The German War Graves Commission (German: Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, pronounced[ˈfɔlksbʊntˈdɔʏtʃəˈkʁiːksɡʁɛːbɐˌfyːɐ̯zɔʁɡə]ⓘ) is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of German war graves in Europe and North Africa.[2] Its objectives are acquisition, maintenance and care of German war graves; tending to next of kin; youth and educational work; and preservation of the memory to the sacrifices of war and despotism. Former head of the BundeswehrWolfgang Schneiderhan was elected President of the organisation in 2016, succeeding SPD politician Markus Meckel. The President of Germany, currently Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD), is the organisation's patron.
Role
The German War Graves Commission cares for the graves, at 832 cemeteries in 46 countries, of more than 2.7 million persons killed during World War I and World War II.[1] The German war graves are intended to remember all groups of war dead: military personnel, those dead by aerial warfare, murdered in the Holocaust, and all other persons persecuted to death.[3] In addition, the Volksbund maintains cemeteries and memorials of the Franco-Prussian War, First Schleswig War, Second Schleswig War, and the German colonial era.[4]
History
Establishment
The commission was founded as a private charity on 16 December 1919, as the recognised [German] Commission under the war graves provisions of Article 225 of the Treaty of Versailles. By the 1930s, the commission had established numerous cemeteries for German World War I dead.[2]..
World War II and postwar
During World War II, the Volksbund's work was mostly carried out by the Wehrmacht's own graves service. After World War II, the Volksbund resumed its work in 1946 and soon established more than 400 war cemeteries in Germany.[2] In 1954, the German chancellor Konrad Adenauer, tasked the Volksbund with the establishment, care and upkeep of German war cemeteries abroad.[2]
Philosophy
To guard the memory of the victims of war and violence, to work for peace among all nations and to guarantee dignity of men, are the main goals in the statutes of the German War Graves Commission. All activities of German War Graves Commission must harmonize with these general principles.[5]
Organisation
Financing
The Commission spent about 52 million Euro (in 2019). Half of it was used for maintenance of the cemeteries, more than a third to remind what happened and to learn from it, the rest was used to keep the association running. Two-thirds of this sum was financed by members and private donations. One-third was paid by government (war graves outside of Germany) and states (maintenance of some war graves within Germany).[1]
Activities
Casualties, war graves, prisoner of war graves
The commission looks after "832 military cemeteries in 46 countries with about 2.75 million dead" and its work is carried out today by 8,000 honorary and 556 full-time employees.[1] Since the end of the Cold War, the Volksbund has access to Eastern Europe, where most World War II German casualties occurred.[2] Since 1991, 188 World War I cemeteries and 330 World War II cemeteries in eastern, central and south-eastern Europe have been reconstructed or rebuilt and about 764,524 bodies have been buried in new graves.[2][1] Maintenance of German war cemeteries in France is looked after by the Service d'entretien des sépultures militaires allemandes (the "German Military Burials Maintenance Service") known as S.E.S.M.A..[6]
With 46 foreign partner countries bilateral war grave agreements were settled by the year 2019.[1] Requests on foreign war graves in Germany are handled by the German War Graves Commission.[7]
On behalf of German Government, the construction, repair and care of German War cemeteries outside of Germany is handled by the Division of Cemetery Construction and Building Maintenance (German: Referat Friedhofspflege und Bauunterhaltung). In 2019, the workload covered more than 832 war cemeteries of World War I and World War II and more than 800 war cemeteries/memorial sites of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71.[1]
The German War Graves Commission (Volksbund) cooperates with and uses the files of German Federal Archives, formerDeutsche Dienststelle (WASt) in Berlin (Register of German soldiers killed in action or who became prisoners of war). This bureau collects and preserves data and dog tags of active German soldiers of World War II. The Volksbund is in close contact with other tracing services, e.g. the German Red Cross. Information gathered on occasion of exhumation of bodies is recorded by Volksbund and transferred to other institutions to assist in identifying missing people (for example, by dog tags) and by updating files.
The commission searches for war casualties and when found, transfers them to central cemeteries in Eastern Europe, Germany and Western Europe through the Volksbund exhumation service (German: Umbettungsdienst). There were 19,735 exhumations in the year 2019.[1] Search for undetected burial places of war casualties is done by records of former WASt, eyewitnesses, historical photographs of World War II cemeteries and assistance of local residents during construction of new roads or structures.[1] Names of missing soldiers are remembered, e.g. in Rossoschka German War Cemetery, on granite cubes as memorials for family members and as a warning for future generations in their effort to live in peace.[8]
The exhumation service documents in a draft manual document for each body of a soldier found at the grave site, the dog tag (if existent), the remaining clothing and other individual belongings, human height, characteristics of human skeleton, state of dental notation to make it easier to identify later unknown soldiers.[9]
From about 6,200 cemeteries for German prisoners of war 180 were reconstructed (state: 2011). Cemeteries for prisoners of war cannot all be maintained. So only a selection of prisoner of war cemeteries will serve the memory for those who died in war captivity.[10]
War grave database online
The German War Graves Commission offers an accessible online database of 4.8 million individual names for World Wars I and II.[11][1]
War cemeteries and war dead of World War I and II inside of Germany are also documented in these files (895,561 in 2010). Among these are war dead transferred to Germany or persons who died within Germany but only those are registered whose remains were transferred to war cemetery areas within civil cemeteries, not those removed to individual family graves.
A grave research request (Grabnachforschungsauftrag in German) can be sent online or as hardcopy to Volksbund (German War Grave Commission) to clarify the unknown fate of a German soldier. As some family names are very common it is important to mention all given names and the date of birth of the missing soldier. As additional data should be given if available: date of death, last unit (Truppenteil in German) and last letters. Often withdrawing troops could not bury their casualties. Detailed data on the war dead of World War I were reconstructed by volunteers in digital format.[12]
List of German cemeteries by country/conflict
War cemetery database online
German War Graves Commission has an online inventory of its cemeteries.[13] Data collected for each cemetery are location (geography), how to reach, number of dead, course of military events in the region and architecture of the cemetery.[14]
Some cemeteries by country
Solers, France (Total burials: 2,228)German war cemetery in Zagreb, CroatiaFirst World War grave, of a Jewish soldier, at Laventie German Military Cemetery, France
Australia – World War I & II
Tatura German Military Cemetery (Total Burials: 250)
^Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V. (Hrsg.): Frieden, Vertrauen und Versöhnung. Reden zum Volkstrauertag 2016. Kassel 2017, ISBN978-3981771145. Wolfgang Schneiderhan: Begrüßung, S. 16.
