[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] WWII German Soldier Cemeteries in the former Soviet Union

Guenther Boehm GHBoehm at ish.de
Sat Jan 8 02:26:57 PST 2005


Bloch, Ray schrieb:

>Does anyone have any history in determining the status of German cemeteries
>on Russian soil?
>
>>From talking to relatives, they have led me to believe that the Russians
>following the war erased any signs of German cemeteries on their soil.
>

Hello Ray,
yes, this in generally correct. After WWII, all surface remains of 
German soldier cemeteries and single graves have been erased and, if 
situated in the vicinity of villages or towns, in their majority 
superstructed with buildings and streets.
But...
The German "Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgraeberfuersorge" ( 
www.volksbund.de ) owns exact detailed maps of nearly all cemeteries and 
tries to exhume the human remains and bury them in new central soldier 
cemeteries. In the last fifteen years they got permission and some 
support by Russian authorities and built several central cemeteries. 
Some old cemeteries situated far from human settlements were just 
overgrown by vegetation and some even maintained by single Russian 
villagers.

Guenther
of Hilden, Germany



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