Cemeteries and burial sites of victims of the Nazi dictatorship
According to the law on the graves of victims of war and tyranny, the dead have a permanent right of repose.
The federal government pays for the maintenance and design of these sites. The number of people buried at these war cemeteries is well over 200,000: Concentration camp prisoners, prisoners of war, civilian forced labourers, patients of sanatoriums and nursing homes, prisoners of justice. The exact number is still unknown today, as is the identity of most of the victims.
The largest cemeteries, with up to 50,000 dead, are located near the former Prisoner of War base camps and on the site of the former Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Smaller cemeteries and individual graves, especially for foreign forced labourers, can be found in many municipal cemeteries.
These cemeteries are often the only reminders of the historical events that took place at the respective site. They were remodelled several times in the post-war period and thus bear witness to the changing culture of remembrance and commemoration. Cemeteries are starting points for school projects and work camps that focus on the clarification of fate and research. This makes them places of remembrance and learning at the same time.
Working Group Victims of National Socialism - Cemeteries and Gravesites
Scientists research the history of the sites and the groups of victims, landscape architects work on the design of the sites, committed citizens dedicate themselves to the clarification of fate of the victims and look after foreign visitors visiting the gravesites of their relatives, schools offer project days as part of historical-political education.
In 2009, the Lower Saxony Memorials Foundation and the Lower Saxony Memorials Interest Group initiated the "Victims of National Socialism - Cemeteries and Gravesites" working group to promote networking, training and dialogue. To this end, the foundation regularly organises workshops in which research findings and current projects are presented. In future, these conferences will be organised in cooperation with the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge - Landesverband Niedersachsen.
Conference documentation
Here we document the regular workshops organised by the "Victims of National Socialism - Cemeteries and Gravesites" working group.
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Lectures:
Michael Skoruppa, Ubbo-Emmius-Gesellschaft Emden
Emden cemeteries and the victims of fascism
Abstract (PDF)
Željko Dragić and Petar Miloradovic, Antikriegsbaracke Atter-Osnabrück e.V., Förderverein Antikriegskultur und Friedenshandeln
The graves of the Serbian officers of the POW camp Oflag VI C in Eversheide in the local culture of remembrance
Abstract (PDF)
Simona Häring and Dr Gustav Partington, Wolfenbüttel Prison Memorial
Pupils' competition to establish a place of remembrance for victims of the Wolfenbüttel Correctional Facility (JVA)
Abstract (PDF) -
Lectures:
Bernhard Gelderblom, Verein für regionale Kultur- und Zeitgeschichte Hameln e.V.:
The long road to the memory of the forgotten Nazi victims of the Hamelin penitentiary at the Am Wehl cemetery
Abstract (PDF) -
Topic: Disappeared gravesites and memorials
Conference materials:
Programme (PDF)
Lectures:
Wulf Böcker (Bremen)
The recovery of a former cemetery for Soviet prisoners of war near Blumenthal/Schwanewede
Lecture texts (PDF)Hans Harer (Northeim)
Who was Wiktor Tomala? From late discoveries about the fate of a forced labourer to a new memorial and a school film
Text and presentation (PDF)
Hans Harer: Who was Wiktor Tomala? Northeim Yearbook 2015Dr Carola S. Rudnick ("Euthanasia" Memorial Lüneburg)
"Leistet nichts. Too weak. Not fit for action." Background information on the graves of foreign patients at the Lüneburg sanatorium and nursing home
Summary (PDF)Gabriele Jannowitz-Heumann (Osterholz District Archive)
The long journey of Jan Massier
Leaflet(PDF)Simone Rose (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V.)
Died - forgotten - remembered! The current work of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge in the district of Hanover
Presentation (PDF) -
Conference materials:
Programme Download (PDF)
Protocol Download (PDF)
Lectures:
Ann Katrin Düben, Leipzig
Concentration camp gravesite, "Russian cemetery" and war cemeteries: The development of the nine cemeteries for the deceased of the Emsland camps between 1949 and 1969
Download (PDF)Ronald Sperling, Dokumentations- und Gedenkstätte Sandbostel e.V.
