War cemetery) was not)

And the German cemetery still stands out from the communal cemetery to this day! Communal cemetery is tomb upon tomb upon tomb, "cold" and windy, and only one or two trees. The German cemetery right behind it is like a city park.

The cemetery plan you talk about in post #201 could maybe be this one:

from that link I posted earlier: http://lelensoisnormandtome3.unblog.fr/2012/06/11/le-cimetiere-militaire-allemand-de-lens-sallaumines/

"Layout and memorials OberLtn von Hugo

Planting Unteroffz Laitenberger"

[JWK]

That French article about Lens-Sallaumines is actually véry interesting!

It tells us how the cemetery came about, land being requisitioned, the local "notables" "invited" to lay wreaths, the bodies dumped in a field, and then put in rudimentary coffins etc etc.

A bit of read, but here's a sort of translation:

The Lensois (the people of Lens) know very little about the German military cemetery in Lens-Sallaumines, behind the Cimetière Est on Douai Road, which contains 15,646 bodies of German soldiers.

Created in 1915 by German troops who were stationed in Lens, it was first called "Loretto Cemetery" because it was here that most of the soldiers who fell in the battles fought in the hills above Loretto were buried. Later on the added combat deaths throughout the Lens area were buried here.

At the beginning of the Great War, the Germans buried the bodies of soldiers killed in combat on the slopes of Loretto but as their number increased, a mass grave was opened in Lens cemetery.

On February 11, 1915 between 200 and 300 corpses were buried.

In his journal published by the Association GAUHERIA under the title 'In the Furnace of Lens” Leo Tacquet, notary and son-in-law of the Director of Mines Elie Remaux recounts that on 12 April 1915, a German officer summoned him to tell him that, by order of the Commander of the XIV Corps, the occupying authorities requisitioned 1.7 hectares of land next to the marsh, to build a military cemetery. 'Requisition' is the word to use because, despite the promises made by the Commander, this land would never be paid for, at least not during the war.

Gentleman farmer and horse owner Tacquet also had a large studfarm (on the site where now the Lycée Condorcet stands), which was also requisitioned to house the troops and horses of the German army.
From spring 1915 the German soldiers thus had their own cemetery.
On 4 May 1915, the German officer in charge of the new cemetery met with Leon Tacquet, and tells him he 'takes' another 16 acres of land “to turn into a small forest to shade the dead”.
It must be said that most German military cemeteries literally melt with nature in the purest tradition of Germanic mythology inherited from the Scandinavian peoples. Individual graves are preferred to 'mass graves'. Tradition has it that these cemeteries are located near woods or forests, as the trees will protect the dead. When the presence of a tree interrupts a row of crosses, the tree is not cut down. The crosses are simply moved a few meters.

The cemetery in Lens-Sallaumines is no exception to the rule.
June 13, 1915, a statue of the Archangel Michael was erected in the center aisle. It bore the inscription in German: 'To our glorious heroes who fell during the struggles around Lorette - The 28th Infantry Division'.

Leon Tacquet, who found the statue 'Teutonic, heavy and massive' , reported that to date, there are already 1,900 German graves.
This statue, designed in Germany by a professor of sculpture, was made in Lens proper, by workers of a local marble works, the Maison Lienard.
In October 1915, nearly 4,000 dead are now buried in the cemetery.

Leon Tacquet reported that 50 or 100 or more bodies arrive daily.

The bodies, brought in by the cart load, are dumped in nearby fields before being placed in rudimentary coffins (some are made with toilet doors from the destroyed mining community villages) and buried.

In November, the German Army commander summons Emile Basly, the Mayor of Lens, Elie Remaux, Leon Tacquet and other notables of the city to attend the inauguration of a new monument on the German cemetery.
May 14, 1916, it is the 4th Hussars of the kingdom of Bavaria, who erected a monument to their fallen heroes. So Basly, Remaux, Tacquet and the others were 'promptly invited' by the Chief General to lay a wreath at the foot of this monument.
The Badische 2nd Grenadiers Regiment also erected a monument with his epitaph: 'To our heroes who fell near Ablain and Lorette - the 2^nd Grenadier Regiment of Baden "Kaiser Wilhelm 1” '.
Following the German tradition of the time, many other monuments were erected. Almost all combat units had theirs as did the IV Army Corps and the 42nd Infantry Regiment.
From January 1917, the Germans denied access to the cemeteries on the Douai Road to French civilians, the constant bombing made it a very dangerous area.

In April, the city was evacuated. But the fighting still continued for over a year.

October 3, 1918 Lens is liberated but in ruins. 'Lens is razed to the ground. From the most beautiful building to the most modest dwelling: everything is pulverised ' wrote Alfred Buquet in his book 'Lens, its past, its coal'. The Cimetière Est and the German military cemetery did not escape the annihilation.
1919 the Treaty of Versailles between the Allies and the German leaders was signed. Article 225 of the Treaty stipulates: "The Allied and Associated Governments and the German Government will respect and maintain the graves of soldiers and sailors buried in their respective territories. ". The French authorities are therefore responsible for restoring the cemetery.
In 1926, after an agreement with the French military authorities, the "Deutsche Volksbund Kriegsgräberfürsorge" (German War Graves Commission, which is a private association) takes over the reconstruction and maintenance of the military cemetery. The cemetery is completely redesigned: the imposing statues are removed, the new cemetery will be more humble, more discrete. To mark individual graves, the VDK used wooden crosses with a zinc nameplate.

Under the leadership of its founder, Dr. Siegfried Emmo Eulen, besides the maintenance of the graves, the VDK reached out to the world in its mission work in international cooperation and to work for peace objectives.
In 1977 the wooden crosses were replaced by Belgian granite gravemarkers, and the cemetery was completely refurbished.

At the far end, a wall composed of Swiss granite stones forms a quasi-uniform background shaded by a few yewtrees.

The gravemarkers usually contain two names, some wear the Jewish Star of David, very few of them have flower tributes.
A simple wrought iron fence separates the German military and French civil cemeteries.

Sobriety has replaced the sense of power that the imposing monuments represented.

A metal plate in the ground at the entrance reminds us that here are buried 15,646 young men, who died for the ambitions and idiocy of a few men, they died for nothing!

[AliceF]

Thank you so much for translating the text (unfortunately I do not understand any French)!,

But this way I can follow the text of the webpage!

Christine

[AliceF]

Here a travel description about a visit of Lens and its cemetery written by a former soldier in 1926 (here the first part out of three).

"Travel to the war zone of Lens.

For a long time I had the great wish to visit the places in northern France, from where I had to direct trains up to the rearmost positions. Advantageous circumstances have made the fulfillment of this wish possible, to get to know this area and places in peaceful times. In my holidays in mid-October I went with the night train from Basel to Paris. [...].

One day led me towards Lens. This pretty town, which was completely destroyed, has been rebuilt on its ruins. Outside the station there were besides several small rental cars also a couple of larger cars for trips to the various hot spots of the heavy fighting at Loretto, Souchez, Givenchy, Angres, Liévin, Loos etc.
My first walk was to the German cemetery in Lens, which can be reached on foot in a quarter of an hour from the station. As the French civil cemetery in Lens it is situated in the municipality of Sallaumines. The French government kept the military cemetery in the same place where it had been established by the Germans. However, many German cemeteries in the vicinity of Lens have been removed, and the remains of those soldiers found their final resting place in Lens, whereby the military cemetery in Lens has undergone major expansion. Also the French war graves of the same area have been concentrated in a large collective cemetery at the Loretto height. [...] "

VDK, 1926.4

Christine

Lens_1926_1_German.docx

[AliceF]

A train ride to the cemetery:

“While the communal cemetery has still some traces of the shelling - because only the rich Frenchman can afford to repair the graves of his relatives - the German cemetery, which has been recently restored by the French government, is in a much better state. At the entrance I involuntarily halted by the sight of the tremendous field of deads and I could not hold back the tears at the sight of the 7884 German graves. I had visited the cemetery several times before, the last time - in 1916 - on a gloomy October day when I led a friend to the grave of his nephew. That time we took a locomotive close to the cemetery under the cover of the fog, which prevented to be seen by the enemy balloon.

This magnificent monument, the Baden griffin, which my comrade Hugo from Baden had created for the fallen soldiers of the 28th Infantry Division, and the smaller nearby memorial stone have now disappeared. They were so badly damaged by artillery fire – as the grave stones on the French civil cemetery – that the remains had to be removed during the restoration. This I was told by one of the invalids, who have the supervision and take care of the German cemetery. He lives with his family in a shack on the edge of the cemetery and immediately came to me when he saw me.

The cemetery of Lens is now in a worthy condition – to calm particularly the thousands of people from Baden, whose fathers, sons or brothers found their final resting place here, [...] "

VDK, 1926.4

Christine

Lens_1926_2_German.docx

[JWK]

Interesting, thank you for the translation!

here's the Baden griffin monument (of the Badische 2nd Grenadiers Regiment) that his comrade Hugo made:

From this page (in French) with some more pictures of the cemetery.

JW

[AliceF]

Thanks for the photo on the griffin!

Here the last part from Lens:

„The hours in the cemetery of Lens will be unforgettable for me. Nothing recalls the tremendous event which took place here a decade ago, as much as these thousands of dark crosses.

The population of this combat area seems to have gone back to everyday life. I went to all the families in which I had accommodation from October 1914 to November 1916 in the area, I was everywhere immediately recognized and received a warm welcome. Many sad personal fates were told to me from the past decade.

There was much lament about poor business performance; but at least the good soils of the area are carefully cultivated. The positions are leveled out and here and there a trench serves now as a farm track. Many families are still forced to live in wooden barracks and even church services are held in such; shell-holes in non-arable or marshy areas and trees without crowns remind powerfully of the terrible struggle which took place for four years here.

W.R. Basel“

VDK, 1926.4

I must say, I do not really understand why the soldier was warmly welcomed (besides the fact that the VDK encourages all traveling to the German cemeteries).

Christine

Lens_1926_3_German.docx

[AOK4]

I wonder if these lists still exist? In Berlin? In Kassel? Or destroyed during WW2?

Christine

The original lists (German lists from during the war, French and German lists from after the war) of all German cemeteries in France should still exist (the Germans had to hand them over (or at least copies) because of Versailles. They were kept in the VDK bureaus in France until a few years ago and are now in Kassel. However, the person in charge of them at VDK is not keen on sharing them... to say the least.

Jan

[AliceF]

Aha, very interesting. Great that you know where they are.

All these documents that are still kept somewhere hidden.

Wonder how much time shall pass.

I guess this person has his/her reasons - things, which are not supposed to be known by the public?

However, very irritating - like the Krankenbuchlager in Berlin.

Christine

[AliceF]

Found this photo on Delcampe.

A German handwritten note on the back indicates: Nov-Dez 1917 position near Lens.

Could this be the cemetery of Lens (a part of it)?

Christine

Source: http://www.delcampe.net/page/item/id,200576662,var,Photo-novembre-1917-pres-LENS--soldat-allemand-dans-un-cimetiere-A20-ww1-wk1,language,E.html

[nigelcave]

I have heard of a report in the French press today of German cemeteries near Suippes that have been archaeologically examined - 500 bodies, some identifiable, mentioned and many thousands of 'artefacts'. Surely a list of known German army burial sites should be known (see Jan's post above, No 210) by all to ensure that these men should be treated with the respect that they deserve?

[JWK]

http://www.estrepublicain.fr/actualite/2016/03/03/les-527-soldats-du-cimetiere-oublie

http://www.sudouest.fr/2016/03/02/decouverte-plus-de-500-tombes-de-soldats-allemands-de-14-18-mises-au-jour-2289292-4776.php

https://www.francebleu.fr/infos/insolite/un-cimetiere-de-la-grande-guerre-pour-la-premiere-fois-fouille-par-les-archeologues-dans-la-marne-1456929303

Apparently they were discovered in the summer of 2015.

From what I understand from the article in sudouest.fr they lay in a "forgotten" part of a temporary cemetery in Boult-sur-Suippe. The cemetery was moved "in a hurry" in the 20's, and they were just "forgotten".

Of the 530 soldiers 517 were reburied in St-Etiennes-a-Arnes, if I understand it correctly.

And interestingly, amongst the thousands of artefacts and personal items recovered (including a still working fountain pen), were 130 identity discs and 20 "bottles containing deathcertificates" (alas only one of them was still readable).

Makes sense: in times of conflict a bottle buried with the body will have a greater chance of survival than a wooden cross.....

JW

ps:

France 3 has a TV report on their website:

http://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/champagne-ardenne/marne/boult-sur-suippe-marne-3500-objets-de-la-grande-guerre-mis-au-jour-941406.html

[AliceF]

Thank you very much for informing about this interesting news.
Tried to find something in the German news without success.
Christine

[JWK]

First of all many thanks to Nigel Cave for letting us know about the discovery!

And in reply to your question: the cemetery wás known, it was "hurriedly" removed by a "specialised company" back in the twenties, and they just "forgot" to remove a large part of it. So paperwork was filled in, by this "specialised company", that the cemetery had been "removed", and that was that.

"Computer says: -Cemetery removed- ", so no one ever questioned it.

Only some 100 years later the truth came to light because they want to build a housing estate there, and had some archeology work done. Which apparently already started in 2012, and then they found a lot of Prussian uniform buttons (much to their surprise).

@Christine : I tried to find some news about a reburial of 500+ soldiers in Saint-Etiennes-à-Arnes, but couldn't find anything either.

Maybe the news will filter through to the German media in the next few days as it has only come out in France yesterday.

Totally unrelated to WW1, but related to finding "lost soldiers": the Volksbund has some véry interesting videos hidden away deep within their website. http://www.volksbund.de/mediathek/video.html

Like: "Buried destinies" ("Vergrabene Schicksale")

http://www.volksbund.de/mediathek/vergrabene-schicksale.html

A series of 4 vids which follows Joachim Kozlowski, Germany's only "reburyer" [is that a word in English? He is the guy who transfers bodies/remains from one grave to another. He finds them in the woods, underneath a herb garden, anywhere. He reburies them on a military cemetery] ("Umbetter" in German), on his quest to "bring home" as many German soldiers as he can.

WW2 orientated, and focused on the Berlin-Polish border area (which was the scene of some impossibly heavy battles towards the very end of WW2), but mássively interesting to watch. (All in German I'm afraid....)

JW

[AliceF]

Yes, I think that there will come up something in the German newspapers soon. Wonder why this is published first now and not in autumn 2015. Anyway, when 21 WW1 soldiers were found in France (Alsace) a couple of years ago there were quite a number of reports in German press about this and they all got of course an official funeral.

In this case here I understand it like that (sorry for the repetition) that most of the 530 soldiers were reburied in the 1920ies, but that other things were not moved and even some of the bodies “forgotten”. So it is not the case that about 500 soldiers have been reburied recently, but a much lesser number. Anyway, I would expect such an event to be reported in a German newspaper.

Regarding WW2 burials I am aware of the large number of reburials that have taken place in East-Europe the last two decades. I got to know about it when I searched for one of my relatives that he was tried to be reburied, but not found/impossible to identify. I am not sure how much is known about this by the general public, but relatives still searching for missing soldiers are surely very aware of it.
Christine

[nigelcave]

I think re-interer might be better, but then not too many of these people around.

I remember reading somewhere (and indeed seeing) something of this before - I think it might have been on the BBC News website, in the 'magazine' section and with a film clip as well.

This thread is interesting in itself of course, but it does raise other matters. For example, because the British/Empire/Commonwealth chose to bury and commemorate their dead in a particular - and the most expensive - fashion it has meant that we who follow the army on the ground have been left with these evocative signposts. France and the US and Portugal and Italy (on the 'winning' side) opted for various forms of concentration, for the most part. That has an impact as to how the role of those armies are perceived - and not only by foreigners. For example, on the Somme north of the river you have very few French cemeteries - for reasons not altogether clear to me, the IWGC established the French cemetery at Serre (I assume because the British were so busy in this area for their own reasons), one in Albert (tho' the presence of a town dump nearby seems pretty tasteless) and the French section at Ovillers. The one in Serre is the only one that would obviously 'strike' a visitor to the battlefields today. Reading of these German cemeteries (and some of the posts that Egbert has given of his walks in the Vosges) makes one realise how much more 'presence' the German effort would have on the ground today if these cemeteries had survived and what they would have told us of the German approach to their own casualties: the present cemeteries are of course a great work, but they lack the 'soul' that seems to have gone into the original military cemeteries. This probably seems a bit incoherent, but the more one thinks about it the more we visitors/pilgrims should be grateful for the option that the British etc adopted for their war dead.

[AOK4]

Interesting.

A few years ago, the former German cemetery of Beselare (Church) was archaeologically researched. The cemetery had been evacuated around 1955 (when most German cemeteries in Belgium were brought together). There they found also a bits and bones, but in this case it seemed that the reburials were rather well done (considering some 130.000 German bodies had to be reburied in 2 years time).

I am not at all surprised by this find in France. I know a few cemeteries in Flanders as well which were quickly built over in the 1920's as Belgian and British war graves commissions, that were responsible for the German graves, were not that interested in mainly German graves. Just as some of the Labour Companies etc. didn't always work very rigourous, the same thing happened in France. If it involved "enemies", sometimes you might end up with the result as in Boult...

Jan

[AliceF]

The 2 VDK entries in the member journal regarding Boult-sur-Suippe are:
“Der sehr schön gelegen deutsche Kriegerfriedhof ist zur Zeit des Krieges von deutschen Truppen neben dem Gemeindefriedhof erbaut worden. Für die Instandhaltung des Friedhofes ist Sorge getragen.“
“The beautifully situated German war cemetery was established next to the communal cemetery by German troops during war times. The maintenance of the cemetery is taken care of.”
VDK 1921, 12
“Die Gräber sind nach St. Etienne a Arnes verlegt worden.“
„The graves have been moved to t. Etienne à Arnes.”
VDK 1925, 4-5
Apparently not all. Do I understand it right that 130 tags were found in Boult-sur-Suippe, but most of the soldiers were moved? Somehow one is tempted to think that they did not get individual graves in St Etienne, but I do not want to jump to conclusions here.
Anyway, great that this excavation has been done so carefully now!
Christine

[KIRKY]

Does anyone know what happened to the German Soldiers buried at Courcelette as their cemetery seemed to disappear?

Tony

[Dragon]

Nigel Cave, on 04 Mar 2016 - 07:13 AM, said:Nigel Cave, on 04 Mar 2016 - 07:13 AM, said:

. Reading of these German cemeteries (and some of the posts that Egbert has given of his walks in the Vosges) makes one realise how much more 'presence' the German effort would have on the ground today if these cemeteries had survived and what they would have told us of the German approach to their own casualties: the present cemeteries are of course a great work, but they lack the 'soul' that seems to have gone into the original military cemeteries. This probably seems a bit incoherent, but the more one thinks about it the more we visitors/pilgrims should be grateful for the option that the British etc adopted for their war dead.

The Vosges are very special in that physical terrain apart from other factors mean that in some places there are still the original cemeteries to be found, deep in the forests, some close to hospital buildings which also have survived. For example, Hexenweiler (German) -

is just across the track from the infirmary:

Germania (which is French) -

is not far from Ambulance Alpine du Gaschney:

I could post more, but you can probably see the point I'm making,

(My own photos.)

Gwyn

[AliceF]

Tony, Courcelette has not an own entry in the VDK member journal database, but Courcelette is named under reburials to Fricourt. So this could be a likely option.

Nigel, I have also been wondering about the differences between nations. This is all very complex I feel. Somehow I got the impression that in some places the French applied the same way of dealing with the concentration of German soldiers as they did with soldiers of their own nation. Of course there are differences, but when taking a glance at these large concentration cemeteries it is often the colour of the crosses that is the first difference you notice. Yes, the way British cemeteries are kept is very beautiful, I think. Whatever nation – these war graves have remained and will remain much longer than any civil graves. These will be the only graves of my relatives which I will ever be able to trace in these generations. All the others have been removed a long time ago.

Gwyn, I love your photos! All these hidden places that have remained!
Christine

[KIRKY]

Thanks Christine.

[JWK]

Another picture of Ehrenfriedhof Douvrin during the war (Found on Europeana by Hainaut and posted in #182 on the Fritz Limbach thread)

Red cross *may* indicate the grave of Fritz Limbach ("2nd white cross down from the black crosses, and a black cross at the back" which is me interpreting the not-too-clear (to put it véry mildly) picture of his initial grave)

Second cemetery pic on that Europeana page is not Douvrin in my opinion.(Crosses are too elaborate. IR 16 didn't do elaborate, or so it seems)

JW