Graves of Soviet prisoners of war in Zeven, Ldk. Rotenburg/Wümme
Download text and presentation (PDF)Peter Wanninger, AG Bergen-Belsen
Experiences with relatives of victims visiting the Prisoners of War cemeteries Hörsten, Oerbke and Wietzendorf
Download (PDF)Year 10 pupils, Freie Waldorfschule Oldenburg
The forgotten graves of the euthanasia victims from Blankenburg Monastery: a history project
Download (PDF)Bernhard Gelderblom, Verein für regionale Kultur- und Zeitgeschichte Hameln e.V.
The cemetery of the victims of the Hamelin penitentiary at the Am Wehl cemetery: On the way to a place of remembrance and learning
Download (PDF) -
Remembering the victims of war and tyranny: controversies of remembrance, forgotten graves
Conference materials:
Programme Download (PDF)
Minutes and list of participants Download (PDF)
Lectures:
Prof. Rolf Wernstedt
Remembrance is more than honouring victims - On the competition between cultures of remembrance
Download text (PDF)Joachim Gottschalk
The Laatzen Memorial: Its history, the current debate about the memorial and the commemorations in Laatzen
Download text and presentation (PDF)Siegried Berneis and Klaus Düval
Controversies surrounding the redesign of the dragoon memorial in Lüneburg
Download (PDF)Joachim Puppel
On the current status of the regulation in Lower Saxony of responsibilities for the graves of victims of war and tyranny
Download (PDF)Bernhard Gelderblom: Die vergessenen Kindergräber des Nienstedter Waldfriedhofes.
Springer Jahrbuch 2013, published by Förderverein für die Stadtgeschichte von Springe e.V., Springe 2013, p. 17. , Springe 2013, pp. 17-32
Download (PDF)Further information on the Internet: Places of remembrance for the victims of National Socialism in the district of Hameln-Pyrmont and neighbouring places
Dr Carola Rudnick
Burial of mortal remains of children from the Lüneburg "Children's Specialist Ward" and the new memorial complex at the former institutional cemetery
Download text (PDF)Mechthild Hartung
A memorial plaque for the "children's home" in Rühen near Wolfsburg
Download presentation (PDF)Further information on the Internet
Born to die in the Rühen camp. The camp that became a death camp
9.May: Unveiling of the memorial plaque - Rühen children's death camp -
Historical design of cemeteries and memorials
Conference materials:
Programme Download (PDF)
Minutes and list of participants Download (PDF)
Summaries of the presentations:
Silke Petry
The historical development of the Bergen-Belsen Prisoner of War cemetery (Hörsten)
Download summary (PDF)Martina Staats
Allies as designers of cemeteries for victims of National Socialism
Download presentation (PDF)
Download text (PDF)Dr Regine Heubaum
Gravesites of victims of the death marches of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp in Lower Saxony
Download Text (PDF)Martin Guse
On the history of the Deblinghausen-Hesterberg war cemeteries, Nienburg/Weser district
Download presentation (PDF)
Download text (PDF)Niels Biewer
Of gravesites and stumbling blocks - a geocache tour through Osnabrück
Download presentation (PDF)
Download text (PDF) -
Remembering, researching, learning: 'Anonymous' graves and name identification in research and education
Conference materials:
Programme Download (PDF)
Protocol Download (PDF)
List of participants Download (PDF)
Summaries of the presentations:
Rolf Keller
Gravesites of Soviet prisoners of war: recording of deaths, guidelines for burial, transmission of sources - possibilities for clarification of fate and reconstruction of cemeteries
Download (PDF)Silke Petry
Presentation of the project "The labour deployment of Soviet prisoners of war in the "Wehrmacht" camp system on the territory of present-day Lower Saxony (1941-1945)"
Download (PDF)and project information
Download (PDF)Clay tablet projects of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V. using the example of the Heemsen/Rohrsen cemetery (district of Nienburg/Weser)
Download (PDF)Materials from the Heemsen school working group
Download (PDF)Elke Zacharias
Information on the Jammertal cemetery, Salzgitter
Download (PDF)Information on cemetery 13a, Wolfenbüttel
Download (PDF)Julia Berlit-Jackstien
A book of remembrance for the Maschsee-Nordufer cemetery of honour, Hanover
Download (PDF)
Further information
Find out more about the landscape of remembrance in Lower Saxony: